Wednesday, November 03, 2004
The People Have Spoken
Oh What A Night
It's pretty much over this morning and if your a Bush supporter today is a bright sunny day. If you're like Elephant had harbored deep doubts and dissappointments on Bush's record, it's a day of mixed emotions. Many surprises last night, including the lack of surge in youth voting. So what to make of it all? I'm not sure yet as I haven't poured over any of the exit polls or interviews. Bush and his folks should be happy, they worked hard and organized the troops in a manner never seen before in the GOP and it appears to have paid off for them in many states, including Ohio.
So what should we expect in the next four years? Elephant is hopeful that the expanded Republican majority will find religion on spending and get the budget in line, focus on the economy and terrorism rather than divisive social issues and work toward a more accountable government. But of course, with the sad record of the administration and the GOP controlled congress in the last few years I'm hopeful, but not deluded. Part of my concern is that the GOP has done such a bad job of governing (and with $400 billion plus deficits that's not an opinion, its empirical fact) and that the voters didn't find that important enough to hold them accountable that there is no incentive to change their behavior. Besides, we here in Washington aren't very imaginative, so if a certain message works, we stick to it. So I would expect that we will continue to see the focus on social issues, tax give-aways and a deficits don't matter attitude. But I can still be hopeful.
Of course while Bush may have won another four years, he's still got his work cut out for him. Most American's still feel we're on the wrong track and more than half of us dissapprove of his job performance. The federal budget will increasingly constrain the abilty of congress to develop new programs, reform social security and increase spending on healthcare and education. It's going to be a tough four years not only for the dissapointed Kerry supporters, but for the Republicans as well.
So even if the pundits and party hacks are calling this a revolution, it's not quite that grand, but does reflect important gains for the GOP. Let's hope they make the most of it.
Personally, I was looking forward to critiquing a new administration, but I'm sure this one will continue to provide us with material to talk about.
It's pretty much over this morning and if your a Bush supporter today is a bright sunny day. If you're like Elephant had harbored deep doubts and dissappointments on Bush's record, it's a day of mixed emotions. Many surprises last night, including the lack of surge in youth voting. So what to make of it all? I'm not sure yet as I haven't poured over any of the exit polls or interviews. Bush and his folks should be happy, they worked hard and organized the troops in a manner never seen before in the GOP and it appears to have paid off for them in many states, including Ohio.
So what should we expect in the next four years? Elephant is hopeful that the expanded Republican majority will find religion on spending and get the budget in line, focus on the economy and terrorism rather than divisive social issues and work toward a more accountable government. But of course, with the sad record of the administration and the GOP controlled congress in the last few years I'm hopeful, but not deluded. Part of my concern is that the GOP has done such a bad job of governing (and with $400 billion plus deficits that's not an opinion, its empirical fact) and that the voters didn't find that important enough to hold them accountable that there is no incentive to change their behavior. Besides, we here in Washington aren't very imaginative, so if a certain message works, we stick to it. So I would expect that we will continue to see the focus on social issues, tax give-aways and a deficits don't matter attitude. But I can still be hopeful.
Of course while Bush may have won another four years, he's still got his work cut out for him. Most American's still feel we're on the wrong track and more than half of us dissapprove of his job performance. The federal budget will increasingly constrain the abilty of congress to develop new programs, reform social security and increase spending on healthcare and education. It's going to be a tough four years not only for the dissapointed Kerry supporters, but for the Republicans as well.
So even if the pundits and party hacks are calling this a revolution, it's not quite that grand, but does reflect important gains for the GOP. Let's hope they make the most of it.
Personally, I was looking forward to critiquing a new administration, but I'm sure this one will continue to provide us with material to talk about.
