We haven't won anything yet.

But let's assume for a moment that the Dems win one of the Houses of Congress.

I was listening to Ed Schultz interview General Batiste yesterday. The general has been highly critical of the Bush administration and it's conduct of the war in Iraq. He gave a full throated shout down of Bush and Rummy that would make any liberal proud.

But there's a fly in the ointment that I think is instructive. His plan for Iraq involved spending more money and using more troops to "get it right". His assumption, incorrect in my opinion, is that the insurgency is the result of unemployment and boredom by the masses. If we simply give the idle hands of the average Abu-Joe something to do, a "jobs program", the insurgency will virtually disappear! In fairness to the general, he had many other suggestions for programs to fix Iraq. But the general thrust of all of them is that we need to do much much more in Iraq, completely ignoring the very relevant fact that the United States is radioactive in the region.

Bush has been such a polarizing figure that the old adage, "the enemey of my enemy is my friend" has been operable for the Democrats. It's sorta a reverse-Rove strategy, make the Dem tent as large as possible to get anyone to vote for a Dem. But now, we're going to have deal with the fallout. Rove's point of view, correctly I think, is that the larger the tent is the more unwieldy and inefficient the use of the power that comes about. Therefore, you need the barest of majorities to efficient wield power.

Once Dems have a power base, will Dems set aside their differences and cooperate as well as the Rethugicans have? It's what is necessary to counter Bush and implement a progressive agenda. But I don't think it's likely because of the profound differences within the Democratic party that still exist. Thus, the best that can be hoped for in the next two years will be a cohesive force in Congress that can investigate and exercise oversight. In other words, contain Bush. Beyond that, to think that Dems will be able to actually implement any significant policy changes is a pipe dream.

At least for now. And after the election, the job will be for progressives to continue to move the party to the left, away from the off-center right position now held.