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The Morning After
Author: BobR    Date: 11/03/2010 12:23:14

The votes have been cast, the results have been counted and analyzed. In the end - the Republicans took the House back. We can now look forward to 2 yrs of the Orange Man as Speaker of the House. Either the Progressives didn't show up, or the moderates decided that the obstructionists that got us into this economic situation after being in charge for so many years deserved another chance to try again.

What will the next two years look like? What sort of radical changes will occur?

In a word - nothing.

Nothing is going to happen for the next two years. The House will pump out legislation that will die in the Senate. The Senate will put out legislation that will die in the House. If by chance any legislation is approved by both Houses of Congress, it will likely get the veto pen.

Health care legislation improvements? Nope
Health care legislation rollback as promised by Republicans? Nope
Environmental and/or business regulations? Nope

Is this as bad as some on the left believe? Is this a return to the Bush era? Of course not. Democrats still control the Senate and the veto. The Republicans do not have enough of a majority to override a veto. This is why nothing will get done. Stasis... status quo...

I am not going to Monday morning quarterback the races and the results. As a whole, I think this election is proof that money invested in fake grassroots movements (the Tea Party) and 3rd party PACs (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) can strongly influence elections. Sadly, this will continue to be the case, because - realistically - will the party that just got swept into power on a tidal wave of a cash going to make laws to turn off the spigot?

Now it is the Democrats turn to be the obstructionists. They can (and hopefully will) block all the crap that the Republicans put out. It's a no-win situation for the Democrats. If the economic and employment stagnation continues, the Democrats will be blamed. If Obama manages to improve either or both, the Republicans will take credit.

On the other hand, provisions of the Health care law will begin to kick in over the next two years. When it's campaign season again, are people going to be willing to give those up? I don't think so.

So - for those of us on the left, we have to remember it's just one House of Congress, and it's only for 2 years until the next election. We have our work cut out for us. Time to roll up our sleeves.

 

48 comments (Latest Comment: 11/03/2010 22:33:33 by Will in Chicago)
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