The election analysis in this morning’s Washington Post speaks straight to Polimom (my emphasis throughout):
How far the balance shifts to the left remains to be seen. The passion of the antiwar movement helped propel party activists in this election year, and the House leadership under the likely new speaker,Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), hails from the party’s liberal wing. But the Democrats’ victory was built on the back of more centrist candidates seizing Republican-leaning districts, and Pelosi emphasized that she will try to lead without becoming the ideological mirror of Gingrich.
“We have learned from watching the Republicans — they would not allow moderates a voice in their party,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in an interview as he waited to see if Democrats would take control of the upper chamber as well. “We must work from the middle.“
B’gosh, I think he’s talking to li’l ole voiceless me! How refreshing… and I’m not alone in seeing things this way:
Paul Silver writing at Donklephant:
In a triumph for moderation, the constitution, and civil society control of the House AND Senate may have changed parties. In only a few hours after tens of millions of citizens turned out for a midterm election, and the spending of $2.6 Billion on campaigns, voters peacefully and efficiently changed the direction of the richest, most complex, and most powerful nation on the planet. A majority of Americans seem to agree that the country is going in the wrong direction and the president needs more checks and balances.
From The Bull Moose:
There is great joy in Mooseland. The nutroots have struck out. Joe Lieberman has prevailed. The vital center is victorious!
And I have to agree — it does indeed seem that voters rejected both extremes yesterday. However, while Polimom shares all this enthusiasm, it’s with a tad less abandon; the people have spoken before, with slightly less than stellar results (ahem).
This final paragraph from WaPo, though, gave me some real hope:
As the election approached, the White House said it would not trim its sails no matter who won. But as they absorbed the losses last night, Bush aides said he will return to his style of governance in Texas, when he forged a strong working relationship with a legislature led by conservative Democrats.
Yes, that would be just dandy. No time like the present… though as glad as I am to read that this morning, I’d like to know where it’s been for the last six years.
[…] Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake is apparently hearing the Democratic leadership’s acknowledgment of the need for more moderate politics and bipartisanship (my prior post here)… and is not at all happy: So Rahm, here’s a message from your constituents who just worked their asses off to give their party a victory: don’t be a back-stabbing ass. Nancy Pelosi deserves more loyalty and less personal power grabbing from you and your selfish posse. Bi-partisanship is fantastic when it is working properly, with everyone involved acting in good faith. I don’t know about you guys, but I think the Republican party needs to prove that it has some good faith before we start caving in to their demands. […]
I think you missed the point in the passage you quoted: Bush “forged a strong working relationship with a legislature led by conservative Democrats.”
I would actually place them as conservative-to-moderate. So to answer your question with another: where have the conservative-to-moderate Democrats been these past six years? None of the current Demo leadership fit that profile (that is,before the election), so I am going to wait - without holding my breath - to see if their change is real, or just making nicey-nicey after the election.
~EdT.
“I am going to wait - without holding my breath - to see if their change is real, or just making nicey-nicey after the election.”
I’m not waiting. For the first time ever, I’m pushing. If we wait until the dust settles, the ravers (and they exist on all sides) may begin to sway these folks. Whether they’re newly elected or newly empowered, they need to hear the voices along with the votes.