The weekend before the election, conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan famously said that we were not so much facing an election on November 7 as an intervention. Now that the intervention has taken place in the House, big time, and apparently in the Senate too, the verdict from around the world is pretty damned clear:
America has spoken, George Bush told the nation this morning two years ago, and it had given him its trust and his confidence. He would continue his policies at home and abroad, buoyed by the public's endorsement. Now, two years further on, America has spoken again - but this time in a very different tone and with the opposite conclusion, issuing a direct warning to the leader it re-elected 24 months ago to change his policy in Iraq. The cheering can be heard not just in America itself but around the planet.
So will Bush remain inside the bunker, or will he accept the lesson of history -- that divided government isn't just good for the country, it's also good for the president (ask Bill Clinton, who got more done with the Newt Gingrich Congress than the Democratic one, even with the ridiculous spectacle of impeachment ... and Reagan didn't do too badly with a House of Representatives run by Tip O'Neil...) Or will he burrow into his inner mental prison, and continue to espouse delusional neoconisms about Iraq? Will he finally repudiate the psychotic neocons who have, by now, almost universally repudiated him? And will he finally embrace old fashioned conservative principles, like smaller government (as opposed to Orwellian government that listens to your phonecalls and sneek and peaks your home before whisking you off to a secret prison with no lawyer...) rather than outlandish BGC (big government conservative) ones?
We shall see.
The wingers are sneering this morning about what the Democrats think they're gonna do. My question is, WWDD... what will Dubya do?
President George W. Bush plans to respond to last night's Republican wipeout with a combination of conciliation and firmness that is unlikely to pacify an empowered and emboldened opposition. Aides say that beginning with an appearance in the East Room this afternoon, Bush will try to cast the blue wave as an opportunity rather than a defeat, and will vow to plunge ahead with transformative goals like reworking the Social Security system for fiscal longevity. "The same group of problems are there," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow tells TIME. "You just will have some different people in the leadership. We have an opportunity to have an activist last two years of this Presidency, which will be good for the country." Snow, who worked conservative talk radio for three hours yesterday afternoon, said Democrats now "have to decide whether they're going to be part of the solution, or are going to try to shut down the government for two years and point fingers at the President."
Snow said the President plans "an up-front focus on issues where we can get things done and on matters of significant shared interest, if not agreement." When Bush was Texas Governor and running for President back in 2000, supporters often pointed to his jocular and productive relations with Democrats in the legislature as signs that he could be what the campaign called "a uniter, not a divider."
"The accurate model for this White House will be the Texas experience, where he worked effectively with Democrats, to their mutual benefit," Snow said. But officials in both parties say that will be awfully hard to replicate in this atmosphere. The President does plan to have incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi over to the White House this week, but a broad charm offensive by White House officials is unlikely. "They're not in the mood for it, and they don't think it would work," said one close adviser.
One move that could buy the President good will with the Hill and the public would be the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and many people close to Bush hope that happens sooner rather than later. "He has screwed the President," said a loyal member of the Bush team who rarely speaks so bluntly. The President said when asked last week that Rumsfeld would serve the rest of the term, but officials say Bush really could not have said anything else, and that is in no way a guarantee that Rumsfeld will still be running the Pentagon at noon on Jan. 20, 2009, when Bush's successor takes office.
Fasten your seatbelts.
Update: The Wizbangers catalogue the winger pain. Hey, at least they're not threatening to move to Canada ... or is that "unfortunately..." And here's one reason why I love trackbacks: through them, I found this quite intelligent, if downhearted post from what appears to be an old fashioned paleoconservative. Boy, do I miss those guys...
All jokes aside, and putting aside my partisanship for just a second, George W. Bush has an historic opportunity to salvage the remaining two years of his presidency. A Congress that won't behave like a babysitter who fell asleep will help focus the administration's policies, by actually forcing them to debate them. Having a rubber stamp Congress that behaves as so many butlers and maids may feel good to the officious president, but it actually is harmful to the presidency. The checks and balances built into our system are there for a reason. They're there to modify the worst impulses of the executive, which unchecked will tilt toward tyranny, no matter who is in office. And it helps to put the breaks on a runaway Congress when the executive is willing to use the veto -- not signing statements -- to actually put a stop to bad law (as opposed to signing bills with your fingers crossed.) With a Congress in the opposition -- if they're willing to work with him rather than spend a lot of time exacting payback on the debauched, spendthrift, power-mad jackasses in charge of the other party, who amused themselves by doing things like consigning Democrats to the basement for hearings, or refusing to let them read bills before they went to the floor -- vindictive shit like that just cries out for payback ... then you might actually get one or two good ideas through. Otherwise, you could get gridlock, which believe me, is better than the stench of bad policy farting all over our Constitution.
If, on the other hand, the Bush administration continues to situate itself for war with the other party, thinking only of 2008 and not of the country, then we're in for a hell of an ugly showdown. What I actually hope is that Bush will finally listen to his earthly father, and get some help from the camp that actually has his interests at heart -- genuine conservatives and Bush I accolytes, rather than the claque of Cheney-led neocons who are mostly in it for themselves, their ridiculous ideology, which centers strangely on picking fights with Muslims, and all the lucre they can gwok. Rid yourself of them, Mr. President. You'll be glad you did.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
