Will Democrats Turn Things Around
Ken Hughes
November 08, 2006
There's little to turn around but we will wait and see.
There’s the old adage, “beware of what you wish for.” The Democrats won the House and possibly the Senate. They may wish they hadn’t been so successful once they’re required to perform rather than just talk. Democrats came into the race with no agenda. The Democrats entire campaign was based on running against President Bush who wasn’t running. The campaign wasn’t actually a national election campaign it was 50 individual states and local election campaigns. The voters understood this and politician didn’t.
There was a number of valid reason Republicans were defeated so badly, primarily it was because they became what they came to Washington to replace, a congress out of control and out of touch. They forgot the lessons of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gringrich, compassionate conservatism. The weeding out process has just begun the next round will come in 2008 then it will be incumbents and Democrats who get booted out.
Democrats campaigned on the need for change Nancy Pelosi without being nominated or elected as House Speaker yet made some rather definitive statements about what she intends to do in the first 100 hours of the new congress. Ms. Pelosi may want to rethink and speak softly knowing she’s only one of 435 members of the House of Representatives. Democrats will not have a super majority and will need to deal with many disgruntled Republicans in much the same way Republican had to deal with disgruntled Democrats for the past 12 years. The question facing Ms. Pelosi is will Republicans be bipartisan for the benefit of the nation or will they be antaginictic obstructionists as the Democrats have been for 12 years?
Democrats face other hurdles to leap they spent 12 years having the privilege of blaming the Republican Party who were in the majority for the presumed failings of the government. Now they’ll be in charge and we can almost guarantee they will be treated no kinder than Republicans were especially by the Media.
Democrats assumed because the media seemed to side with them in the past they were their friends and are immune to their scrutiny, not so. The media has no friends they thrive on the carcasses of political opinion makers. When Democrats can’t come through on one of their promises the media will have no choice but to blame them and have a field day or a week.
The new Democratic congressional leaders haven’t been in the upper echelons of Washington Society long enough to realize it’s all a game, power doesn’t come from a job title it’s anointed by those on the top of the Good Old Boy system. The Congressional leaders are still accountable to those with decades of seniority who’ve carved their nitch in the system they are who actually run both houses of congress.
Today in his news conference President Bush accepted his part in the Republican loss of congress. He took the first step in making a correction in the direction the war in Iraq will take by replacing Rumsfeld. Once again as he did when he took office 6 years ago he held out his hand in peace to the new presumed speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi both privately and publicly. We’ll see what she does with it, shake it or bite it.
President Bush has handed the new Democratic Congress an unprecedented set of economic conditions despite the doom and gloom of the past several months. We’ll see what the Democrats do with it. What Democrats proposed in pre-election campaign speeches is a disaster in the making. Commerce provides the grease that keeps the wheels of government moving smoothly. When Industry is deprived of investment capital the economy is the first to feel the effect. Labor is always the immediate victim of excessive government spending and taxation. John F. Kennedy was the first modern-day president to point this out by reducing taxes on all the people.
The Democrats were clever enough to turn a very talented President into a near national disgrace. Now they’ve picked up the mantel it’ll be interesting to see if they have what it takes to carry it without breaking it.
There’s the old adage, “beware of what you wish for.” The Democrats won the House and possibly the Senate. They may wish they hadn’t been so successful once they’re required to perform rather than just talk. Democrats came into the race with no agenda. The Democrats entire campaign was based on running against President Bush who wasn’t running. The campaign wasn’t actually a national election campaign it was 50 individual states and local election campaigns. The voters understood this and politician didn’t.
There was a number of valid reason Republicans were defeated so badly, primarily it was because they became what they came to Washington to replace, a congress out of control and out of touch. They forgot the lessons of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gringrich, compassionate conservatism. The weeding out process has just begun the next round will come in 2008 then it will be incumbents and Democrats who get booted out.
Democrats campaigned on the need for change Nancy Pelosi without being nominated or elected as House Speaker yet made some rather definitive statements about what she intends to do in the first 100 hours of the new congress. Ms. Pelosi may want to rethink and speak softly knowing she’s only one of 435 members of the House of Representatives. Democrats will not have a super majority and will need to deal with many disgruntled Republicans in much the same way Republican had to deal with disgruntled Democrats for the past 12 years. The question facing Ms. Pelosi is will Republicans be bipartisan for the benefit of the nation or will they be antaginictic obstructionists as the Democrats have been for 12 years?
Democrats face other hurdles to leap they spent 12 years having the privilege of blaming the Republican Party who were in the majority for the presumed failings of the government. Now they’ll be in charge and we can almost guarantee they will be treated no kinder than Republicans were especially by the Media.
Democrats assumed because the media seemed to side with them in the past they were their friends and are immune to their scrutiny, not so. The media has no friends they thrive on the carcasses of political opinion makers. When Democrats can’t come through on one of their promises the media will have no choice but to blame them and have a field day or a week.
The new Democratic congressional leaders haven’t been in the upper echelons of Washington Society long enough to realize it’s all a game, power doesn’t come from a job title it’s anointed by those on the top of the Good Old Boy system. The Congressional leaders are still accountable to those with decades of seniority who’ve carved their nitch in the system they are who actually run both houses of congress.
Today in his news conference President Bush accepted his part in the Republican loss of congress. He took the first step in making a correction in the direction the war in Iraq will take by replacing Rumsfeld. Once again as he did when he took office 6 years ago he held out his hand in peace to the new presumed speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi both privately and publicly. We’ll see what she does with it, shake it or bite it.
President Bush has handed the new Democratic Congress an unprecedented set of economic conditions despite the doom and gloom of the past several months. We’ll see what the Democrats do with it. What Democrats proposed in pre-election campaign speeches is a disaster in the making. Commerce provides the grease that keeps the wheels of government moving smoothly. When Industry is deprived of investment capital the economy is the first to feel the effect. Labor is always the immediate victim of excessive government spending and taxation. John F. Kennedy was the first modern-day president to point this out by reducing taxes on all the people.
The Democrats were clever enough to turn a very talented President into a near national disgrace. Now they’ve picked up the mantel it’ll be interesting to see if they have what it takes to carry it without breaking it.
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