1. So I was wrong: The results for the House, combined with those for the Governors and state legislatures, are genuinely impressive. The Republican party is now the more national and more dominant one. It’s also clearly a policy-driven result–a fact the MSM is attempting to obscure with a huge amount of noise about Palin and anonymous corporate giving.
2. Lots of able Republican talent has been introduced into the various levels of government. But the star, of course, is Rubio, who gave a dazzling and very precise victory speech.
3. There’s now, in fact, no chance Palin will be much of a player in the 2012 Republican nominating process. There are lots of good governors–present and former–to choose from. And it will be hard to keep Marco off the ticket.
4. Still, lots of Republicans are just a little disappointed that their candidates didn’t turn out to be utterly invincible everywhere. The Senate results are somewhat unlucky, I guess.
5. The overall national result for now is the gridlocky form of gridlock. The division of the House and the Senate seems to guarantee that nothing new will be passed and nothing old will be repealed. Perhaps the urgency will be to mend the health care scheme in the direction of affordability and sustainability. But more likely the Democrats will hope that the scheme as is will eventually prove to be popular as it is implemented.
6. It’s also clear that both parties in Congress are more “ideological.” Moderate or relatively conservative Democrats took a big hit from more conservative Republicans.
The remaining Democrats are further to the LEFT, and the Tea Party discipline, among other things, has pushed the Republicans a bit more to the RIGHT. It remains to be seen what these facts mean for good government and all that.
7. Next to Rubio, the candidate who moved me most last night (believe it or don’t) was the utterly uncharismatic and achingly earnest Harry Reid. How did that guy get to be the leader?
November 3rd, 2010 | 11:19 am
[...] small business owners. Rep. Boehner understands the principles of the tea party movement and the majority of Americans, and embraces smaller government and responsible spending. He vows that a new direction, not taken [...]
November 3rd, 2010 | 12:59 pm
It’s also clearly a policy-driven result
I guess that depends on what you mean by “policy.” If you’re point it that the frustration which drove so many voters in the direction of the GOP has its roots in policies enacted by the Democrats and President Obama, then yes. But if you mean that the results of the election reflect specific policy preferences, than I would disagree with your conclusion. The Tea Party-energized Republican victors have a wonderful target in Obama and the ACA, but insofar as a plan for how to govern through or around or against them, they don’t have much. They don’t have a Gingrich, in other words, or at least not one that I can see.
November 3rd, 2010 | 1:55 pm
#3, the Palin prediction, seems off to me.
Granted the Republican field now looks very strong. (Hooray!) But with the exception of Jindal and Christy, they are all “rookies”. In another year, Palin will have had 3 years of campaigning, tweeting, writing, and speaking behind her.
Yes, again, she has a lot of perceived negatives. But she has a lot of charisma, and perhaps more importantly, some of the freshman class of Republicans, both congressmen and governors, will owe her big time.
Furthermore, even if she has (much?) less of a chance at the nomination, she can still play a significant role as “king (queen?)-maker”.
November 3rd, 2010 | 1:58 pm
So RAF–that was my point–policy-driven in the negative sense. The election was against, say, your view of social democracy.
November 4th, 2010 | 11:18 pm
I’m in California, where the results were anything but a Republican sweep. I think it may have something to do with California being a “golden state” — it has so many natural advantages that people refuse to believe that businesses are leaving and things could suddenly take a dramatic turn for the worse, with the State’s massive debt, etc. The educational establishment is also very liberal.
Of course, there was also dissatisfaction with the Governor’s performance and with the gridlock every year in passing a budget. It will be interesting to see what the Democrats do in Sacramento without the excuse of having to “compromise” with the Republican minority on the budget.
A bit of good news: the proposition assigning the drawing of congressional seats to an independent commission passed. It was a long time coming.
I think it’s important. When you consider how many seats in the House of Representatives were “in play” vs. those which were “safe”, the new Republican majority seems a little less impressive.
“The United States is the only advanced democratic country which allows politicians to draw legislative districts”. Perhaps things will change somewhat here in 2012, when we have state legislative and federal congressional districts which were not drawn by politicians.
November 6th, 2010 | 12:34 pm
Truly, aside from a generally inchoate reaction to the hazards of incumbency in a crumbling paradigm, about the only durable thing one can take away from this election is the tacit continuance of authoritarianism, suitably obscured by partisan theatrics.
Utopian Empire and its cheerful cadres continues apace while the insecure homeland drops bricks from the eaves.
Sarah Palin as a charismatic represents the train wreck wing of charismatic thought such that any unfolding disaster always commands attention quite easily.
Such are the hazards of political intercourse as public entertainment.
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