Okay, the Democrats have retaken Congress but just what does that mean? Obviously it's too soon to tell. It will probably be months before we see the true face of the Democratic Congress but progressives in Canada will be disappointed if they set their expectations very high.
One unwelcome yet entirely plausible prediction comes from rightwing columnist Charles Krauthammer in today's Washington Post:
"This is not realignment. As has been the case for decades, American politics continues to be fought between the 40-yard lines. The Europeans fight goal line to goal line, from socialist left to ultra-nationalist right. On the American political spectrum, these extremes are negligible. American elections are fought on much narrower ideological grounds. In this election the Democrats carried the ball from their own 45-yard line to the Republican 45-yard line.
"The fact that the Democrats crossed midfield does not make this election a great anti-conservative swing. Republican losses included a massacre of moderate Republicans in the Northeast and Midwest. And Democratic gains included the addition of many conservative Democrats, brilliantly recruited by Rep. Rahm Emanuel with classic Clintonian triangulation. Hence Heath Shuler of North Carolina, antiabortion, pro-gun, anti-tax -- and now a Democratic House member.
"The result is that both parties have moved to the right. The Republicans have shed the last vestiges of their centrist past, the Rockefeller Republicans. And the Democrats have widened their tent to bring in a new crop of blue-dog conservatives."
Those of us who like to perceive the Democratic leadership in the image of Bill Clinton - pro-liberal, pro-Canada - may be in for a rude surprise. Today's Dems may not resemble Bill but rather Hillary.
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