These were some of the ways that the pundits were using to describe the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives. The largest switch of power in the House since 1948 was breathtaking to watch.
But election night was not as bad for the Democrats as you might think. The Republicans failed to win the Senate. Despite a very tough race with a favorite of the T.E.A. party movement, Harry Reid will remain as Majority Leader. And while promising to embrace an era of compromise in Congress, Reid also promised to defend health care reform.
The Democrats still hold the presidency and the Senate, and frankly I've woken up to much worse political news than that. Their control of the White House and both Houses of Congress -- including a near filibuster-proof majority -- was a political aberration. Apparently, they knew they would only have two years to enjoy such an advantage and they used it to get health care reform and other legislation passed. That is something that probably could not have been achieved under a divided government.
And according to the exit polls, the sea of red that has swept across the maps of the TV pundits does not mean that Americans will now embrace the entirety of the Republican platform. Elections are won in the middle, with independents. And the independents who backed Obama in 2008 switched to the GOP candidates in 2010.
But they did so not because they and other voters loved the Republicans so much, but because they were so very unhappy about the economy and needed to express their frustration. So, they backed the Republicans, but it is cautious support and it could switch back to the blue in another two years. They are on probation, and voters will be waiting to see whether they make things better.
I take comfort in the fact that the most extreme of the T.E.A. party candidates either lost or seem to be lagging behind in the vote counts at this writing. O'Donnell, Paladino, Angle, Buck and Miller were the most outrageous in this campaign, and I would be glad to see their ambitions clipped. Apparently Murkowski is way ahead of Miller in Alaska, but because hers was a write-in campaign, we will need to wait as the votes are verified.
My other concern was Rand Paul in Kentucky, who made some questionable attacks on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He had criticized the part of the act that required businesses to not discriminate against customers. He saved his campaign by reaffirming his support of the Civil Rights Act. However, I will have to wait and see what his record will be in the Senate. Paul is a ophthalmologist who has never held office before. However, his father is a former congressman and former candidate for president.
In the end, I don't think that the Republicans or the T.E.A. party candidates have the mandate or the means to conduct the kind of dismantling of governmental agencies, programs and the Constitution that had been bandied about in this election.
But they do carry the message to Washington that the economy is the No. 1 concern of American voters. They will also carry their core philosophy of smaller government and less taxes, which is a theme I respect but they had lost sight of under George Bush. So, the debate between the left and the right will continue. Hopefully, it will be a debate conducted with some sanity and reason.
The good news is that Democrats and Republicans now have a common enemy: unemployment.
We avoided falling into a second Great Depression in 2008. The economy stabilized and there has been some small economic growth. The problem is that it has been a jobless recovery. Nearly 10 percent of the workforce is still unemployed, and that was a major source of voter dissatisfaction.
So, this is the opportunity to show compromise is possible. The two sides need to work together on creating jobs in America. That is the mandate for both parties.
Here's a blog in the Washington Post that I thought was very insightful: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/2010/11/voters_wanted_change_not_neces.html
Good interview on the Colbert Report with David Frum.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Indecision 2010 - David Frum | ||||
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