Even though my candidate lost this week, and my party got hit hard across the board, I can't help but feel optimistic about the future. The current party leadership has been discredited or removed from office. We now need to ensure this will lead to a significant shakeup in the party.
The Democratic Party has not changed in any significant way in nearly fifty years. For the past few years, some in the party have been saying something needs to change. This election has clearly shown to the party faithful how important transformation within the party has become.
At the same time, President Bush, with his new mandate, has quite the opportunity to alienate the moderates and libertarian leaning members of his party. As I read on another site, the Bush Administration has all the rope they need to hang themselves. While there are many people in the country that agree with the extremism of this administration, an opportunity will present itself for the Democrats to win moderate support and sew the seeds of division into the Republican Party.
Of course, I'm still unhappy that my candidate lost and I am scared as to what will happen over the next four years. And I hope that the damage that is done by this administration can be undone quickly after they are removed from office.
None of this means we can site idly by, we must minimize the damage done. At the same time we must lay the ground work for the future. These two goals might be slightly opposed at times, and they must be balanced and they must both succeed. But this election marks a surprising opportunity that must be capitalized upon.