Monday, September 13, 2004

Message to Democrats: Get Over It

Democrats keep saying things like this: "Republicans are nasty." "Republicans don't fight fair." Well, there's plenty of that going around in all political camps. The real problem with Democrats is that they think they're still supposed to be in the White House and in charge of Congress.

Well, the fact is that we're in a Republican era that began as long ago as 1968, when Nixon beat Humphrey, even though Wallace took a lot of votes that probably would have gone to Nixon. (Don't start on that racist crap, again, there's a lot more to the South than race -- and always has been.) Republicans have held the White House ever since, except for Carter's term, which he owed to Nixon's disgrace, and Clinton's two terms, which he owed to Perot's candidacy. Moreover, Republicans began to claw their way back into congressional power in the 1980s, when they held the Senate for several years. They regained full control of Congress in the election of 1994 -- ten whole years ago.

So, it seems that Democrats are suffering from a bizarre form of near-term memory loss. They remember 1933-1969, when they held the White House for all but Ike's two terms. (And what kind of Republican was Ike, anyway?) They mistakenly thought their White House hegemony had been restored with Clinton's ascendancy, but Clinton was really an accidental president. Democrats vividly remember having controlled both houses of Congress for most of the 62 years from 1933 to 1995, and they keep deluding themselves that they will retake Congress in the "next" election.

Now Democrats are clinging to their old memories and crying "nasty" and "unfair" whenever they lose to Republicans. It's childish behavior. Get over it!