Finally. At long last this long and brutal campaign is finally coming to an end. Finally it will be over. It’s finally about to end.
Unfortunately, it’s not likely to be a happy ending. I’ve seen quite a few cases of magical thinking around here – the slightest uptick in a Democrat’s poll numbers seems to be enough to make some people suddenly draw the conclusion that we’re doing great after all.
Hogwash. Tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath. We may have a few pleasant surprises, but at this point we’re looking at a Republican tidal wave that will retake the House.
I don’t say this to depress people. This is not a "Goodbye cruel world" diary. By all means we should keep up the GOTV activities, keep working the phones, go all out. Maybe if we work hard enough we can help salvage a few of the marginal races and that’s something.
However, the time has come when we need to accept the inevitable. We can curse the economy, the obstruction of the GOP, the character assassination of Fox, and the failings of the Democratic Party, but none of that does us any good. We can refight the battles of the last two years and say "if only Obama had focused more on the economy... if only there’d been a better message on health care... if only we hadn’t doubled down on the war in Afghanistan..." Woulda, coulda, shoulda. It’s too late. A Republican House is coming. We can’t stop it. We’ve tried our best and we’ve failed. We’re out of time and out of luck.
The question now is: what’s next? Where do we go from here?
We need to start thinking about how to deal with the new realities the coming Republican victory will create. While I expect their return to power to be disastrous, I also know that the world will not end, the sun will continue to rise and set, and life will go on. I’ve been hanging around these parts long enough to know that most of us aren’t going to stop fighting the good fight. We didn’t disappear after 2004 and we won’t disappear after tomorrow night.
But we will face a new situation and we need to start thinking about how to deal with it. Slitting your wrists is not an option. We didn't choose this path, but it is the path we now find ourselves on. We can't always control our environment, but we can control how we respond to it.
This diary is meant to get the discussion started: what next? How can we as a community respond and try to turn things around? What can we to try to fend off the impending right-wing onslaught? How can we, as FDR once said, "turn retreat into advance"?
Well, what do you think fellow Kossacks? What's next?
For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
- Edward M. Kennedy
UPDATE: OK, from the initial comments it appears people are not ready to have this discussion. I'll try it again in a few days. And if by some miracle the Dems pull it off I will very happily eat a big plate of crow.