What Do We Do Now?
In case you don't recognize the allusion, the title of this blog entry alludes to the last line of the 1972 Robert Redford film "The Candidate." Directed by the underrated Michael Ritchie, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see one of the best films about politics made in the past 40 years (check out his wonderful film "Smile" while you're at it).
But to get back to the fallout from the midterm elections.
I've been giving this some thought, because Democrats are in power now, or they will be soon, and it's time to make the switch from carping on ther sidelines at an admittedly inept and corrupt Republican Congress and Administration to actually governing. How well we do that will determine where the country goes in the next two years, and will help decide who wins the White House in 2008.
The first thing we have to realize is that we can't govern like the Republicans did. As tempting as it might be to give them a little payback by locking them out of the process as thoroughly as they locked us out for the past decade or so, it's just not feasible. Arrogance on that scale would lead to disaster. Democrats and Republicans are going to have to find a way to work together and to find what common ground there is to get as much as possible done.
Impeachment, sad to say, is probably a dead issue. As much as Bush deserves to be tossed out of office, we have to be better than the Republicans, who impeached Bill Clinton in the last two years of his administration out of pure spite and because they thought (wrongly, as it turned out) that they could get away with it. We need to figure out a way to work with Bush, and that will be hard to do if we're trying to impeach him.
What this election shows is that the kind of partisan politics engaged in by the GOP has been thoroughly repudiated. The conservatives in the GOP have to purge the fascists and the neo-cons in their ranks if they want to have a chance of making a comeback on the national scene any time soon.
Democrats seem to have captured the center in American politics away from the Republicans. How well they govern, and whether or not we win the White House, will be determined by how well we can hold onto the center.
And if I had to pick a presidential ticket for 2008 at this point, it would be Gore/Richardson. More on that later.
Tom Moran
posted by Tom Moran @ 2:40 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
This isn't about Clinton. It's about accountability to our Constitution. Sometimes reprimanding a child (President) doesn't make the family (Washington) a happy place. But you still have to do it so the child and his siblings (future presidents) learns about accountability. Holding government officials accountable for their actions strengthens our democracy. Letting lawlessness stand weakens it.
This isn't about a blow job.
Bush could still appoint more Supreme Court Judges. Also, The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that the death toll from a "tactical" nuclear weapon of the kind Bush is contemplating using in Iran would be at minimum 3 million men, women, and children. The path of death would stretch across country boundaries into India.
Bush will veto/use signing statements on any Democratic bill passed. Bush could still appoint more Supreme Court Judges. Also, The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that the death toll from a "tactical" nuclear weapon of the kind Bush is contemplating using in Iran would be at minimum 3 million men, women, and children. The path of death would stretch across country boundaries into India.
Post a Comment
<< Home