According to CNN and other news outlets the Democrats are projected to take control of the House.  The Senate is still up in the air at the moment.

I’m not at all disappointed.  I stand by my comments from a couple of months ago.  From a big picture, long term point of view this election is shaping up to be a win for the (real) Republicans, though.

The Democrats’ majority in the House will likely be slim.  Of that slim majority, there will be a rather large constituency of conservative legislators.  In addition to the current moderate/conservative Dems, such as Bud Cramer and Dan Boren, they had to recruit faux-Republican candidates, such as Heath Shuler (in the House) as well as James Webb and John Tester (in the Senate).  That will severely hamper the Dem’s efforts to pass decidedly liberal legislation.  It could also have a moderating effect on the personnel selected to serve as key committee chairmen.

As noted by none other than the New York Times today, anything short of a blow out victory for the Dems could seem more like a failure.  Their takeover of the House has been predicted for months and expectations have been high, although party officials tried to tamp down those lofty expectations in the last few weeks.

Unlike the 1994 takeover by the Republicans, the people of the country didn’t vote for the Democrats as much they voted against the Republicans.  The Democrats haven’t offered any compelling platform to excite voters and they will have no real ability to affect change on the (supposedly) most important issue: Iraq.  Bush is still Commander in Chief.  Sure, spending bills originate in the House and the Dems could cut off funding for the war, but not even they are so stupid as to commit the political suicide that such a move would represent.

I’m fine with the Dems spending the next two years investigating the Bush administration.  At least that will divert them, if only temporarily, from trying to raise our taxes.  If Bush administration officials have done wrong, then they should be held accountable.  If they haven’t, then the Dems will look foolish, petty, and wasteful after months or years of costly investigations.

The biggest benefit for the Republicans, though, is that they are now well poised to return to power in 2008.  As they have watched their control of Congress slowly slip away they have abandoned any pretense of being a party with big ideas.   Instead they have become the party of big government.  If they are smart (no guarantee there) they will abandon wedge issues (like gay marriage) in 2008 and focus instead on real issues, such as tax and entitlement program reforms.

The Republicans asked for what they got today.  I only hope they learn from this scolding from the voters.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 1:26 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.