So it's midnight at the end of the day after election day, and already things are being turned on their heads. First of all, the election couldn't have turned out any better than it did. Not only did the Dems pick up a ton of seats, we won back the Senate by a hair's breadth (AP called Virginia for Webb tonight, then NBC, officially moving the Senate into Democrat control), we won back the House of Representatives with something like 30 seats to spare, and we won a majority of Governorships and state Legislatures. Hopefully this Democratic momentum could propel a Dem candidate into the White House in 2008, which would probably mean Hilary at this point. Not only is it about time we had a female President, but it's also about time we had a President who believes in health care reform with a Congress to back her up.
     The news today was crazy, however. Rumsfeld is out ... which is a huge shock. My belief is that he was offered up as a sacrifice by Bush to the cause of bipartisanship. Y'know... now that he needs bipartisanship. I think it's amazing that as Rumsfeld was being fired and everybody in the world telling him he screwed up Iraq, his exit speech basically stated that Iraq is "so complex" that hopefully in time we'll all come to understand it. Here's a clue Rummy .... we understood all along, and any one of us could tell you that you were heading for disaster, but you didn't listen.
     The President also had his shots ... but in a more passive-aggressive way. In a speech today he said something like "I'm surprised. I thought Americans understood the importance of security." The implication, of course, that because we voted Democrat, we're somehow less secure. Earth to President Bush: The election is over. We obviously don't believe you. We're obviously not going to start believing you.
     I'm glad to see that the minimum wage increase is first on the agenda. The Republican majority beat us over the heads with that for the past 12 years. Basically, any time they allowed it onto the agenda, it was with some sort of "poison pill" rider (like abolishing the Estate Tax). The Dems of course refuse to vote for it because passing the poison pill would be worse, and then Republicans used their votes in negative ads as evidence of how "limousine liberals" hate the working man. Getting this passed with no riders is the first step on reversing that stigma.
     Hopefully, at some point in the next 2 years the Dems can think of some way to limit an executive's income with relation to the other workers in a company. Whole Foods does this now and it ensures good wages for their workers (especially in a retail setting) and still-high-but-not-absurd wages for their executives. I'd love to see this encouraged (though not required), and it really wouldn't affect mom & pop shops because there isn't remotely enough of a salary discrepancy. Anyhoo,... just some food for thought.