they can get 60, because we progressives & the right are here.

they try and go to far right, or pass something bogus, we won't let them hear the end of it, and if they did we would vote against them.

and the right will be there to attack them for anything, so even if a minority they will work as a check.

and once we take control, it becomes time to elect BETTER democrats, thus all those democrats who would cause trouble will be to worried about things like Project Accountability.

I think we have to be ready on day 1 to hold Democrats accountable.

more then anything we have to make sure we don't allow Democrats to become drunk with power as the GOP did so that we lose control.

the Democratic positions are the right ones, and if we do them with time and planning the American people will see it too.

They're going to blame Democrats for everything anyway.  Hell, they're blaming us for everything now.

If by some freak stroke of luck we hit 60 (without Lieberman; I don't see 60 with him as any sort of gift or mandate), we need to just be workmen about it and rely on the meritocracy that Obama will instigate to guide us out of this mess we're in.  

The political rewards for Democrats controlling things completely and succeeding are greater than having a simple majority hitting Republican obstructionism and traditional Democratic spinelessness, failing to be 100% effective.

There are other options within these extremes, of course, but whining over whether Democrats will be blamed for the huge mess is not helpful.  Crisis = Opportunity.

Because even if we do count numerically sixty, there are still the DINOs like Ben Nelson, and former DINOs like Lieberman, who will eagerly turn on us when the chips are down.

But there is a bright lining in this, too, in that whenever a realignment like this occurs, there are usually defections from the losing side, people like David Boren who switched from Democrat to Republican after the '94 realignment.  There may be some Republicans easily swayed to switch sides, making it easier for us to finally ditch Lieberman from his committee positions and to hang a threat over Nelson's head as well.

First thing:  Open the books on the Bush administration and find every single skeleton.  Bring to light every dirty little secret to utterly destroy anything associated with a neocon ideology.  We have to expose the evil in order to rehabilitate trust in the US.

Do not be afraid to follow it where it goes, but don't turn it into some sort of idealogical crusade.  We just have to safeguard against a future incursion into the dismantling of the checks and balances.  Hopefully, by discrediting the neocon philosophy, it will be relegated into a dark corner of history.

None of this reconcilliation by pretending its just in the past and we have to move on.  It is a cancer to be rooted out and excised.

As for the economy: a massive public works revitalization of the nation's infrastructure.  Screw giving big business everything on the platter.  Corporations are incapable of doing what's right for the country or it's citizens without the inducement of a financial incentive.  At least the government is presumably on our side and not being driven by a profit motive.

We need to do some long-neglected housekeeping.  The frat party is over, and parent's day is almost here.  Time to act like an adult and invest time and money on some really boring, yet vital projects, something beyond yet another publically financed sports stadium.

8 years later they are still trying to blame current events on Clinton. I say if you are going to get tarred with the accusations you might as well do the deed.

Right here, right now the best choice we have for emerging from this shit pile Bush has left us is to work with an efficient congress, and while most times I don't mind the idea of a balanced congress, we can not afford obstructionist maneuvers in the face of what will be difficult times ahead. The Republicans had their shot and made a mess of it, time for the adults to take charge.

As a physician, I would hope the  Teddy Kennedy in the Senate (with John Conyers in the House) push for the only really meanigful and afforable healthc are reform policy--Single Payer health care with a universal risk pool that no one can opt out of.

With respect to governance, we need a truth and reconciliation commission to lay bear the ugly facts regarding Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Gonzalez's et al assault on the Constitution to be chaired by Anthony Romero of the ACLU.  I think some of this administrations's activites were illegal but I am less interested in per walks and incarceration of Bush Administration officials than in using this as a once-in-a-life time opportunity to discredit the NeoCons and their Rethug patsies.  

It could be for this gneration what Sudden Sam Ervin and the Senate Hearings into Watergate were for mine--a highly entertaining and educational civics lesson.

I'm kidding.  60 (highly unlikely) means we get to bring things to a vote.  It doesn't mean that we'll win everything, or we won't have to compromise.

We do what we set out to do, bring Iraq to a close, seriously attempt to get off oil, and institute Health care reform.  We are also now strapped with the responsibility of fixing a struggling economy which will inevitably delay the first 3 things I mentioned.

However, if Obama and a 60 democratic majority senate can get half their goals accomplished, this country will be better for it, and better for it for generations.

Democrats will need to level with the American people about the challenges we face and the difficulty ahead of us.

Leveling with the American people and having an open conversation with them will be critical in demonstrating the Democrats are the steady hand in all of this.  And we will have to highlight small bits of progress and optimism.  

It won't be easy, but I think with an increased focus on regulation and responsibility we can begin to level off the crisis, and doing that, progress will begin to become evident.

Completely unrelated topic - I have searched everywhere for the link and cannot find it. HOW on earth do I post a new diary????

Obviously I am new to this, so be gentle lol

what we need to do is deliver on every issue for the middle class.  we have to make the middle class LOVE the democratic party like they did after FDR.  I read an interview with billie holiday once in which she was asked about her politics.  she said simply:  "roosevelt fed me when i was hungry.  i'm a democrat"

we cannot be swayed by naysayers or lobbyists.  every single action must directly benefit the middle class.  universal health care, massive jobs and infrastructure programs, mortgage assistance and increased regulation from wall st. to the fda.  

and how do we pay for all this?  we take it from the rich.  the american people are ready for this.  they are currently watching their hard-earned money bail out nefarious corporations who got rich by screwing normal people over.  they realize that there has to be a realignment of wealth in this country to make it work again.  people won't necessarily say that in so many words, but the simple fact that's platform of raising taxes on the wealthy hasn't made him a non-starter says something huge about the change in perspective of the electorate with regards to taxes and redistribution.

gwb is an idiot.  he got things exactly wrong.  he went on a drunken spending spree and drove up the national debt when times were GOOD!  deficit spending is supposed to happen when times are bad to help get the economy moving.  We cannot allow our hands to be tied by his bad decisions.  We must increase government spending dramatically to create jobs and shore up the middle class.  

We have to raise taxes dramatically on the rich, and particularly on the very rich.  How many people would really be opposed to a fifty percent tax on all income over 10 million dollars?  there's a big difference between making $250,000 a year and being a billionaire.  i don't understand why we have to treat them the same way in our tax code.      

I predict an R or two will figure out which way the wind is blowing and will switch parties in order to avoid being in such a pitiful minority.

I would expect Reid or Dodd or Clinton or whoever ends up being Majority Leader to offer some of those people nice perks for switching.

Then we kick LIEberman out and not a moment too soon.

then bring on the new new deal, the True Blue Deal!

Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Eliminate the H-1 visa program.

Withdraw the USA from the WTO.

Enact import duties and tarrifs.

Build alternative energy sources and bullet trains.

Kick foreign students out of state colleges and universities.  Only allocate open seats after ALL in-state and permanent resident applicants have been seated.

End the offensive military and reduce to defensive levels.  No need for us to police the world and prop up dictators for the benefit of multi-national corporations.

We can do these things