The election results are almost complete. Save a potential for recount in Virginia, the reversal of fortunes by the GOP is complete. The public rebuke of the last six years of governance by the GOP in Congress and the White House is manifest. The Democrats will, come January, enjoy a comfortable lead in the House of Representatives, a margin similar to that held by the GOP over the past six years. It now looks like the Democrats will also enjoy a 51-49 majority in the Senate, assuming support of two Independents who have declared they will caucus with Democrats.
Pundits and analysts have attempted to portray the election results as a repudiation of the President’s handling of the War in Iraq. Bush attempted to dissemble in his news conference and to spin the results as an expression by the public that results were not sufficient and fast enough, but the public wants the US to stay in Iraq “until we achieve victory.” To be sure, the handling of Iraq was a factor in the election that has brought change to leadership in Washington. House Speaker elect Nancy Pelosi suggested that the first step President Bush could take to establish dialogue on Iraq would be to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in whom the Public and the military have lost confidence. Wednesday Morning following the Tuesday election, Rumsfeld was gone.
However, the impact of the election runs deeper than Iraq. The widespread dissatisfaction and the retirement of incumbents across the country in quarters thought safe by the GOP signal a more profound disapproval of the manner in which this country has been governed. The rule by a single party had become an antidemocratic and arrogant leviathan that brooked no dissent or opposition and refused to even listen respectfully to opposing ideas, even from within the GOP caucus. The public has waited in vain for answers to the legitimate questions about how and why the country was led into the Iraq invasion. The present Congress had no desire to exercise its Constitutional role of oversight. The perks of rule led those in power to believe that the public trust was instead the public trough. Legislation was guided by the interests of lobbyists willing to shovel truckloads of cash to elected representatives through their campaign accounts and then directly, ignoring completely all ethical rules. At the same time, the public was being stripped of its civil rights based upon jingoistic slogans and fear mongering about the “war on terror.”
The awakening of the public represents a repudiation of the manner in which it is being governed, not a proclamation on any single issue. There is no monolithic response to the many important issues that the country faces. That is precisely the problem with the GOP Neocon ideology and the imperial Presidency. The people of this country believe in discourse and dissent. They believe that opposing views can inform a more reasoned and effective result. The GOP refused to listen to or temper their ideology with opposing viewpoints. With control of Congress and the White House, they believed that they had no need to consider opposing views. They even threatened to eliminate filibuster with the “nuclear option” if the democrats tried to block a GOP initiative. The filibuster was developed as a stopgap tool of the minority to prevent oppression by a majority party. Many of the resulting measures were ill conceived and overreaching. The Congressional leadership was so arrogant that they directed staffers to insert provisions in final legislation that the Conference Committees had not approved, knowing that their control of Congress would back the move if the deception were eventually uncovered. And even measures that were reasonable took on a negative cast because of the way in which they were enacted.
The greatest lesson that the Democrats can take away from this election is how NOT to govern. While maintaining a sense of direction, a coherent strategy and a connection with the public on important issues, the Democrats need to listen carefully and respectfully to ideas and concerns raised by GOP representatives. If the ideas make sense, incorporate them. If they do not, respectfully decline. But never be afraid to listen to ideas that differ from your own, and never be afraid to learn something new. The governance that the American public wants and needs is one of collaboration and leadership, not arrogance and bullying tactics.
An additional move that the Democratic controlled Congress should take is to repeal the measures that stripped the American people of their Constitutional rights of liberty and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. The country will only be truly safer when we dispel the ghost of the phony and indefinable “War on Terror” and focus on real threats to safety. Experts from all political stripes tell us that the country is no safer from a potential terrorist attack than before 9/11 occurred. One has to believe that if we had spent $300 Billion on improving the staffing, technical and coordination capabilities of US and international criminal enforcement agencies, that our situation would be far better. Instead, we have mortgaged the future of our children to create a fiasco that has led to civil war in Iraq and a greater risk to world peace than existed prior to 9/11. Calming the public hysteria and “group think” fostered by Bush and the Neocons will be difficult, but it is vitally important if the real threat of terrorist activity is to be addressed.
We forget that the activity of the 9/11 hijackers was known to police, CIA and FBI agencies prior to the attack. They simply lacked the procedures and the mentality to share that information with each other. One certainty is that rational measures specifically targets to address those shortcomings would not have cost the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the Iraq fiasco. There is no way to turn back the clock or to bring back those lost souls. But with the help of God and an awakened public, we may be able to change direction and limit further damage and unnecessary loss of life.
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