Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A few thoughts on yesterday's election:

1) Politically I'm pretty far left of center, and I'm pleased to see that the Democrats have gained power, but I'm under no delusion that they'll be able to do anything good with Iraq. Iraq is totally broken and it's going to get worse for a while before it gets better.

2) Everyone knew that the Democrats were going to gain seats in Congress. Polls differed on how many seats, but it was widely accepted that many Americans were fed up with the war (of course all those Republican scandals didn't hurt either, but the Democrats have had their fair share too). So, if you're George Bush, wouldn't you fire Rumsfeld BEFORE the election and not the day after? You can't win elections by taking action after people vote. Smooth move, George.

3) Someone quoted a study to me the other day stating that the best legislation is passed by administrations that have a President from one party and a congressional majority from the other. The premise here is that since things are "gridlocked", any proposed legislation will have to get amended and tuned to the point where it's acceptable to both parties, and that this makes for better laws. I'm not entirely sure that theory works, but it makes me hopeful.

4) The citizens of San Francisco have spoken. By a 60 to 40 margin, San Franciscans have stated their desire to have Bush and Cheney impeached. So, now... um.... uh.... Hmmmm. Maybe they didn't think that all the way through.

Overall, my reaction to yesterday's events is:

11 comments:

carey said...

grimacing, like someone stuck an ice cube down your pants?

Mike said...

You know, I took that picture about a dozen times, first unsuccessfully trying to capture a "Well, whaddaya know!" kind of look, and then just kind of conceding to a "Look! Happy!" expression. I guess that didn't work either.

I was considering making the photo summary a regular feature, but I suck at it.

carey said...

well, on second look, you DO look as happy as you could be if you had an ice cube down your pants.

The photo summary is a funny idea; don't give up on it yet!

Anonymous said...

I think the picture says "Yeah! Cool! Woohoo-- oh God, what have we DONE?"

Regardless of whether or not the picture really fits the mood, the blogacious value of the photo summary is unquestionable. Please keep it. :)

Mike said...

Carey, ok, I suppose Schwarzenegger is the ice cube, and the Democratic majority in Congress is the happiness. I guess that works.

Chess, well, at least it's a "we" this time. It's been a long time since my votes even vaguely resembled how the rest of the U.S. voted.

Anonymous said...

I live a little to the left too, and it was quite gratifying to hear the President say "we took a thumpin" in his post election speech. Picture looks like a happy face to me. But then I'm rather old and near sighted.

patsy said...

i don't know if i am left , right or up side down but i am very happy about the vote. will they get out of iraq? no not until they are forced to like what happen in vietnam war. as for impeachment of bush which some people were talking about no! we would have cheney and he scares me. the way i see it even with all the "we are going to get along "talk, they will fight, fuss and cuss for two years and not pass anything. which in my my view , we the people are better off when they aren't trying to chip away at our civil rights.

patsy said...

now i understand why the media has been asking nancy p. about impeaching bush. after reading your post about s. f.

Mike said...

Kat, well, get closer to the computer screen! Or is it further? I'm dyslexic when it comes to near and far sightedness. Can never remember which is which.

Patsy, it would seem that Pelosi is a bit more of a realist than the average SF politician.

Linda@VS said...

I like the photo summary, too, Mike--almost as much as I like the election results.

Mike said...

VS, thanks!