On Tuesday, the American people gave a mandate to the Democratic Party to clean up our government. They gave us a mandate to make the government work for them. They gave us a mandate to improve their lives and bring us back to a respected place in the world. Let's not let them down.
By all means, let's congratulate ourselves, the people who elected so many great candidates and all of those who ran, both winners and losers. We deserve it, and it's appropriate.
At the same time, don't fool yourself into thinking that everything's completely different, that the world is new and never to go back to the dark times we just came through. We were given a mandate (much clearer mandate then Bush's 2004 man date), but it is still a trial run, not a permanent position. We still have to deliver
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I've been reading a lot of diaries, some quite good, about how the voters have repudiated, have rejected the divisive and destructive politics of the conservative movement. My response to that is, yes, and no. Some
very interesting statistics have come to light showing that attitudes have changed towards the Democratic Party in many areas traditionally associated with Republican strength.
This is good news, but if you look carefully at the numbers in this and in other polls, you'll see that this is actually more of a probationary period than a true realignment. Things were so bad that people were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Democrats to fix things. For many people, the Republicans had lost their legitimacy and lost the trust of most people. That doesn't mean they've lost it for good.
We've been given a chance to finally, after 12 years of powerlessness and marginalization, to prove that all of the canards and smears by the Republicans are wrong. That we're not the Imperial Democrats of the 60's and 70's, nor the "tax and spend" monsters of Neil Cavuto's fevered nightmares. We CAN govern responsibly and effectively. We CAN be strong and compassionate. We CAN be ethical and mature. That progressive values and responsible internationalism can be followed along with fiscal discipline and restraint. In short, that we can improve peoples' lives and make our country stronger and respected again in the world. This we must do.
If we fail to show that we can do this, if we fail to show ourselves as a party of responsibility and action, this mandate will fade as fast as snow in Miami.
This will not be easy. We may not be successful in getting anything passed with such a president. But we must try, we must be seen to be working. If we don't, it's back to the dark ages for us.
So, let's get busy.
Plane