"The Election"

                                                                                                                  Sydney M. Williams

                                                                                                                  November 5, 2014

“The Election”

I will have more on this subject on Friday, but I wanted to pass on my initial reactions to last night’s elections. Republicans should be pleased with the results. They will control both the Senate and the House. But commentators who claim they “caught a wave” exaggerate, in my opinion, the results. When only five or six percentage points separate winners from losers that is not a wave; it is a victory, but one with a substantial minority. That was the mistake Mr. Obama made in 2008. He ignored the voices of the 47% of the people who voted for John McCain. Those who won last night should not make the same mistake now.

There are many who will argue that we are a divided nation, but in my opinion it shows us as a centrist nation, with widely differing views and opinions. Obviously there are parts of the country that lean heavily one way or another, but even in New England, which is typically Democratic, the gubernatorial races in Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts were tight. Victors need recognize that winning did not ordain unilateralist powers.

It is normal for winners to celebrate their victories, and they should. But once they assume office they must work with their political opponents to forge policies for the good of their state and the nation.