Democrats Actually Win ... And Win Big

After live blogging at Donklephant the entire night, I’m going to bed. But sense I won’t be able to post much tomorrow (lots of work + little sleep are likely to create problems for me), I wanted to offer just a few thoughts.

Democrats have definitely won the House and it looks likely that they will take the Senate as well (although that could change before I awake as Montana is tightening at this late hour). This election is unmistakably a major rejection of Republican rule. But that doesn’t mean it’s a major vote in favor of Democratic rule. I don’t think Americans will have much patience for any sort of radical agenda.

What happens next will be interesting. Democrats are bringing in a lot of centrist-leaning members. The party will have to incorporate a lot more views than the liberal base would prefer. If the Dems integrate all the centrists successfully and move the party toward the middle, they’ll be in a good position to keep control of Congress in 2008. If they don’t, their rule will be fleeting.

I’m pleased with the results of the night. Yet I worry. If the Democrats cannot get their act together on Iraq and national security in general, the nation is in trouble. I have faith that things will turn out far better than the shrill voices on the right would have us believe. But it’s going to be an interesting two years. The Democratic class of 2006 has a lot more pressing and serious issues before it than did the Republican class of 1994.

Much more when I have time to write more.