Day of Reckoning is Here

Voters often use the phrase, "We'll remember in November." Well, this year it appears that the Democrats not only remembered, but they showed up en force to make their point.

Pundits say it's all about Vietnam -- er, I mean Iraq -- but in truth, it is about a number of issues that have been piling on since 2000. The Bush administration is about to receive a kick in the pants.

While the quagmire that is Iraq is one facet of the problem for Bush, the economy, corruption (read that as Abramoff, Cunningham, Ney, DeLay, Foley, even Hastert), taxes, stem cell research, are others. But the real problem for Bush and Co. is that they have been smug and self-righteous throughout their tenure. The Compassionate Conservative never showed up. Uniter not a Divider did not unite, just divide. The Decider-in-Chief can't make a decision. That's why he's staying the course. But the rest of us are fed up and ready for a change.

While throwing out the Republicans from the House and the Senate will not solve all the problems, it does two things: one, send a message to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that We the People are not satisfied with his "my way or the highway" approach. Mr. Bush and his cronies are not the smartest folks in town. It is high time that they reach out to bigger brains for help in resolving the problems that face us. Two, supplant those who would be enablers -- Congressional Republicans -- with some new faces and ideas, people who are willing to build bridges, not burn them. Try new solutions, not just pooh-pooh them.

I don't expect magic, just change. A more reasonable solution to Iraq won't come instantly. But I do think the Democrats will be more open to vigorous discussion of how to fix that dreadful problem. And if it means that they have to threaten to cut off funding for Mr. Bush's caper in the Crescent, let them.

Mr. Bush mistook a majority for a mandate (and thought mandate meant ultimatum), and that was never case. Perhaps this election will remind Mr. Bush that he -- temporarily -- is the leader of all Americans and he is accountable to all of us, not just his Republican Christian Conservative right wing base. We have had enough. We want change and accountability. And we want it now.