In November, 2006, when the Republican Party lost full control of Congress, I suggested that gloating was not in order. After all, George W. Bush was still in the White House and Dick Cheney was still pulling his strings. I'd wanted to switch on the TV so I could watch the high-paid pundits spin the defeat into victory for the Republicans, as they always do.
At the time, I wrote, "Just as I reached for the knob, I thought, nah, I can't even stand to look at these people long enough to gloat at their expense. I loathe what they've done to my country so much that I want them to go away, crawl back under their rocks. In a better world, I would never have to think of them again, never again have to gaze upon the faces of Kate Harris, Ricky Santorum, 'Macaca' Allen or any of the others."
The history-making election of last week—which, despite its inevitability, caught all the high-paid pundits by surprise again—would seem to offer many more reasons to gloat. Some of the worst of the worst are gone. Sen. Libby Dole (R-N.C.). Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho; yes, Idaho!). Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.). Two GOP incumbents in New Mexico. Two in Michigan. Two in New York. Two in Ohio. Three in Virginia.
There are five new non-Republican Senators, and counting (Kay Hagan, Mark Warner, Jeanne Shaheen, Tom Udall, Jeff Merkley). The race in Minnesota between Norm Coleman and Al Franken went to a recount, and the race in Georgia (Georgia!) between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin at press time was headed to a runoff. Sen. Ted Stevens, the convicted felon just reelected in Alaska, will likely retire or be retired by the Senate Republican Caucus. Six House seats, as of this writing, are still undecided. Two will have runoffs in December. The Democrats will have at least 255 seats in the new house, up from 203 before the 2006 election.
And yet gloating should be put aside, because the task ahead for the Democratic Congress and President-elect Barack Obama is monumental. Though Obama has yet to be inaugurated, the honeymoon is already over. How does one clean up after a national disaster on the scale of George W. Bush? Where do you even begin?
A few things that need to be done during President Obama's first term in office: enact a national energy policy (bring in Al Gore to implement it); repair international alliances with the goal of getting help in extracting ourselves from Iraq; open talks with our "enemies" in Iran and elsewhere and ratchet down the martial rhetoric; rejoin the majority of nations taking proactive steps to combat global warming; restore cuts in international family planning and AIDS funding; make Africa and South America foreign policy priorities, as both continents will suffer the brunt of climate change impacts; don't dictate agendas to other nations; ignore the high-paid pundits because they are always wrong; avoid wedge issues like gay marriage, school prayer, flag burning. The American people are ready to be treated like adults.
Other priorities: Harry Reid has to be replaced as Senate Majority Leader, as does Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House (unlikely); the Supreme Court has to be brought back toward the center; Joe Lieberman must be demoted; the Justice Department and EPA have to be resuscitated; the FBI needs to focus more attention on right-wing domestic terrorism (that's where our next "attack" will come from).
Still, let's take a moment to examine the roll call of those who've been jettisoned during the George W. Bush Nightmare: Tom Delay, Bill Frist, Dennis Hastert, Donald Rumsfeld, Lewis Libby, John Bolton, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzalez, Katherine Harris, Elizabeth Dole, John Sununu, Chris Shays, Nancy Johnson, George "Macaca" Allen, Duke "Of Slime" Cunningham, Larry "Wide Stance" Craig, Mark "Page Boy" Foley.
Sweet relief.
