The Democrats surpassed all predictions made. They now hold 229 seats in the House, in comparison to the 196 seats of the Republicans. In the Senate, they hold 50 seats, while the Republicans hold 49. The last seat was won by the Socialist candidate Bernie Sanders(VT). He will side with the Democrats on most issues, thus giving the Democrats a 2 seat advantage over the Republicans in the Senate.

This is the first time since 1994 that the Democrats are in control of both chambers of Congress. Upon hearing the election results, many Democrats and liberals went out partying, believing they had achieved a tremendous victory and the war was finally over. But is this the case?

There is no doubt that the ruling class and their fascist vanguard in the Republican Party were dealt a severe blow after they lost both chambers of Congress. Looking at the gloomy face of Dick Cheney at a press conference the following day is evidence enough of that.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n315/plorenz3/?action=view&current=cheneygloom.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

The Republican Party has taken a beating and are down, but they are not out. They are merely licking their wounds.

The forces that allowed for the fascist ascention to power are still around. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and all of Fox News is still around. The ruling class is still around. This election has not fundamentally changed the political landscape.

The leaders in the Democratic Party need to shift to the left, or they will be buried once again come next election. It doesn't matter if the bills they pass get vetoed by Bush. If anything, a gridlocked Congress can be used in the 2008 election to show that Bush was an obstructionist to the Democratic plan for America. This would put the Democrats on a much better footing for getting elected to the White House, because it would show that the Democrats have a plan for America, but the Republicans are just preventing them from exercising it.

The Democratic Party needs to have a truly left program that can be used to mobilize more voters. They need to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, which has been used to cripple labor unions. They need to raise the national minumum wage to $8.50 an hour and index it to inflation. They need to repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, and FTAA. They need to pass universal health care. It doesn't matter if Bush vetoes the legislation, because then he would be committing political suicide for the Republican Party in 2008. The American people wand a truly left leadership.

Will the Democratic Party offer this leadership? Current evidence seems to say that they won't. Howard Dean has announced that the Democrats won't push for impeachment of President Bush. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has just met with Bush to discuss how they can "work together", trandslated meaning: Democrats tone down their message and become even more moderate (conservative). Joe Lieberman is apparently going to retain his seniority in the Democratic Party's picking of chairman of Homeland Security, meaning that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is courting Lieberman to keep him identifying himself as a Democrat.

This is short-sighted. None of these actions do anything to build a Left movement. Sure, more legislation might get passed, but at what cost? Making the Democratic Party more conservative than it tragically already is?

It is a sad day when the Republican Party can impeach Clinton for something as irrelevant as the Lewinsky Witchhunt, and the Democratic Party can't even impeach Bush for something as serious as lying about the reasons to go to war in Iraq, and fixing intelligence to make the war sound necessary, such as is revealed by the Downing Street Memo.

The leadership in the Democratic Party is already starting down the path of failing the people. Once when everyone's hangover from partying is over, people should get ready for the next battle. A battle just as dire, if not more so, then the elections. The battle for a truly Left leadership for the Democratic Party.