Arthur Brooks of Syracuse University writes in todays Wall Street Journal much the same thing weve been saying in our various podcasts and NLT postings:
The [Democratic] victory, assuming there is one, will hardly be glorious, and long-term trends are still distinctly right wing. . . By all rights, the Republicans left in Congress after this election should be able to pool to work in one minivan. Instead, they are probably facing a 10% setback in House seats--hardly a disaster by midterm election standards. Whats more, many of the Democrats at the vanguard of todays political "revolution" are not exactly left-wing zealots. Robert Casey, who leads incumbent Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, opposes abortion rights. On issues of gun control and immigration, Senate candidate Harold Ford of Tennessee sounds like a Republican. James Webb, who seeks to unseat Virginia Sen. George Allen, actually used to be a Republican. The lesson is that Democrats can win modestly if the Republicans implode, and preferably if they look more or less like Republicans. This is hardly a mythic victory for the American left; indeed, the larger cultural picture--in which the election is but a minor political datum--remains strikingly bleak for American liberalism.
Yes, these Democratic candidates sound like Republicans now, when they have to win over disgruntled Republicans. And frankly, anything will sound Republican when we have the wimpy Republicans in office like we do right now. But what will they sound like when the Dems have the majority?