Trying Not to Gloat

Have you ever experienced the feeling of drowning before? Yeah, me neither, but I imagine. The tightness in your chest, the dizziness as the oxygen leaves your brain, the feeling of helplessness. Pretty much how I've felt since George W. Bush has been in office.

But this week, I got thrown a life preserver. The American voter, finally fed up with the ill-conceived, endless Iraq War, made a change. They turned over control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats. They also gave the majority of statehouses in this country to Democratic governors. They gave the hubristic, petulant President his most decisive defeat outside of the Persian Gulf. And I couldn't be happier.

It's hard not to feel a little annoyed, though. Did these people get a late pass? Didn't they see that we went to war on skewed intelligence and total bullshit? That there were no WMDs? That there was no contingency provided if the Iraqis didn't lay palm fronds at our soldiers' feet? That Bush and his cronies have damaged our admittedly shaky standing as a moral force in the world, with their raging hard-ons for torture and illegal spying?
Shouldn't this have been done TWO FREAKIN' YEARS AGO?

Yeah, but I guess it took that long for the electorate to see through Bush's manipulation of fear and combination of utter cluelessness and arrogance in Iraq before it sunk in. That combined with the Katrina fiasco of a year ago, and the unending scandals on the Hill, to send voters into the arms of Democrats, who collectively seem vaguely confused at their good fortune.

But it all plays into a theory that I have about America. It may seem naive, but hear me out: America is not as right-wing as it has been told it is. Deep down, when allowed to think rationally, when not blinded by ignorance and fear, Americans might just make the correct (not RIGHT) choice. Though they think they want a government run by the Right, when they get one, and things go too far, things finally get brought back around.

Think about a few years ago, when Newt Gingrich and his cronies engineered their "Contract with America," their plan to change the country on their terms, and keep it there. Ultimately, the hypocrisy and presumption of these guys led America to say, "no, thanks." The only time we see Gingrich these days, outside of Fox News, is when he's got some new shitty book to promote.

So this pendulum has swung the Democrats' way, but I don't want too be too optimistic. Heaven forbid. Because it could swing back to the right in two years. The Democrats need to learn from the lessons of those years in the wilderness and not keep making the same mistakes. And hey, Bush still has the Supeme Court on lock. That, besides Iraq and Katrina, will be the lasting legacy of his presidency.

But let's think positively for now, and say goodbye to some people that may have left our lives for good this week. George Allen, Rick Santorum, Robert Ehrlich, Donald Rumsfeld, so many others... SO LONG, SUCKERS!!