Do I want to get off my political kick? Yes and no. I’d certainly like to move on to other things, but politics still dominates my thinking. I’d prefer to think about things like science fiction or bikini car washes. I am overjoyed that Obama has won and that Democrats have picked up a lot more seats, but I am under no illusion, that things will be tough.
The Democrats really didn’t make that much progress when they took over Congress in 2006. They decided that their one victory on defeating FISA wasn’t good enough, so they went and undefeated it. Obama voted for the new FISA bill. The old FISA was perfectly adequate. It’s just that Bush didn’t want to be bothered with following the rule of law. All those companies to be granted retroactive immunity could have gotten it in the first place, if Bush had been following the law. Again something he seems to be allergic to. And the absolute worst decision any Speaker of the House ever made was to take impeachment off the table. I’m not sure I could ever forgive Nancy Pelosi for that.
There were many things that the Democrats did that helped to enable the Bush administration and perhaps their reasoning was as simple as covering up their own complicity, or some tortured strategy for winning bigger in 2008. If it’s the latter and those responsible for administrative malfeasance are held accountable and the major damage by this administration will be healed, then I can forgive that.
The Democrats need to govern well. They will have to keep the Republicans from being even more obstructionist than they are now. This means there will have be a reconciliation and a real reaching out to the Republicans. They should only compromise when the compromise achieves real progress. I fear the Republicans and their willing accomplices in the media (e.g.- Fox News, Limbaugh, Drudge) will be assholes. Winning the primary was hard for Obama, winning the election was harder, governing well will be the hardest. I think he’s up to the challenge. Time will tell.
I live in the reddest of red states. No other state gave a higher percentage of the vote to McCain, 66%. We beat Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Louisiana, Alabama, and Alaska. Not only that for the first time in Oklahoma history has the Republicans gained control of both houses of the state legislature.
I though Oklahoma had finally joined the 20th century when it banned cockfighting in 2002 (Even though 30 out of 77 counties filed challenges to the ban. Thankfully the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld it.) Apparently, not. I am deeply ashamed that my home state has decided to be so willfully ignorant in this election. It really should come as no surprise as we keep re-electing perhaps the most reviled Republican Senator remaining in office, Jim Inhofe.
I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m moving to Tucson. Arizona is pretty red, but I’ve been told that Pima county is the most liberal county in Arizona. I’ve checked the election map and that seems to hold up.