…the shouting is over. The crying from the losing campaigns will stop in a day or two (except from my local city councilman who was turned out because of his inability to understand local issues).
As a nation, we are fortunate that we have an opportunity to correct our course every two years. And Tuesday, there was a resounding call for a change of direction.
As the pundits predict the ‘end of the world’ for Democrats, I recall the 1972 movie, “The Candidate,” starring Robert Redford.
In this movie, a young political novice (played by Redford) is asked to be the Democratic challenger to an incumbent Republican Senator from California. In an amazing upset, the Democratic candidate wins a stunning victory, but also makes some personal compromises along the way in order to win. As the movie ends, the camera pulls back as Redford asks his campaign manager, almost as a plea, “What do we do now?”
Winning should not be confused with victory, any more than effort should be confused with results or results with success. As a nation, we spoke and said collectively we were on the wrong path. My political party had four years to demonstrate that their new path was better than the old one. It didn’t do it and as a nation; we made another national course correction just as we did in 1994 and in 2006.
As a note, California decided that a return to the past in the Governor’s office was better than a step into the future with an lying unknown who spent more on her campaign that the Federal Government provides to the National Endowment for the Arts (Meg Whitman spent $164 million, NEA gets $161 million). Somehow, I think there is justice in that fact and that brings a smile to my face.