* I think history will bear out that I was pretty much right about everything. Check back in two years.
* Nancy Pelosi was the most effective legislative leader for the Democrats in ages, and her house was lost. Harry Reid was the least, and he was preserved alive. No freakin’ justice. At the very least, Reid should lose his gig to somebody else (as I said something like six or more years ago, Dick Durbin should be the guy).
* Keeping the Senate is critical because that’s where treaties and appointments are ratified. Not that it’ll do a whole lot of good, but if the Dem leadership is willing to gut the filibuster rules, it might be easier to fill some of those bazillion vacancies that are still there two years on. (And for those balking at gutting it – you can do it now, or you can wait, not take advantage of it, and then watch as the GOP does it next time they’re in charge. I’m done with the unilateral-disarmament crowd.)
* Once you lose the House, it doesn’t matter if it’s by five or fifty, so that ship pretty much sailed long ago.
* Clinton got re-elected by running against Newt Gingrich. Obama now has a half-dozen Newts to run against at a minimum. Will be interesting to see whether the White House dials in, focuses, and starts punching.
* Alabama basically went GOP across the board, including both houses of the Legislature for the first time since 1874. The only question is why it took so long, given that the state hasn’t gone for a Democrat in a national election since Carter or elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992 (and that one switched parties as soon as the GOP took control).
* 1994 was worse, because I don’t think anyone expected it to be that bad. 2000 was worse, because of the prolonged torture and the fear that a Republican in the White House meant the safety was off for a Confederate-ist Congress. 2004 was worse, because the whole gang was reelected despite the fact that Bush’s approval rating immediately sank below 50% and never recovered. This is only bad for one reason: a party where the politics is divorced from governance is capable of serious negative action. Things like government shutdowns, or worse yet a failure to lift the debt limit – stuff with actual circumstances. There’s also the potential for highly annoying things like endless hearings on ACORN or the like, and I still believe an actual impeachment vote is an above-average possibility before 2012, even though there’s no way it could actually go through in the Senate – but there’s going to be no Republican program put through (largely because they haven’t got one) and there’s going to be no Democratic program put through (because the GOP House won’t allow it), so get ready for two years in neutral.
* There’s no point in considering moving somewhere. Hell, I moved to California, and they chased me here. At some point, you turn around and you stand and you fucking fight. Besides, if I were in London, how on Earth would I follow college basketball? (You notice I don’t say football. That is not a misprint.)