We won! Now what?

I am not amazed that we Dems took the House, but I'm completely overjoyed that we took the Senate as well! I figured we'd get a few seats, but would still be living in fear of a red world. The 110th Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2007. Oh, happy day for us blues! I plan on watching as much of the festivities as I can.

It wasn't only the war that was the reason for many people voting, Katrina figured quite highly, especially with African Americans. Democracy Now! has an interesting Round Table discussion titled "Who Voted and Why? A Roundtable Discussion on the Ethnic, Religious and Social Makeup of Voters in the Elections" . You can either listen, read the transcript or purchase the CD or Video. It's short enough to read in minutes yet contains much good information.

I do have one big question: now what do we do? Sure, Bush is the lamest of ducks, Rumsfeld is gone, but that doesn't mean it's going to be all champaigne and roses. Bush doesn't even like to believe Democrats exist; after all it's his world and we just live in it. I think having a little chat with Nancy Pelosi actually made him a wee bit nervous.

It does look like he is going to be pushing his favorite cause of the moment, wiretapping Americans. Read this interesting tidbit from the New York Times.

In Washington, President Bush urged that during the lame-duck session that starts next week, Congress pass a bill effectively authorizing the program. And in San Francisco, the Justice Department told a federal court that public scrutiny of the operation risked “exceptionally grave harm to national security.”

But Democrats sounded impatient to begin getting more answers after what they characterized as 11 months of stonewalling by the administration since the program was publicly disclosed last December.

“This administration first hid its domestic spying program from Congress and Americans for years, and when it was discovered, has ducked and weaved on its legal justifications,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who is to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control.

Go for it, Senator Leahy! I'm tired of losing my democracy. I want my country back!

The rest of the article suggests that the Bushies are going to use the "state secrets" ploy to keep from having to explain their sorry behinds to the American People.

There's a lot on the Democratic plate right now, and all I want to say to the new Congress is do your jobs, but don't forget that while Iraq is important, so is health care, education, medicare and many more issues that no one wants tossed aside. Yes, we need to investigate the crooks that have used the government for their own person gains, so tread carefully. As easy as it was to get elected this time, but no democrat wants a similar Republican win in the next election.

Hey, Dems: Get your agenda formulated, get your people behind it, and don't bicker like you did in 2004. Find a good presidential candidate, and give him or her 100% of your support early on. It would help if it wasn't Hillary, even though I really like her (not so her DLC ties). The Republicans already demonize her, even though she's tremendously popular. I want an election not a mud slinging contest.

It's going to take years to fix the mess GWB has made, and we need Democrats in the House, Senate and White House to do it.

That's enough for now folks. Keep on working for what is right!