Well, last night was a huge disappointment, and no matter how many times I refreshed my browser, the results were still the same. Actually, they got worse throughout the evening.
Still, I'm optimistic. I'm totally with Michelle Malkin on this one:
Unlike Michael Moore in 2004, however, I will not be staying in bed for three days in a catatonic state. I will not need PEST shock therapy. I will not move to Australia.
Right now, it is comforting to remember that President Bush was most successful as a politician when he was governor of Texas and his legislature was majority Democrat. He built such a bond between himself and Democrats that he was able to crush his opponent in 1998 by over 30 points. The man knows how to play politics well, and I think we will see a new George W. Bush emerge in the wake of yesterday's Democrat victory.
I think that this election came down to accountability. All the fights that the mainstream media has picked with the Bush administration (Abu Graib, Guantanamo, NSA data collection, SWIFT, intelligence reports, etc.) all hinge on the assumption that Bush has been given carte blanche by a rubber stamp Republican congress and is completely unaccountable for what he does. Now it's all in the Democrat's hands -- the war on terror, the economy, everything. Now they will be the ones accountable.
But back to Bush. He is a class act. His press conference today was one of the most down-to-earth public appearances that he has made in years. He handled the snarky questions of the press well, articulated his agenda well (for him at least) and seemed extremely comfortable with what he will need to do in the next few weeks and months. He will not give up his primary responsibility, which is to defend Americans from attack. And he will not give up his dream for a democratic Iraq. The resignation of Rumsfeld was a surprise to me, but not totally unexpected. Again, Bush has placed the direction of the war in the Democrats hands. They will have to vet the new SecDef nominee, Robert Gates. The can no longer blame everything on Republicans.
News outlets should have video of the Bush press conference available shortly. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to turn the clock back twelve years and listen to what Bill Clinton had to say after the Democrats defeat back in 1994. I recently found a cassette of this speech and the Rush Limbaugh show from that day in a box of old junk, so I had it my fingertips.
Download clinton.mp3 (1.35 Mb, 5:45)
Bill Clinton's primary objective was prosperity, and his message was targeted to those who "look forward" vs. those who want to "undo progress" by reverting to "failed policies" (i.e. Reaganomics.). It's interesting how things change in twelve years.
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