by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 04, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

The fat is in the fire, the vultures have come home to roost. Now the fat has been rendered, and the results continue to pour in from all parts of the country. The Democrats have regained control of the House, and they stand at 50-49 in the Senate. The last-ditch effort of plummeting petroleum prices and negativism has backfired for the Grand Ole Party. With Nancy Pelosi (D-California) set to become the first female Speaker of the House in American history, the tide has shifted into the corner of presidential opposition.

But the real crisis remains that there really is no substantive course of action detailed for the Democrats as they regain power of the legislature for the first time in twelve years. Bush's power tripod has had a leg knocked out from underneath the executive; his lame-duck years will be spent in forced bipartisanship. But unless the Democrats can find a better rallying cry than "We are not George Bush", their momentum gained in November 2006 will be a fleeting memory once executive elections roll around in two years.

We can applaud the "victory" of the Democrats for exactly what it is: a step backward from the imperialist tactics implemented throughout G.W. Bush's presidency. But, with the legislature no longer in the back pocket of the Texan maverick, it remains to be seen yet whether it will be a step forward for the American people. While the majority of the pre-election focus was zeroed in on the Iraqi occupation, millions of Americans live in the same poverty and insufficient conditions. Hundreds of thousands of families remain displaced after the hurricane season of 2005. The rising cost of living continues to surge faster than pay increases, tightening the purse-strings of citizens as we enter the holiday season.
And it is possible that the Democrats have a plan. They have begun to crow for a new policy in relation to the continued occupation in the Middle East. Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's longest-serving Cabinet member, has resigned from his post as Secretary of Defense in the wake of the Republican tumble. Pelosi is calling for drastic changes in the military complex more money for body armor and less for Halliburton...

But, unfortunately, I cannot really discern what said plan might just be. The Democrats won the 2006 elections by sticking to the center of the road and declaring that they are a different choice for America. While such a campaign will get one elected, it will not help in setting policy over the next seven-hundred-plus days. The Democratic Party has found itself in the catbird seat, primed to provide some opposition with bite. Hopefully, the party will find the strength to exercise their mandibles, sinking into the fetid flesh of the Bush administration and awakening America to the real intent of the Founding Fathers when they set up the system we now live under. If they fail to do so, we will soon find ourselves under the thumb of another imbecilic oaf with trigger-happy fingers. And we might as well let ol' Dick Nixon rise from the grave and swoop back into the Oval Office if we as a populace are going to be ignorant enough to allow something like that to happen. Former D.C. Mayor Marion Berry once said, during a re-election campaign, "I may not be perfect, but I am perfect for D.C." And he was right: the people of the District of Columbia got exactly what they collectively deserved in re-electing an admitted crack-smoker. If the American public learns nothing from the gains earned in this midterm election, it too will be forced to swallow exactly what it deserves...

Broadcasting from the cerebral vortex...
Bigalke 08/Nov/2006 18:10 Eugene

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