by For many observers yesterday’s election results are not a big surprise. In summary, Republicans succeeded in overturning 59 districts formerly held by a Democratic representative, giving Republicans an overall majority in the House of 238 to 183. A colored map depicting Republican states as red and Democrats in blue makes the Unites States look like a giant red mosaic with only a small smattering of blue on the edges. The only case of a Republican candidate losing to his Democratic opponent in a traditionally Republican state was in Delaware, where John C. Carney Jr. defeated Glen Urquhart, who it should be pointed out, was not the incumbent.The Senate had a slightly different result. Although maintaining their majority, Democrats lost important ground to their Republican challengers. Before the elections the Senate was represented by 59 Democrats. Today, with three seats still undecided, the Democrats have only the barest of majorities, 51 Democrats to 46 for the Republicans, an overall gain of 6 Seats.There is no question that the voters have sent a message to Washington, but what is that message? Are they against Obama, other Democrats and their policies, or are they just against 9.6% unemployment? Whatever the message is, there is no question that we are in for some interesting times. And not all of them pretty.“This is not a time for celebration,” said Republican Leader John Boehner, likely the next Speaker of the House, in a speech Tuesday night. “This is a time to roll up our sleeves and go to work.”And the work of the Congress will most likely begin with taxes. It is keenly felt that Congress must keep taxes from going up for most Americans, as it is scheduled to do if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire. The pressing question now is whether those tax cuts will be extended for everyone, or just the majority of people making less than $250,000 a year.There are many other pressing issues that will need to be dealt with, many of them in crisis mode. The biggest question now is whether the two sides of the aisle will be able to roll up their sleeves together and get to work, or if there will instead be a grid-lock which our country can ill afford.
