In five days it will all be over. Even if tight races in Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada make those individual outcomes unknown as the sun rises on November 3, Election 2010 will be in the books.
Most will be grateful that the onslaught of negative ads, which seemed to be on a continuous loop for the last six weeks, will be gone. No more interruptions while watching the Food Network, ESPN, or Modern Family to be told 25 times that Candidate X kills puppies and eats small children.
Personally I nominate Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley for the worst ads. How does he sleep at night with all those lies? My guess is readers all over the country feel the same way about their candidates too.
But once the sun does rise and campaigning is done, it’s time for governing.
[Check out our editorial cartoons on the 2010 campaigns.]
On November 3, there will be 735 days until the next national election. Instead of pontificating on how horrible the likely-GOP controlled House will be, or on how constrained the Republican agenda will be with a Democrat in the White House and a likely-Democrat controlled Senate, work on finding common ground. There are serious problems facing the country and the American public deserves better than they’ve had of late.
Rhode Island Democrat Frank Carpio demonstrated this week exactly what I am talking about. Telling the president of the United States (who happens to be a Democrat no less) that he can “shove it” was a wonderful example of what we all expect from our leaders. Going back to the “how do they sleep at night” question, how does he explain to his children why he acted like a middle-school bully to the leader of the free world?
There’s lots of work to be done come November 3. For starters, it’s been estimated this election cost more than $4 billion. Congress needs to find ways to make sure that all the business interests who spent money on this election start spending money on hiring workers. Unemployment is still at unacceptable levels.
Second, fix the mortgage mess. I am not sure how, but with news this week that Wells Fargo is joining the ranks of other banks saying their foreclosure procedures were less than forthright, something needs to be done. Yes, people bought homes they could not afford, but what about the people who bought homes they could afford--only be laid off?
And here a few things they shouldn’t do. Republicans in the House should not start questioning the Obama administration in the same vein Democrats did with the Bush administration in 2007. These investigations cost taxpayer money, lots of money, and do nothing to solve the real problems at hand. When there is a $100 billion surplus, the War on Terror has been won, and unemployment is nonexistent, investigate away. Until then, there are bigger fish to fry.
Finally, if Democrats in the House have any sense at all, they will encourage House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to either retire from the House altogether or to step aside from leadership. As long as she is calling the shots, they won’t have a prayer and neither will the American public.
- Check out our editorial cartoons on the 2010 campaigns.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (8)
Bill Hedges of MO 7:51PM October 30, 2010
Bill Hedges of MO 7:38PM October 30, 2010
Muser of NM 2:50PM October 30, 2010