Congressional donkeys

As October winds down, it's difficult to think of anything but politics. I've been paying pretty close attention to the Senate races this election cycle and, in a lot of ways, I'm torn.

On one hand, I am a young Democrat. I grew up with Clinton in office, but did not really develop political awareness until Bush. So from the time I knew anything substantial about the world until 2006 (with a brief blip earlier in the decade), Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Needless to say, I was rooting very, very hard for legislative Democrats in 2006. Now, in 2008, with the prospect of electing a Democratic president and widening the margins in Congress, part (most?) of me wants to see this trend continue. It would be great to see what Obama could do, particularly with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Two things, however, give me pause. For one, our country, for whatever reason, is a mess right now. We are fighting two bleak-looking wars and most people warn that the rotten economy is going to take awhile to get better. No matter the cause of these disasters, the next president is going to have to be very careful when making tough decisions about resolving these issues. The quick, popular solutions may not be the smart ones. I'd like to think that Obama will take a measured approach, but with a Democratic congress at his back, it may be easy to get caught up in partisanship. Sometimes having dissenting viewpoints (from a strong Republican congressional presence) is the only way to craft thoughtful policy.

Democrats need to tread lightly. A national crisis doesn't have to be a political disaster. FDR is remembered fondly for doing the best he could to guide the country through the Depression. But if the economy continues to worsen and the party in power looks hapless, a wave of Republican opportunists will be waiting to pounce, just as Democrats did on the Iraq war in 2006.

This relates to my second reservation about a strong congressional majority. A lot of the politicians that lose out in these waves are the genuine good guys. Decent, moderate people, willing to reach across the aisle to get things done. Case in point: Lincoln Chafee lost Rhode Island in '06, and it appears Gordon Smith may lose in Oregon this year. And although some polls suggest they would be in danger in a Democratic wave, the nasty ones (like Mitch McConnell and Saxby Chambliss) are not the ones knocked from power. We need more pragmatic, independent-minded legislators in both parties. Not fewer.

For me, this point is somewhat moot. I live in DC, and therefore am not represented in Congress with a vote. (Just a Delegate, Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who is awesome). Still, I'll be watching the elections with a great deal of excitement. And just a little trepidation.