I have to say I feel pretty unhappy with the election results. Clinton's victory is a Pyrhhic one, leaving Congress in the hands of the GOP. Nothing will change. Had Clinton been just a little bit better, a little less dishonest, a little better liked, it could have been a huge landslide on the scale of '32 or '64. Dole served up no real opposition. But because he IS truly sleazy and devoid of backbone, it didn't happen. The Indonesia campaign contribution scandal was the back-breaker. If that hadn't happened, or the election had been right after the last debate, he could have won by 20 points and brought Congress w/him. Not that I have any confidence in Dems at all, I just wanted to see the right go down hard, and be able to laugh at Rush, Newt, et al. Instead they control half the gov't and the political discourse is guaranteed to continue on its turgid path another 4 years. What bothers me most is many "progressives" who are border-line between liberal and radical will continue to interpret "the problem" as getting the GOP out of the Congress, and not the system as a whole. If the Dems had taken over completely, once they (too) failed to do (much of) anything real, the borderline liberal-radical would be forced to move left. Since I think radicalization of such people is an important (and achievable) short-medium term political goal, I see this as a blown opportunity to have put the Dems fully in power, no excuses, and let them show how inadequate they truly are. I did vote for Nader and can't help feeling that it was a waste--not a word in NY Times today or on tv about his vote total. I almost leapt for Perot in the ballot box, but then thought of my friends who had worked very hard to try make the Nader thing fly. This was another blown opportunity where blame has to be laid at the door of the (non)candidate. If Ralph runs a real campaign with real money, almost certainly he would have broken into the scoring column. As it was, I think he only succeeded in reinforcing the perceived quixoticness of 3rd parties on the left. Thad Thad Williamson National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives (Washington)/ Union Theological Seminary (New York) 212-531-1935 http://www.northcarolina.com/thad
