New Battle Lines

          When Republicans put up losers like Sharon Angle, Christine O”Donnell, Richard Mourdock, and Todd Aiken in Senate races they should have won in 2010 and 2012, Democrats rubbed their hands in glee at the prospect of further destructive battles between conservative and establishment factions within the GOP.  They can now stop chortling…the Republicans have finally put their act together.  Worse, the shoe is now on the other foot.

          The blame game has already started and it is revealing a deep division among Democrats.  One side, as described by Daniel Greenfield, is “the old corrupt party of thieves and crooks…the products of political machines [who] believe in absolutely nothing [and] will say anything to get elected.”  This is the faction headed by Harry Reid whose political action committee produced some of the most despicable and disgusting ads we’ve ever seen in any election cycle.  On the other side is the radical left, progressives like President Obama who want to fundamentally transform this country.
          The smashing victory of the Republicans on November 4^th has effectively removed Harry Reid from the seat of power in the Senate.  But, judging from the president’s first news conference on November 5^th, he is not about to give an inch.  He made it clear that he intends to use his veto pen and executive orders in pursuit of his agenda.  Compromise is simply not in his vocabulary.
          It remains to be seen how a Republican-controlled Congress lacking a veto-proof majority will be able to deliver on its own agenda.  Or how both parties go about reforming their battle lines for 2016.