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• Tuesday, September 30, 2008 06:09 AM

  McCain may be done but the GOP isn't.

  McCain seems to be on a downward slide that (hopefully) ensures he will not win the election in November.

  However, that does not mean that we can count of the GOP for good. They made that mistake in 2002 when they controlled every branch of government - it didn't last long.

  The fact is the US is plagued by a variety of problems which will take a long time to be solved, if they can be solved at all. And let's be honest with ourselves - many of them (like the current financial crisis) have strongly bipartisan roots. Those on the progressive left like myself might never have supported deregulation or laissez-faire capitalism, but Bill Clinton didn't do much to rein either in and the Pelosi congress has only recently started making inroads on that direction.

  The GOP has never lacked shrewd political operatives. In 2010, even if it follows an Obama victory, expect them to strike back, and strike back hard when all of our problems haven't magically vanished (and they won't.) They'll place the blame squarely what will hopefully be a Democratic Congress, Senate and Presidency, and they will likely regain ground.

  Politicians might not be able to afford the luxury of long term thinking but their supporters should. We need to think about how to push a Democratic government in directions that will result in a reorganization of the federal government in ways that are more politically and economically viable in the long term. Even if it costs us politically. Because it will. Believe it.

  —MichaelL Read MichaelL's other letters
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