Senator McConnell, good job. You meandered your way to a 17-point win over Allison Lundgren Grimes. Yes, she made some stupid missteps and had the all-too-often Democratic disease of being scared of her own Progressivism, but still, a win’s a win.
Senator-elect Perdue, kudos. You also pulled off a damn-near 17-point win over Michelle Nunn. Maybe it’s just a bad time to be a political legacy in Georgia (right, not-Governor Carter?), but you managed to overcome the negative image of your “Yay, outsourcing” persona and get yourself a seat at the big table.
And Governor Brownback, Holy Jesus on a Flaming Tricycle, I did not see that coming. Apparently sending your state’s economy spiraling down the drain isn’t enough to lose in Kansas. Or maybe you just have enough Kansans with that pure faith that Supply-Side economics is going to kick in any minute now, and make that $46 million shortfall go away.
I could be crying over the damage I know is coming. Oh, even if you do nothing, there’ll be damage, because we have real and urgent problems for which “doing nothing” is one of the worst things we can do (hint: Climate Change is not a hoax). I could mourn the flood of ghastly policy initiatives I know are coming at the state level, especially here in Florida (yes, congrats to you too, Governor Scott. Sorry, that one just took a little longer to cough up).
But I won’t. On this one day, I’ll be gentlemanly in loss, and choose not to dwell in negativity, and just say “Congratulations”.
Oh, and remind you of a few things you may not have thought of . . . .
Read on . . .
You run the Senate now – congratulations again – but you might want to wonder if that’s something to celebrate. It’s easy to throw bombs from the backbench. It’s easy to get by on a policy of “trip the other guy” when you’re not the guy in front.
You are now the guy in front.
You get to lead, now. You get to do things. You get to pass bills and go on record voting yay or nay. No secret holds, no virtual filibuster. Whether things happen or don’t happen in the Congress are now entirely up to you.
That’s going to be a problem, because, well, doing is not your strong suit. You disagree with the American people on damn near everything, from the minimum wage to marriage equality to climate change to immigration. I can’t think of a single bill you could vote through both houses that wouldn’t get you bad press of one kind or another. You’re like a Neo-Nazi comic in the Catskills – nothing you say is going to go over well.
And, of course, it will all get vetoed anyway, so you’ll have stuck your face out to the tomato-throwers for nothing. Your best plan is to hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the Congress for the next two years – except, like I said, you can’t. We already have plenty of problems that have to be dealt with, and more are sure to pop up between now and 2016. Inaction will get you as much trouble as action, especially with your base.
Yeah, let’s talk about them, your base. You got them to come out in decent numbers – and once again, attaboy on the turnout – but here’s the thing: many, many of them, especially the seniors (who, let’s be honest, were a big chunk) turned out because they believed a lot of stuff about Obama, and Democrats, and Ebola, and Benghazi and oh, who knows what all else. They believed that stuff because you talked about it, and talked about it like you believed it as much as they do.
So now that you’re in the driver’s seat in both chambers . . . . they’re still going to expect you to talk like you believe it. More importantly, they’re going to expect you to act like you believe it. As in, they’re going to expect you to pass bills, and hold votes, and all that. You’re out there today, playing up how awesome it is and how you run the Congress now and how the people have spoken and how you’re going to stand up to this White House. So you don’t have an excuse anymore.
They’re going to expect hearings on all that stuff they got emails about. They’re going to expect you to really and truly default on the debt ceiling because you told them that would be fine and they’re going to expect you to do it over Obama showing a for-really-real birth certificate or disbanding the IRS or abolishing the EPA or who knows what else. They’re going to expect you to vote on impeachment – once a week, if the votes keep coming up short.
Remember that first part, about how you were so out-of-sync with Americans and anything you actually stepped up and did would get you into trouble? Meet the cattle-prod that’s going to make you step up and do it anyway. You might recognize them. They’re the people that probably still have your signs in their yards. Best of luck dealing with them.
And last of all, simply, there’s this: everything is your fault now.
This is more for the governors out there, and maybe the state houses. Congress can still point to the President, though that argument just lost a lot of its punch – especially when we all know you can just shut down the whole government and default on the debt ceiling to make him knuckle under, and nothing bad will happen . . . right?
But Governor Brownback . . . if that $46 million becomes 60, or 90 . . . well, that’s not going to look good for you. If you don’t start getting job creation numbers kinda like all the states around you . . . that’s solidly on you. If you have to keep slashing your budgets until everyone on your state is driving on dirt roads and fording rivers old-school because only a madman would trust your bridges . . . you’re where everyone is going to look when they ask “why can’t this get fixed”?
The next preventable tragedy, the next set of financial shenanigans, the next natural disaster . . . you’ve got the ball. How you deal with it, and navigate your base and balance your philosophy of governance and hold your economic ideals intact and not look like selfish, clueless, inept tools to everyone who expects the basic functions of government to actually operate . . . well, that’s your knot to untangle now.
I can’t wait to see how you handle it.