Remember: Snooze buttons can defeat wake-up calls
Let me be the last to say — “Wow! What an election!”
The pundits — great and small, obnoxious and insightful, Democrat and Republican, conservative and liberal — have, by now, weighed in on the statement made by voters across the nation Nov. 2. Leaders from both parties have held press conferences and media interviews, and some have even launched national book tours and taken other visible steps on the way to dipping their political toes into the 2012 Presidential Pool.
Over the next several months, it will once again be both fascinating and entertaining to see which prospective candidates end up performing perfect swan dives and jackknives off the high dive, and which ones do belly-flops on the national stage.
Republicans unquestionably scored historic gains in the U.S. House of Representatives, going from meaningless, minority status after Hurricane Obama in 2008 to picking up the most seats and gaining the largest majority in 60 years. Republicans also picked up seats in the U.S. Senate, but the gains were not as historic — Republicans are still in the minority, and Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada was re-elected and will presumably return as Senate Majority Leader.
Tea Party activists and disaffected conservative Republicans have to be wondering now if Republicans will really deliver on the message that was clearly sent by voters, given that they will apparently be led by the same folks who were leading them when they collapsed in 2008. Can old dogs really learn new tricks?
Well, my dog is 13, and he still runs out the door when it’s opened, if I don’t hold him back. I’m not saying … I’m just saying.