Finally, the hoopla surrounding the mid-term elections has come to an end. The democrats savored an overdue victory as they gained control of both the house and the senate. In the end, Sen Allen of Virginia seemed to have paid a big price for his racist use of term Maccaca, and might as well have caused the GOP control of the senate.
It remains to see how powerful the current president would be without the support of both the houses. To me, this seemed like a 2 year deadlock wherein no laws could be passed by the current government. I tried to fathom this predicament of the US constitution wherein the party in power doesn't enjoy a majority in the houses - something which is directly opposed to the British/Indian system of government. The arguement put forth by some colleagues was that this would ensure that the government would stop furthering personal agendas while concentrating on popular issues acceptable to both ideologies. This philosophy, thus has the potential of creating good governace.
I have never like the current government, but nor am I far left liberal. For some reason I always associate hard left stances with tree hugging wusses. On the other hand a far right position conjures an image of super religious, wealth worshipping, incompassionate guy in my mind. I think there is always a middle ground which could be successfully tread, as exemplified by the Governator - Arnold. Despite being a republican he has successfully managed to retain his power in the most democratic state in the country, California.
When Bush won the presedential election in 2004 on the back of what was popularly called as 'gods, guns and gays', I was shocked. Despite the gross mistake of venturing into Iraq without any solid evidence and costing the nation $200 bn, he managed to win the election. Although Kerry was not a formidable opponent, I still could not come to terms with the fact that a highly educated electorate would make such a decision. But I guess, education plays no role in shaping people's ideology. Education might eradicate blind faith, but it also equips induviduals with smarter arguements to further their cause. On a tangent, I think that the arguement that if people in Bihar were educated, they would not vote for Laloo is fallible.
However, the best thing that happened since yesterday is that there no more campaign advertisements on the television. For weeks, regulars shows were interrupted by mud slinging commercials on different candidates and propositions. Sometimes I feel that the outcome is purely driven by the campaign rather than any agenda or ideology. The GOP is like Coke (Red), while the Dems are like Pepsi (Blue). Around 80% of people already have a preference for Coke or Pepsi. The remainder seemed to shift their liking based on whose commercials they liked the most. This is not politics....this is pure marketing !! And since this 20% is ultimately the decider of the outcome, only a solid marketing plan could lead to success.
13 comments:
Well written and a nice analysis. I have been following the Allen-Webb tussle as well as the elections with some enthu, but I do miss the jib-jabs on the daily show. Besides, keeping up with Indian politics is a full time job in itself.
For some reason I always associate hard left stances with tree hugging wusses.
[Ominous music playing]...Behold the latte sipping, gay loving, God-hating, tree hugging wuss. He holds on to that tree as if it were the Lord himself. These pagan zealots are out to take away your religion and family values from you!
[soft tinkling bells..] Remember the good times you had beside a warm fire, surrounded by your family and friends on Christmas eve.
[ominous music again] IF these green monsters have their way... they won't let us cut down these trees and turn them into firewood. You will also have to pay taxes to protect these trees and forests. Don't be surprised if you find these sylvan surroundings are used for "gay-weddings". And everyone knows that trees and forests are good hiding places for those islamo-facist terrorists who are out to destroy your American way of life.
This November... the choice is in your hands.
The super religious, wealth worshipping, incompassionate guys are responsible for the content of this ad.
Doh! I forgot to add... when the last line is playing... don't forget to add the backdrop off Dubya clearing some brush with his chainsaw on his Crawford ranch. After all these years I wonder how there is any brush remaining for Dubya to clean up everytime he flies down for a vacation (which is quite often I might add).
Perhaps its those pesky trees... they spread their evil seed everywhere and come up every spring.
A somewhat related quote by my friend Gaurav Sabnis (to whom it was told by Girish) on why Bush didn't fire Cheney:
"...because without a dick, bush is just a pussy"
:)
The system here is driving a car. The Dems have got into the backseat. They'd like to do backseat driving giving the driver a headache, but the control is still with the driver. Bush has the veto power, and so all the Nancy Pelosi's promises would be just that.
I don't think macaca influenced Allen's defeat. Webb's steamy novels were read on the radio much to his embarassment too. It was mud all the way. But I guess Iraq did it. Allen was an ardent supporter of the current war strategies.
And this is not a new situation in my opinion. Even Clinton had to face it in his last 2 years. But Bush may not tackle the same way as Clinton did.
2004 elections were about WMD, remember? Perfect timing. Just like Saddam's sentence now. Ofcourse it didn't work this time.
Also Kerry was soft. Have you read about Clinton's anguish about Kerry not going hammer and tongs at his war-record accusers?
2000 itself was Gore's.
@Anarkist...what the hell dude, u never told me that u were returning to India..Pinky told me when I called him last month..
Daily Show rocks man...check youtube for Bill O'Reilly @ David letterman..heated interviews...
@Transmogrifier...that was very funny..I hope you aren't implying anything more than what the comments mean....
@JC...Actually Clinton served 3 terms with opposition ruling the house...he had to shift a lil to the right to accomodate interests of all the politicians...Bush might have to change his stance and adapt too
like the coke vs pepsi analogy :-)
Yup the pepsi coke comparison is good. I don't think it is so much about racial slur. Then there was Foley. The comments for this post were really good. Another point, is you have perfected the art of plagiarising. I am talking about the word u used in your sentence. You stole right from TDS..you ba*ard
@Nice try..thanks
@Totti...wtf r u talking dude..which word..what is TDS..be clear, atleast when u r trying to accuse someone....so did u crash Susu's car yet ?
This is M and i approve this post :)))Yeah real glad that the campaign ads are gone. We were swamped with webb and Allen here in VA.
@M...oh yeah..u might have experience it first hand in VA..
I guess what I meant to say was that the election was not only about Iraq, it was also about the kind of politics practised by Bush jr. and his neo-cons. It proved that after a while the public gets tired of baseless fear mongering and personal attacks of the vilest kind. Bush tried it this time too (a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists etc.) the public just didn't buy it.
Also the Foley and Ted Haggard scandals proved the hypocracy of the so-called leaders of the "value" voters.
BTW being a card carrying tree hugger, I also take great umbrage at being called a tree hugging "wuss". A wuss would run away at the first crackle of the chain saw, thus surrendering the fate of the said tree being hugged in the hands of the loggers. So if you want to associate "hard left" stances, associate them with "tree hugging hard asses". Thank you.
Another point is that the "extreme right" is so extremely right that by most standards the "far left" is actually somewhere near to the center right now. E.g. the far left would never agree to carbon trading as a viable alternative to govt. regulation. It would voiciferously demand regulation and taxes. But the far right has its head so deep in the sand about emissions that carbon trading seems like a far left position. In fact it is a very centrist position.
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