I was just thinking that by all indicators, Obama will become president and the Democratic majority in Congress will increase substantially. After the reaction to last night's debate, this outcome seems to be more and more likely, to the point that I don't think it would be premature for the next government to have some kind of meeting to discuss agendas and priorities.
What I have in mind is some sort of meeting--it could be a virtual meeting--wherein all of the Democratic candidates for Congress meet up with Obama and Biden, to listen to a reasonable number of speakers and to take a few votes on agenda high points and priorities.
Obviously, it would be a political event and the votes wouldn't actually be binding, but it could be helpful in several ways: (1) It would make it clear that Democratic candidates are taking current problems seriously and are already taking steps to resolve them; (2) It would give people a glimpse of what the next government would be like (although of course not all Democratic candidates will actually be elected); (3) It might actually help make things go faster in January. I would also love to see which matters the Democratic caucus + executive leadership will tend to coalesce around and which once will need further discussion.
It would be especially helpful if at least one substantial and fairly well fleshed-out initiative was announced, discussed, and approved by this assembly.
In any case, whether this is done before the election or not, I also think that one or more such meetings--again, possibly virtual--between Election Day and Inauguration Day would be very good to help calm down the country and also to help move things forward. Obviously, in this case, the participants would all have been elected so it would be a lot more realistic. If a pre-inauguration meeting is going to happen, its schedule could be announced during the pre-election meeting (if there is one).
Greg Shenaut