Yes, I'm depressed

Midterm elections 2010

I'm going to be 48 years old in a couple of days - I've spent 30 years as an "adult" involved in voting and engaged in the political process.  And most of that time I've watched voters make completely illogical choices, without any sense or guiding philosophy.  Throughout those years, Americans consistently and often overwhelmingly support liberal policies, but don't necessarily vote for the people who promote those policies.  The healthcare reform from last year is a perfect example - the majority of people support the provisions of the bill, but the bill itself was demonized, and legislators who voted for it distanced themselves from it during the recent campaign instead of pointing out all the very positive elements of it.  Another example - exit polls show that only 24% of voters blame Obama for the current economic situation (Wall Street tops the list for 35% of people and  29% blame former President Bush), but this election is clearly a repudiation of the Democratic party and Obama because they haven't fixed the economy (though many voters think government can't fix it and shouldn't be involved in it, but still the government should have fixed it - or something like that, I get a headache trying to follow their convoluted logic).

We all knew it would be a bad night, but in some ways, it's worse than I expected/hoped, though with a few lights in the darkness:  Harry Reid squeaking out a win yet again, and the Dems retaining control (barely) in the Senate.  And my own fine Congressman, Dan Maffei, retaining his seat in a fairly conservative district, and Bill Owens winning north of us.  Also Gillibrand won her 2 year term in the Senate.  And Tancredo helped get a Democratic elected as the governor of Colorado.  Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer won in California, and Patty Murray in Washington state.  I heard that the Blue Dog Democrats are pretty much a vanishing breed, and then I got this interesting statistic in an email, confirming it: 94% of the Progressive Caucus won, compared to only 47% of the Blue Dogs.  Sarah Palin had a "60-40 night" - she's still a political force, but her endorsement is not a guarantee.

The most alarming result is several swing states turning a deeper shade of red, especially Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which will influence the 2012 Presidential election. Also 19 state legislatures changed from Democratic majority to Republican majority.  As for the House, the Repugs gained at least 60 seats, even more than Gingrich engineered in 1994.  Discouraging doesn't cover it.  Insult to injury: Feingold lost and Obama's Illinois Senate seat went to the Republicans.  There are fewer women in Congress now than at any time in 30 years (since I started voting!)

Why do the Republicans get all the breaks???  Bush was the most insubstantial president elected in modern memory, and then 9-11 happened and he was given a free pass to do all sorts of crazy shit (invading Iraq just being the craziest).  Now the Repugs get to ride a wave of anti-incumbent fever into the majority right when redistricting will happen.  Even Reagan ended up with an insane amount of legislative leverage after the assassination attempt.  Just seems like we miss all the pivotal moments (though Clinton got very lucky re economic growth, but what did he do with it - "reformed" welfare - hardly a top progressive agenda item).