Although I end up voting for their candidates more often that not, I've never been overly fond of some of the more strident shibboleths of the Democratic party, and am reasonably convinced (though granted I've never done any actual research on the matter) that, given half a chance, the party would revert to its pre-Clintonian statist philosophy in fairly short order. It's in large part due to this fear that I've been so discomfitted by the possibility of the Senate Democrats achieving a filibuster-proof majority. That and I'm a firm believer in the "power corrupts" school of thought.
That being said, as of this evening and on a purely emotional level, I no longer have any sympathy for the GOP, and spitefully hope to see them suffer further electoral disaster next year. I'm furious with Gregg for withdrawing his nomination. He's apparently done so because he suddenly realized that he'd be serving a Democratic president, and Republicans can't work with Democrats. On anything. If they do, they'll be contaminated. Or something.
The GOP demanded Democratic aquiescence during their eight years in power; even when the Dems held control of the Congress. Once the Democrats gained complete and total control over both the legislative and executive branches, the first thing President Obama did (against the advice and desire of many of his supporters and colleagues) was make a serious attempt to break with his predecessor and reinstitute a true bipartisanship of the kind that's been dying since, to my mind, the beginning of the Clinton administration. He not only talked with the Republican leadership, he actively inserted their ideas into his stimulus package; the Republicans even praised the man for it. And then they refused to vote for the package, apparently because it wasn't the package that they would have created had they been in power (which is the only bill worth supporting, apparently).
Gregg's recusal is a symptom of a dying party. The GOP can revive itself; indeed, it most certainly will at some point, just as both it and its Democratic compatriot have done countless times before when it seemed that the end was nigh. But right now, the Republican Party is on a witch hunt; punishing all those who don't have the ideological purity that they demand, and viewing any compromise with the oppostion as being tantamount to apostasy. This is an idea that's been far more thoroughly (and superbly) developed by Andrew Sullivan, but it's one that I now finally, and completely, subscribe to.
