On Tuesday night, as the results came in, the person I felt closest to was broadcaster Van Johnson. Sitting at the anchor desk as others opined, he became visibly agitated, but in a happy way. Finally, he shushed the talking heads, nearly shouting with gleeful excitement: “Can we just stop worrying about what all this means and take in the fact that our party won bigly?” OK, that’s not exactly what he said, but it was certainly the thought that exploded into words.
A day and a half later, that’s what I’m thinking, too. I’m worried that our party will somehow blow it, lost in a dream of vengeful retaliation. Americans want lower prices, an end to self-dealing, affordable health care, and peace with Iran. They very much want the president’s excesses curtailed, but not as much as they want lower gas prices. The Jewish issues will be fiendishly complicated. Swamp Creature Vance is already blame shifting to those nefarious Israelis who lured a hapless president into a hopeless war. That doesn’t exactly comport with my sense of things, but it will be a powerful storyline going forward. Vance and Carlson are just getting started, and Netanyahu gives both of them plenty to work with.
But I just want the joy of this extraordinary moment. We have lived through a decade of terrible injury: unnecessary conflict, stupidity, incompetence, reckless destruction, and the dismembering of government. Donald Trump spent the day after the rout chatting amiably about progress on the ballroom. Was there ever a better reason to invoke the clause that allows a cabinet to strip the president and put him in protective custody? He is entirely cut off from his duties and responsibilities.
But having thought that thought, I am done with thinking it. James Talarico will be the new senator from Texas. Sherrod Brown is back in the saddle. Susan Collins, the Queen of Having it Both Ways, has finally been trapped in an inescapable lobster pot by voters who put the pork issues aside and decided finally to vote their principles. As they say in the religion biz, glory be to God Most High.
All of which is to say a word about despair. However dark the universe may get, there is always reason for optimism and hope. Without being Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, we can sometimes trust each other and our fellow Americans to do the right thing and restore the country. Time will tell, but I think it will deliver. We are in a better place than we were before.