Mid-Term Elections Reaction

Last night the mid-term elections yielded the generally-expected result with Republicans taking back control of the U.S. House, the Democrats managing to hold on to the majority in the Senate, and state gubernatorial races tending to fall into the GOP's win column. Many voters in Nevada who disliked sitting senator Harry Reid nevertheless couldn't bear to vote for his teabagger opponent Sharon Angle and so the Senate Majority Leader was reelected, much to the surprise of many. As I said, there were many Republican victors, so to whom did ABC's Good Morning America decide to give a spotlight interview? Christine O'Donnell, who as expected badly lost her own Tea Party/Republican bid for the Senate against Christopher Coons. I wonder whether ABC even sought out Coons, who actually is the individual who matters and who will be representing Delaware during the next six years.

In Florida, Marco Rubio, a very conservative Republican embraced by the Tea Party movement, coasted to an easy victory over sitting governor Charlie Crist and Democratic congressman Kendrick Meek. Although he is on the opposite end of the political spectrum, I see Rubio's rise as being very similar to Barack Obama's, who successfully ran for president only four years after winning his Senate race to represent Illinois. Rubio strikes me as being just as ambitious as Obama. In the Florida governor's race, Republican Rick Scott appears to have won a real squeaker against Democrat Alex Sink.

We'll see whether or not the Republicans in the new Congress will at least partially abandon their obstructionist tactics against the Obama administration. I would think that they HAVE TO in the House since they are going to be the party in power with the gavel and will control the legislative agenda there. One thing that always happens when the opposition party takes one or both houses during a president's term will probably happen here: they'll begin to have investigations and hearings on alleged or implied improper behavior within that administration. Don't believe me? It happened with Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush during their tenures in office.

As a post-script to this article, my friend Barry, unable at the time to submit a comment on Blogger, e-mailed me a comment regarding yesterday's article. He considered my analogy in it between the election campaign and competitive sports to be inapt and also questioned that I would wave at those people on street corners supporting candidates or issues that I disagreed with. To the first difference I would say that no analogy is perfect; you can always find some point where it breaks down. But being a "good sport" is a life-lesson that children are supposed to be taught at home and at school. And exhibiting gracious behavior toward one's opponent in the face of fierce competition is a crucial element of that good sportsmanship that later in life becomes a crucial social skill useful in many areas, not just in sports. Areas like, for example, adult personal relationships, the workplace, driving through traffic, conducting business either as consumer or provider, legal matters, and yes...politics (among many others).

As for the "waving"...to each his own, I suppose. I don't think, though, that me waving at someone who supports another candidate as he or she is waving at me is anything more than simple social courtesy. But each of us has our own hands to control as we see fit.