Democratic Victory - What's Next?

Last Tuesday's mid-term elections catapulted the Democratic Party into power in both the House and the Senate, and the prevailing issues for voters' rejection of the Republican Party appeared to be the war in Iraq and corruption. For the Democrats, the operative question when they take power in January will be "what do we do now?". President Bush has stated in recent days that he is willing to work in a bi-partisan fashion, but can Democrats trust him? Well, if actions speak louder than words then the answer is a resounding "No" as Bush attempted to jam through his nomination of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations this week.

In the face of a President who claims to be willing to work in a bi-partisan manner yet has no history of doing so, the Democratic leaders in Congress must stand firm and ensure that the concerns of the American electorate are addressed. Quite honestly, new House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi's stance on Impeachment is disappointing. She has stated that it is off the table for the coming session of Congress and that the American people have returned the Democrats to power in order to return civility and order to Washington. Is that true? I don't think so. It sounds like the kind of wishy -washy rhetoric that has mired the Democrats in the minority position for the last 12 years. We can only hope that it is not the prevailing sentiment among other Democratic leaders. The look forward approach will only work to a certain extent. The Republican administration must be exposed and investigated. Their crimes against this country must be in the minds of Americans when the 2008 presidential campaign is waged.

A strong indicator of action to come on the part of the Democrats will be the election of the House Majority Leader. Here's hoping that it will be Rep. Jack Murtha. Murtha has been one of the most outspoken critics against the war in Iraq and his previous military service gives him the credibility required to represent the thoughts of the military. With the Representative from Pennsylvania as the Majority Leader, the war in Iraq will surely be front and center during the 2007 Congressional Session, and that should mean that nothing is off the table, including Impeachment. The war must be addressed on two fronts - how to extricate ourselves and how did it come to pass. Representative Murtha is the best man for ensuring that the American people get the action they demand on these 2 facets.

Addressing how the war came to pass will require Congress to conduct thorough investigations of the Bush Administration's decision making process on invading Iraq and the lies behind it. One of the powers that the Democrats now inherit with control of the House is subpoena power. This power will allow them to investigate the Bush Administration on a number of issues including the events leading up to the war in Iraq. Will they use this power? I certainly hope so.

On Tuesday evening, I tuned in to MSNBC's election night coverage because I read that Keith Olbermann would be one of the hosts. In a discussion of subpoena power, both Chris Matthews and Tom Brokaw had some interesting views on how the Democrats should use that power. Both men discouraged the use of subpoenas to investigate the Iraq War, and Brokaw baselessly stated that the American people may not want that. A few minutes later, Brokaw said that investigating the war may send the wrong message to the troops.

Boy - so much for that liberal media! It's this kind of drivel from the mainstream media that keeps me from tuning in. Brokaw's comments are thoroughly ridiculous and do nothing except protect the President. The war should be investigated and if wrongdoing is found, those responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. To spare the rod at this moment in time would be the wrong message to send to future generations. The transgressions of the Bush Administration against the US Constitution and the country cannot go unpunished, else it could be repeated in the near future. There must be consequences. As for Brokaw's assertion that an investigation of the war may send the wrong message to the troops, well that's a head-scratcher. Not investigating the war would mean that sending troops to die for a lie is acceptable and that the military should just do what its told. Is that the message we want to send to the troops? It's OK to die for nothing?

Also during MSNBC's coverage, it was interesting to hear the MSNBC commentators (Matthews and Scarborough) bring up the Downing Street Memos and other documents that point to fixed intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. None of these items was fully exposed by the mainstream media in this country, but clearly they are aware of them because they didn't hesitate to bring them up during the election coverage. Presumably since the Democrats have returned to power in Congress, these items are now newsworthy. Of course, they were newsworthy when they were first released, but the lap-dog media couldn't bother to investigate fully.

The War in Iraq is not the only hot button issue with progressives/liberals. There are many other concerns with the Bush Administration that also need to be addressed: Military Commissions Act, warrantless NSA spying, Patriot Act, Katrina, etc. In order to keep the wave of momentum going into the 2008 Presidential elections, the Democrats must continue to make progress on these issues, and keep the corruption and lies of the Bush White House in the forefront of American voters' minds.

Additional Note on MSNBC's election night coverage: As I stated earlier, I tuned in because of Keith Olbermann, and I was struck by the utter lack of chemistry between Olbermann and co-host Chris Matthews. The tension between the two was palpable. In the 45 minutes or so that I watched, Matthews must have stated at least 4 times that he had worked in Washington for years and he was giving us his resume. The sub-text of his declaration seemed to be a shot at Olbermann that he didn't have the same experience, and perhaps wasn't qualified to be there. However, Keith Olbermann has been a beacon for thoughtful Americans over the last year and his presence on Election Night was a welcome one.