For Some, The Time Is Right

It's not summer, but autumn. However, across much of the country- especially the upper Midwest and the Northeast- the weather is even better than in the summertime. Therefore, cue up  Martha Reeves:

Calling out around the world

Are you ready for a brand new beat

Summer's here and the time is right

For dancing in the street

They're dancing in Chicago (dancing in the street)

Down in New Orleans (dancing in the street)

In New York City (dancing in the street)

This weekend they have decided to party hearty, hopefully understanding

- Heading into the election, Democrats were counting on record-breaking fundraising and a vulnerable GOP to flip a number of state legislatures in a crucial Census year. That would have allowed Democrats to redraw unfavorable congressional and state legislative maps that would influence election results for the next decade. Instead, it’s the Republicans that will do just that after Democrats seem poised to miss nearly all their statehouse targets. (Fortune)

- Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far lost seven incumbents in Tuesday’s election, and that number could increase to about a dozen as more votes are tallied in New York, California and Utah. That would leave Democrats with a razor-thin margin — and an even more emboldened GOP minority — as the party looks to govern under a potential President Joe Biden.... The most likely scenario for Democrats is a net loss of between seven to 11 seats. (Politico)

- The potential for such far-reaching legislation all but vanished barely 24 hours later as Democrats saw their chances to reclaim the Senate slip away — and with it the ability to pass legislation on a party-line vote. Instead, House Democrats will be forced to make deals with a Senate that is still led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is likely to have little interest in legislation of the scope the Democrats were envisioning. (The Washington Post)

Democrats got beaten in state elections, lost seats in the House of Representatives after being expected to gain them, and are extremely likely to remain the minority in a Senate they were expected to gain control of. However, they did win back the presidency over a fellow whose empathy and love for Americans stricken by Covid-19 was encapsulated in "it is what it is."

Hence, the celebrations. House Democrats are attacking each other while there is dancing in the streets in big cities throughout the USA over Joe Biden's victory, House Democrats are attacking each other, diminishing what little chance Reverend Ralph Warnock and Jon Ossoff have in their upcoming Senate election runoff. If either of them loses, Mitch McConnell will remain in charge of the gov- uh, er, the Senate.  In what is an understatement and bullish- for Democrats- view of the political landscape, AP News on Thursday observed

And even if Trump were to ultimately lose, the closeness of the presidential contest raised the prospect that a Biden presidency would have difficulty enacting progressive priorities or quickly move past the cultural and partisan fissures of the Trump era.

In June, 2008, Barack Obama maintained his presidency would be seen as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." Ocean rise didn't slow, the planet did not begin to heal, and now it's President-elect Joe Biden who "seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States."

Good luck with that. Fortunately, a large hunk of the celebrants realize it's not going to happen.  Unfortunately, Joe Biden may not, and unless Democrats begin to realize that control of state legislatures, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court are important political objectives, such celebrations in the future will constitute empty gestures.

Share |