POLITICS - Aftermath, Vote 2010

"Shields and Brooks on Trouncing of Democratic Moderates"
PBS Newshour 11/3/2010

I am very pessimistic, I expect the GOP to continue to be the Party-of-NO and oppose anything that Obama tries to do.

The Republicans created the economic mess we are in today and they are not going to be the ones to fix it. They are now in position to see that the Democrats and Obama are not given credit as our economy CONTINUES to improve.

There is a slight hope, as expressed by the following excerpt from the transcript on the question of compromise:

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): So, do you -- I mean, are you saying you think that, once he has a chance to think about it, he may just say, I'm not going to compromise, or...

MARK SHIELDS (syndicated columnist): Well, he's not going to compr -- I don't know. I had a chance to listen to the wisdom of Bob Dole this morning, and he had a piece of advice for Republicans. He said, look, you can spend all the time, effort, and energy you want in repealing health care. He said, then nothing is going to come of it.

And I think both sides are starting to work this out, just exactly what their arrangement and accommodation. They now -- it's a shotgun marriage. I mean, it really is. It's a forced marriage. I mean, neither party sought this out.

But now they have co-responsibility for the nation's economy and well-being, Republicans in the House and a Democratic president.

Bold-blue emphasis mine

BUT I also note something in this piece that was NOT emphasized.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, first of all, Judy, the results speak very loudly for the voters.

I mean, of the 60 seats that the Democrats lost in the House, 48 of them, by the calculation of one senior party strategist, were moderate to conservative. So, the sort of middle of the Democratic Party has been carved out. The Democratic Caucus...

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mean those who lost?

MARK SHIELDS: Those who lost. And so the Democratic Party in January will be a far more liberal, more homogeneous party than it was.

Has America-Politic become less moderate? Less able to compromise?

There is one thing I do believe, Americans still expect too much, too fast. To expect Obama and the Democrats to turn our economy around in just 2yrs is unrealistic.