Finding the dark cloud around the silver lining

As you're probably all aware by now, the Democrats have taken control of the House and most likely the Senate. Aside from Aaron's valid points that neither party represents a radical departure from the other and that the two-party system is inherently flawed, I'm much happier that the Dems have retaken at least one branch of the government. We can work on the executive branch in two years and the judiciary... well, that'll be a little harder, but Scalia looks like he might have a heart attack soon. Roberts and Alito, unfortunately, we might have to live with for a while. Thomas, aside from being a frighteningly obvious and uninspired sexual harrasser (Pubic hair? Really?), seems like he won't ever die. He's like the Kurgan, except black.          :)

Ah, the enduring legacy of George W. Bush -- an ass-backward, conservative cadre of "activist" justices. To rephrase something I read earlier today, if these guys leaned any farther right, they'd fall over.

Anyway, the dark cloud to which I referred? The Democrats (and liberals in general) have been set up to fail. They've inherited a partisan legislature in which the remaining conservatives, having had their collective ass handed to them, will entrench themselves in their "values" and block any attempts at progress. And by progress I mean getting any legislation at all passed.

Even if Congress manages to get a bill out its doors, the President will most likely veto it out of spite (except perhaps an immigration bill, since he leans more centrist on that topic than any other).

So you see, the Democrats have been thrust into an unenviable position -- they were chosen as the alternative. They were the lesser of two evils.

Now, if they don't cure all the ills of the country in a year and a half, the Heartland voters will hand the country back to the Republicans. Iraq, the economy, public perception of security... everything has to break exactly right, or we'll swing back into twelve more years of darkness.

And yes, I really do have that little faith in the American people (taken as a collective whole). Seriously, the fact that Tester/Burns in Montana and Webb/Allen in Virginia were even closely contested races confirms my darkest fears about American voters.

Once again, Lou Dobbs has the skinny. He's obviously much more optimistic than me, and definitely more a believer in the people, but he knows the score.

Let's hope the Democrats do, too.