In what some have commented is the greatest political upset of this generation, Republican Scott Brown tonight laid claim to the U.S. Senate seat occupied fir decades by the late-Ted Kennedy. I could not help but remember something I wrote the night of Barack Obama's election to the Presidency. Here I gave some counsel to both political parties:
For those Republican supporters: Don’t fret. While the internet and certain television networks [well, all of them] are saying that this is the end of the G.O.P., realize that this is part of the ebb and flow of the American electorate. The Democrats seem to forget that they most recently experienced this feeling in the late 1990’s. But it is again the Democrats’ time and now the Republican Party will be in a position to freely to criticize big government, its most comfortable posture.For those Democratic supporters: Good luck. Hope is a most beautiful thing because it’s directed towards something that very well could be. The problem is that unrealized hope is a venomous creature. With full control of two branches of government, nothing should be impossible for the Dems to accomplish. Unless the next few years are fruitful, matching the high levels of hope that now exist, things will revert back to the G.O.P. in eight years.
That's about right.
Looking back on this post, the big thing I might end up missing on was my prediction that Obama would be a two-term president. I have my doubts now. He's a better campaigner than governor, so maybe he'll still hold on to the White House. It'll ultimately depend on who the G.O.P. runs against him.
The lesson for all is to understand that the reality of politics is found in the word's etymology:
"Poly" = many, "Tics" = blood sucking insects