| 09 November 2006 Clean Sweep It is too soon for some of us to act, but not too soon for all of us to think. One of the Beltway idea factories has done some of that, thinking, I mean, and their analysis of the Virginia Senate race concludes that the Jim Webb's razor-thin margin will stand up, even after a lengthy recount. That tips the Senate into Democratic hands, and thus this election will go down as one of those tectonic changes, the end of one thing without idea of what is happening next. We seem to be tired of tiliting at ideological windmills, and wild adventures overseas. The newly-elected Democrats mostly mirror their districts. Centrist, and mostly conservative. Their Leaders are not, However they sort that out, the Democratic submarine is going to return to its Washington home-port in January with a broom tied to the periscope, signifying “clean sweep.” It was electrifying to hear it yesterday, and likewise galvanizing to appreciate the possibilities. A friend is coming back from Afghanistan in a couple weeks. He is a reserve intelligence officer, and was lassoed into an Individual Augmentation- IA, in current parlance- just as he was to start a job for one of the minority members on one of the key House committees last year. They agreed to keep his seat warm while he was gone, and he will likely walk back into something quite different on his return. He may want to re-consider which committee to join, and which of the chambers to serve. There are going to be plenty of vacancies, as the Republican staffers are sent packing. I made a mental note to talk to my Realtor about what the massive change will mean. More “For Sale” signs, or a return to the seller's market? I don't know. If one friend was excited about change, another was in the depths of despair. I got a note from him indicating that he viewed the clean sweep is as the beginning of the end, the commencement of the long retreat to ignominious defeat and subjugation. I had to write back and tell him it is not the apocalypse. Not yet, anyway. Don Rumsfeld was the right guy to transform the Department: smart, brash, and supremely self-confident. He was not the right guy to preside upon the most conservative of enterprises, which was the application of overwhelming presence, following the application of overwhelming force. Certainly the time was not right to attempt both transformation and conservation simultaneously. That is why he lost his job. But that is all spilled milk and blood. With the new landscape, Rumsfeld was too good a target to leave to face the new Congress. There are still two months of a Republic majority in both houses. Practically, in the House, the next two months mean nothing except time to measure for new drapes. The entire Executive Branch is clearing calendars for February and March for the investigative hearings that are doubtless going to come. There is something important to be done in the Senate. That is why Mr. Rumsfeld was summoned to the Oval Office yesterday, and why Robert Gates happened to be in town from his current address at the Bush Library at Texas A&M. Mr. Rumsfeld will hang around until Mr. Gates is confirmed. Then he will “spend more time with his family.” Mr. Gates, a consummate bureaucrat and team player, will then be in position to tell the Committees that he wasn't there, and didn't rally know. With a few days of Republican majority left to confirm the nominee, that is the first thing that had to be done. It was not a gesture of conciliation, and not a declaration that the old policy was bankrupt. It was just practical politics. I don't know if Ms Pelosi is going to be the Speaker. It seems just as inevitable as the Democratic victory. But I have heard that John Murtha, of Pennsylvania's 12th District is contemplating a run for the Speaker's chair, and his branch of the Democratic Party is more akin to the newly elected members. I am personally interested in how that sorts out. By report, Ms. Pelosi loathes Ms. Jane Harman, ranking member on the House intelligence Committee, which will be one of the lightning rods for the new Congress. If she get to be Speaker after all, Nancy is said to be considering named Alcee Hastings of Florida to be the Chair. Congressman Hastings is a former federal judge who was impeached on bribery charges and removed from the bench. If that is how it works out, it will put the usual spin on the clean sweep. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, you know? I don't think that is what we voted for. Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra |