![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So let's see -- on the morning after, we find:
In other words, after two years and over four billion dollars, effectively nothing has changed.[*]
Since the wee hours of this morning, the news has been filled with speculation of what the election results will bring, what we can expect for the next two years. Really, the answer is simple: The next two years will look just like the last two years.
The irony is that this pitiful result is basically the very best that could be hoped for. Realistically, the outcome could not have gotten any better -- there was no real chance of the Democrats capturing the House or achieving a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.[**] On the other hand, it could have gotten quite a bit worse! Polls showed that the White House was never really in doubt... but smart money had the Senate flipping colours not too long ago. Still, even knowing that this was the best possible outcome, two more years of the same old same old isn't a lot to look forward to.
Meanwhile, I had a fun evening at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ayaron's election night party, not heading home until after Mitt Romney's concession speech ended around six o'clock this morning. I'm paying for it today, though, heading into London on less than three hours of sleep. There is a half-day meeting in future long baseline neutrino experiments starting at Queen Mary University of London in about an hour, then I am off to Pimlico for dinner with the erudite cmcmck.
[*] Some details are different, to be sure. For instance, I much prefer to see Elizabeth Warren hold Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat, rather than Scott Brown. But, from a global view, nothing has changed.
[**] Even if they did achieve the latter, Democrats have shown themselves incapable of maintaining the lock-step party unity of the Republicans, meaning even a super-majority leaves them vulnerable to the filibuster.
- The White House stays blue, with a Democratic president granted a second term,
- The Senate stays blue, defying all early expectations because male Republican candidates can't stop making moronic statements about rape,
- The House of Representatives stays red, because the districts are heavily gerrymandered to make them as non-competitive as possible.
In other words, after two years and over four billion dollars, effectively nothing has changed.[*]
Since the wee hours of this morning, the news has been filled with speculation of what the election results will bring, what we can expect for the next two years. Really, the answer is simple: The next two years will look just like the last two years.
The irony is that this pitiful result is basically the very best that could be hoped for. Realistically, the outcome could not have gotten any better -- there was no real chance of the Democrats capturing the House or achieving a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.[**] On the other hand, it could have gotten quite a bit worse! Polls showed that the White House was never really in doubt... but smart money had the Senate flipping colours not too long ago. Still, even knowing that this was the best possible outcome, two more years of the same old same old isn't a lot to look forward to.
Meanwhile, I had a fun evening at
ayaron's election night party, not heading home until after Mitt Romney's concession speech ended around six o'clock this morning. I'm paying for it today, though, heading into London on less than three hours of sleep. There is a half-day meeting in future long baseline neutrino experiments starting at Queen Mary University of London in about an hour, then I am off to Pimlico for dinner with the erudite cmcmck.[*] Some details are different, to be sure. For instance, I much prefer to see Elizabeth Warren hold Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat, rather than Scott Brown. But, from a global view, nothing has changed.
[**] Even if they did achieve the latter, Democrats have shown themselves incapable of maintaining the lock-step party unity of the Republicans, meaning even a super-majority leaves them vulnerable to the filibuster.
Tags: