Here goes…

It was not my intention to make this blog overly-political, but given the recent election results, I can't shy away from what I feel to be a threatening political environment coming in the not so far off future. So after 1 1/2 days of remaining in the fetal position and avoiding any form of media (I haven't watched television in weeks), I am ready to reflect on the mid-term elections. With all of that stated, here goes….

There is no way to miss the point of yesterday's midterm elections. People are deeply frustrated with how they are being governed. For the sake of this entry, we'll look past the 'why' with respect to the governance. The political debate is at an all-time partisan low and the public over the last couple of election cycles are calling for something, almost anything, to change that. We can certainly link elected officials' rhetoric as likely reasons as to why this has occurred, but one thing is for certain, the public does not want to spend the next two years talking about the last [2 years]. They want to see progress on the economy, job creation, the federal budget deficit, and immigration. Regardless of how people voted, these are the issues that voters want their representatives in Congress to address.

Each party is faced with an overarching voter mandate. Republicans will be expected to govern and get out of this stump of a 'party of no.' They must craft serious legislative proposals to match the serious problems our country faces today and in the future. Democrats will be expected to work with Republicans in search of meaningful compromises to ensure the economy remains away from oblivion and on a path to steady job-creation.

We have seen the President be willing to compromise and hold strong to reaching across the aisle, however he will likely have to abandon some of his ideas and explore new ones. Below are a few ideas that will need to be explored.

First, The President will be forced to revisit ineffective and failed tax cuts of the Bush administration. I am no fan of all the tax cuts, but if the President wants to lead in fiscal responsibility, he could steer Congress to give a look at the military budget. One of the reasons the Bush era of economic policies were so deplorable was because he supported all the tax cuts as well as nearly tripled the defense budget. If we can revisit that short-lived window of Clinton's economic success, perhaps the President could reel back some of the shortly-followed faulty economic logic that was in play until he took office.

Second, the President and Democrats must stand firm against the Republican pledge to repeal their singular achievement of the past two years—providing quality, affordable health care to everyone. Implementation must proceed not just for the fiscal gains to be had over the next several decades but also for the critical health and social benefits it will deliver to the vast majority of Americans as different aspects of the law come into force. The new law deserves the time needed to make it work.

Finally, the President must not be fearful to take a thoughtful, substantive approach on immigration. I say this because, recent actions have paired the President's handling of the matter identical to the way Republicans would tackle the matter if given the opportunity—that opportunity being of course, the White House. The President must learn from the past and finally be truthful with both governing parties and the public that law-enforcement is NEVER the only way to approach any issue, and certainly not an issue that is so heavily bogged down in economic ties.

In searching for optimism, I do believe all is not lost with this slight shift in our national government. With Republicans controlling the House, there is a real opportunity to construct reasonable foreign policy. But the President still controls the direction of this administration. He holds the last stroke with his pen to either VETO or sign. Given that, I'm sure Republicans will turn down the noise and get on with what people want to see happen. This means looking after the future of our country, not trying to tear down the president.

I'm optimistic this will happen because some of us are already eyeing 2012.