2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I thought winning the election would feel better than this. [View all]zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)And the poster is correct, it is status quo. Considering the last 4 years, which include loss of control of the House, a mandate, no public option, Gitmo still open, and more troops in Afghanistan than when we started, that's not exactly something to get excited about. And really, in the next 4, can you really point to anything that one should expect of any significance? I'm talking something transformative such as Medicare for all, or reduction to a 9 carrier Navy. Heck, how about the union "card check" legislation.
Truth is that at best what we are looking for is to lock ACA into the economic system so tightly that it becomes hard to undo, which would probably mean mandates into the foreseeable future and no public option/single payer for more than a decade. We are probably looking at some sort of "permanent" presence in Afghanistan, not calling them combat troops, and claiming they are only there to "fight Al Queda" or some such language. We'll get a deal on the fiscal cliff, and it will include revenue increase, many from tax increases. But we'll get little else. Probably some changes around the edges to "cut out waste" and really at most we'll see changes that impact COL increases negatively, or possibly retirement/eligibility ages (even if only for higher incomes). We might get a reversal of DOMA (a Clinton era law finally being undone). We may get two new, younger, SC justices that will maintain the status quo on the SC. But exactly what is being proposed for the next four years that anyone around here should be getting excited about except "not doing what the GOP would have done"?