The biggest news of the waning months of this year is the national rout of Republicans, the victory of the Democrats, and the political change about to take place in Washington - -larger in import even than the dismissal of Don Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and the hiring of the former CIA Director Bob Gates, a Bush family friend and former career intelligence analyst, to take Rumsfeld’s place at DOD.
The Democrats ended the 12-year reign of Republicans on Capitol Hill, for better or worse. Now they go from nasty, carping opposition to having to prove themselves to the voters who have put them back in power.
The shift is to the left, obviously -- but it’s still not clear how far to the Left.
Some Democrats crowed that this was a referendum on George Bush and the War in Iraq. Regardless of the crowing, even the gloating, they are right. The election is a repudiation of President Bush, and is tied strongly to his Iraq policies.
Now the pressure is going to be on Mr. Bush and his administration, and on the newly-in-charge Democrats, to change that policy for what they think is the better.
Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco is poised to be Speaker of the House -- the first woman to hold that post. Feminists went crazy over the idea that she has made history.
I know Nancy and like her personally -- but she is truly a San Francisco liberal by every measure, and her voting record on issues of national security and the Global War on Terror has been appalling.
Speaking of terror, enter Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings, the crooked former Federal Judge, impeached and thrown off the US bench by the Senate over bribery charges in 1981. Mr. Hastings is now a Florida congressman, reelected by constituents for whom personal honesty and integrity seem to have little meaning. He is being propelled by this election into new levels of power and national security as a member of the important House Rules Committee. Worse, he is the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which has direct oversight of the US intelligence community in many important areas. Alcee Hastings is expected to be its Chairman.
But, the bottom line here is the unpopularity of the war and the unpopularity of George Bush, who led us into it. This election wasn’t just about that -- but it played a large role and October was the worst month for our troops in two years, and the news coverage reflected it in spades.
Exit polls in The Washington Post suggested that 57 per cent of the electorate disapproved of the war-about the same figure that disapproved of President Bush.
Only 34 per cent thought the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam has improved America’s security. The figure in 2004 was 46 per cent.
According to the Post the more importance a voter attached to the war the more likely he was to vote Democratic.
But the question is what is best for America and for Americans if we change Iraq policy? Liberal Democrats want us to pull out and bring the soldiers home now. More moderate and conservative Democrats, and many Republicans, want a careful plan, not a naked, cowardly retreat that will be even more harmful to the people of Iraq and to our already poor image abroad further convincing for tough confrontation.
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