Could Have Been Worse

I guess I should say something. The election went fairly well for people other than the President and that's something we should all be happy about. Although, I couldn't help but notice there were still many, many candidates running unopposed, and many, many PA state candidates that voted themselves that sleazy pay raise are still working, and many, many congressmen who - although they are now saying it was probably a mistake - voted to go to war with Iraq still serving. So it isn't as sunny a day as it could be.

Strangely, the stench of the administration is so strong the Rhode Island senator got voted out even though he had voted against the war. Sucks to be him. Think of all the crap he took for the past couple of years, and all for nothing.

At least we're done with Santo Rum for the time being. Although its a natural that we'll see Sanitarium for President the next time around. And you know, seeing as how he and Casey almost got into a fist fight in a debate last month, it might be fun to have him run for president - except for the part where he might get the nomination and maybe win. I'm sure there are no residency problems to bitch about when the jurisdiction is national.

So we have a Democratic House, and we're days away from having either a Democratic or split Senate. Glory be, the return of American Democracy, spelled: G-R-I-D-L-O-C-K. Worse things could happen certainly. I read a few weeks ago that Bush had his department heads looking into the limits of his power without the ratification of congress. Funny, when I started thinking about a Democratic house the thought that kept bouncing around my brain was "high crimes and misdemeanors." Taking the country to war over trumped up evidence ought to be almost as bad as getting head from an intern, and that was good enough to keep the entire congress busy for almost three times as long as Teri Schiavo.

Even better than that though is the possibility of Cheney having to be present for every vote taken in the Senate:

"Mr. President, I'd like permission to revise and extend my remarks."

"Fuck you. Sit Down."

That'll be a new kind of collegiality for children to learn from, that's for sure.

And then, like a cherry on the sundae we get Rumsfeld's resignation today. Strangely with all the pieces in place already. Do you suppose this decision was made some time ago and they decided that having Bush state his unswerving loyalty was the best way to energize their base going into the election? Hmm. That James Baker, bi-partisan, independent Iraq report they've been sitting on for a month must be pretty bad if Bush decided to can Rumsfeld before people got to even complain. I wonder who else might be hearing they're through - and this time maybe without a medal of freedom.

Still, this is much more a challenge than a victory. It's one day of feeling good for stickin it to the man. But they still have to govern, and the machine as a whole is still broken, riddled with special interests and rigged to within an inch of not functioning at all. George W Bush is still President. We're still on the ground in Iraq. There are six years of "homeland security" and environment and energy and tax and trade and god knows what else legislation and policy that need inspection let alone action. Its going to take months just to sort out what's been happening while we've had this rubber stamp congress. And unfortunately most of the people that made the change yesterday only really work one day every other year.

God help us, the rest of the time its up to the professionals.