election aftermath

Today was a day I regretted not living in the US anymore. So much action. I wouldn't have got any work done for all the elated chatting and debating in hallways and, later, coffee shops. It was a day where every hour precipitated news more unbelievable than what had just been told.

Who would have expected Montana, the land of free-range firearm fanatics and devoted Kaczynskis, to elect a Democratic Senator. Who would have expected red-necked Indiana to kick out not just one or two but three Republican Congressmen and replace them with Democrats. And who would have expected Kinky Friedman to be elected Governor of Texas.

Oh, hang on, Kinky didn't win, but the day was quite a wild ride anyway. I had made sure to be home on time for President Bush's press conference, given the circumstances a spectacle not to be missed, and I was not disappointed. The sacking of Donald Rumsfeld, overdue by several years, got the crowd started, and more or less mean questions were directed at a visibly and audibly irritated President who was at times almost yelling his answers.

But in contrast to his usual good/evil, with-us/without-us, my-way-or-the-highway rhetoric he rambled on in reconciliatory tones, sounding eerily balanced. A week after accusing them of wishing disaster over America, he praised Democrats for their patriotism and their dedication to fighting terrorism.

One might think he was offering a hand with a newly found sense of moderation. What's closer to the truth, however, is that he was wildly waving his hands with a newly found sense of desperate isolation. His efforts are in vain, he is surely dead politically. The reason for his demise are not the Democrats who have gained seats in Congress, for they have now responsibility but still no strategy, but all those Republicans who lost seats, for they know who their scourge is. And they will work hard to make sure he doesn't mess it up for them again.