AFTERSHOCKS

A Sensible Democrat?
Bottom line: We liberals need to reclaim the Democratic Party with the New Democrat positions of Bill Clinton and the New Politics/bipartisan aspirations of Barack Obama—a party that is willing to meet half-way with conservatives and Republicans even if that means only step-by-step reforms on health care and other issues that do not necessarily involve big-government solutions. (Lanny Davis, WSJ, 1/20/2010)

A Nonsensical Democrat
After a year of being knifed by the GOP at every turn, isn't it time to give up on faith in genteel post-partisanship? (Katrina vanden Heuvel, NYT, 1/21/2010)

There are probably many ways to describe Democrat behavior over the past twelve months. However, the words "genteel post-partisanship" don't immediately come to mind!

We Love Brown!
The Senate seat held for nearly half a century by Mr. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, will now be held for the next two years by a Republican who has said he supports waterboarding as an interrogation technique for terrorism suspects, opposes a federal cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions and opposes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants unless they leave the country. (NYT, 1/20/2010)

Delusional
While some Democrats were saying slow down, others said speed up, and that the reason Coakley lost is because voters were frustrated by the legislative inertia in Washington. "The reason Ted Kennedy's seat is no longer controlled by a Democrat is clear: Washington's inability to deliver the change voters demanded in November 2008," Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern said. "Make no mistake, political paralysis resulted in electoral failure." (FoxNews.com 1/20/2010)

Andy Stern needs to get out of the house more, the White House that is. Stern’s frequent guest privileges should be revoked.

Blame Bush
“Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts but the mood around the country — the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” Mr. Obama said. “People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.” (NYT, 1/21/2010)

So, if we understand Obama correctly, Brown's win is the fault of George Bush!

Grade Change
With Obama’s health care plans now up in the air, RedStateVT wonders whether his self-reported B+ grade now needs to be lowered……