Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
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While not answering that question, some things to watch for:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/u..._r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/u..._r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
January 5, 2007
News Analysis
New Majoritys Choice: Should G.O.P. Policies Be Reversed?
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 Democrats realized their political and legislative dream Thursday. Now they must face reality.
As they take control of the House and Senate, members of the new majority must reconcile diverse ideological factions within their ranks and make a fundamental choice. They can spend their energy trying to reverse what they see as the flaws of the Bush administration and a dozen years in which conservative philosophy dominated Congress. Or they can accept the rightward tilt of that period and grudgingly concede that big tax cuts, deregulation, restrictions on abortion and other Republican-inspired changes are now a permanent part of the legislative framework...
... Republicans are waiting to see what develops, uncertain if Democrats sincerely want to join hands and produce some consensus on public policy. Or, as one senior Republican asked, will Democrats hostile to the Bush administration be more like the scorpion in the fable with the frog, unable to resist the urge to sting even if they hurt themselves?
Democrats acknowledge that with their minuscule majority in the Senate and one in the House that is not much larger, they lack the political muscle to go too far in reversing Bush policy even if that was their chief goal. And they already have their hands full with delivering on their own ambitious legislative agenda, following through on their pledges of bipartisanship and ethics overhaul and avoiding anything that costs the party its chance at the White House in 2008.
Leading Democrats say their best direction is forward, concentrating on establishing a new party legacy rather than obsessing with the perceived failings of Republican rule. The test for the partys newly empowered leadership and the Congressional membership will be whether they can stick to that path.