What I know is that, for 6 years, the GOP controlled congress pursued a partisan agenda, initiated BS investigation after BS investigation, held up judicial nominations in committee, and did everything else it could in order to tank any legislative initiatives coming from the White House -- it spent those years more focused on the politics of personal destruction than the business of the people, and was as partisan as any governing body can be.
It is therefore quite humorous to see you guys now calling for bipartisanship - which the centrist democrats have always given (and which is all you need for consensus in the Congress). The GOP now controls all of the branches of government, albeit narrowly (and its appointee to the Presidency stands on very shaky ground from day 1 since he lost the popular vote by over 500,000 votes). It will be judged by its actions over the next 2 years -- probably for the rest of the decade. If it governs to the center, it should do fine, both in terms of bi-partisanship and in terms of achieving its goals. If it governs by taking a hard turn to the right (which it gives every appearance of doing right now), it will get slapped (and I for one hope the Dems are at the front of the slapping line). Since the goals articulated by Bush in the campaign (in order to get elected) bear little resemblence to the goals of the right wing of the GOP, I have my doubts that the Congress will pursue Bush's agenda without several hard right turns. But that is their choice, and we will have to wait and see what they do.
But this much is clear, even if right wingers are in denial about it: There is no mandate for a conservative agenda, particularly one dictated by the religious right. That, if nothing else, is the significance of Gore's defeat of Bush in the national popular vote -- you just can't claim a "mandate" when you lose by 500,000 votes. The fact is, Bush's less than 1,000 vote victory in Florida is VERY suspect, and his entire presidency is thus open to attacks of illegitimacy, even if you guys want to call everybody who points that out a "sore loser". The numbers are what they are -- and what they are is this: The only election Bush won was the 5-4 vote of the USSC. At best, the rest was tie, and from where I sit, a defeat much larger than he and his GOP supporters would like to admit.
So let's see how he governs -- if he capitulates to the religious right, the GOP is sunk, and will lose its control of the Congress in two years and the White House in 4. If he reigns in the right wing tendencies of some of his more ardent supporters, and governs to the center, he could well have a successful presidency. We shall see. |
