The Democratic Party has been stewing in its own juices for 10 years now: The last two years of the Bill Clinton administration, when it was buffeted by Ken Starr and the stains on an intern's gown, the sense of 'we wuz robbed' consequent on the Supreme Court decision that handed the presidency to George W Bush in 2000, and then the eight years of George W Bush run amok.
Finally, the Democrats have what they had scarcely dared dream of: Control of the executive and both branches of the legislature. There is the very real risk that a party with the reputation, deserved or otherwise, of wooly-headed liberalism can see this as payback time, and look to ram through its pet policies and torpedo its pet peeves while it has its hands on the twin levers of government.
Obama needs the party behind him if he is to accomplish even a fraction of what he needs to do; his challenge then is to get a party bubbling over with the exuberance of its renewed mandate to toe a line drawn down middle-America.
Image: Barack Obama's supporters celebrate in Washington, DC
Photograph: SnapsIndia
Also read: Californian Democrats party for Obama
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