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Thanks for your vanity. I enjoyed reading it and many of the responses to it. The devastating loss for the GOP cannot be explained in a simple way. There are truly complex factors that all played a part in it. I like your focus on the individual races. That is a wise thing to do just as a matter of course.

One of the things I disagree with you on is the Iraq war. Unfortunately, the Iraq situation was a very big factor. Americans do not like war. And that is a good quality in us. And President Bush – (nor his administration) – has not done a good job of explaining what really is going there and why and what we are doing about it and why it will work or what exactly victory will look like.

There seems to be a lack of understanding and respect for the mindset and culture of the people of the Middle East. The Sunnis really hate the Shia and feel that they are superior to them and the Kurds. The Shia really hate the Sunnis. And neither is ashamed that they hate – they are proud that they hate and they consider it perfectly fine to kill – to brutally kill those they hate. The idea that they would welcome a democratic country where they all would get along is tragically naïve.

These kind of things don’t seem to have been factored in and the American people are weary of the conflict and the brutality. They are not sure that the war is winnable. They are not sure that war and killing and bombing and intimidating and threatening etc are the best course in our approach to terrorism. Many Americans are questioning whether we are making more enemies than we need to. There is a malaise in the country – that I think has to do with the times we are living in. President Bush has been unfairly blamed for that malaise – for the worry – for the fear that people experience.

Also, the corruption hurt us badly. And, in truth, we deserved to be punished for that. The GOP Congress was awful! The pork and earmarks – the corruption and use of power was inexcusable. Some of that is due to the fact that government is just too big and is expected to do too much. Making decisions over a two trillion dollar budget and the most powerful military in the world as well as making laws that 300 million people have to abide by – is a powerful temptation to corruption. The GOP succumbed…

Thirdly, a lot of Americans are tired of and worried about the lack of civility – the polarization of the country. They want leaders who can engage in healthy debate but be civil and who can work together. They really want to see someone emerge who can unite us. I am very concerned that Barak Obama may present himself as that person. We need leaders who can capture our imagination and inspire us to believe in a positive future. We need new ideas. Sadly, neither side presented any news ideas in the election. Hopefully the 2008 election can be an election of ideas.

Anyway – those are some of my thoughts in response to this very interesting thread.

Thank you for your comments. You make a good point about Iraq; all I know is that few democrats around here campaigned on it, instead emphasizing things that were local (and often things which a Congressman has no control over).

I would like to think that we could use threads like this to prod elected officials into paying more attention to their constituents' concerns.

Oh, and I definitely agree about the public's disgust with the vitriol in politics today. Angry people are not attractive, and consequently the public tunes out. As somone said earlier on this thread, humor is a much better tool.