Post-Election Reflections

First, a shout-out to the pollsters. They got it right. All that fuss about the Bradley (/Wilder/Dinkins) Effect was just gas. Every race went the way it was called, and the tossups really were tossups. It was the same in 2006. Those guys have it figured out. Believe them.

I've read a lot of gloom and doom stories about the Republican Party's future. Many of them are true. Demographics is destiny, and the Reps skew old, white, and religious. Those are all falling stocks. But there is a chance for them: they need the Democrats to screw up, or at least that circumstances conspire against Obama. You've gotta admit that's not entirely implausible.

But mainly, this is the hard part. Already, two weeks after the election, I'm starting to feel disappointed that Obama isn't doing exactly what I'd do. Eight months ago, I was inveighing against Hillary Clinton's candidacy on the grounds that she'd just appoint a bunch of Clinton Administration veterans. Well, that's exactly what Obama is doing so far.

But what the hell, he hasn't been inaugurated yet. All is possible. And George W. Bush is not a hard act to follow.