So now we have to govern...

[ShaneGR]

We will control both houses of congress. We will have subpeona power. We can pass bills and send them to the White House.

But in general, what's the correct course to take? Do we go super aggressive and subpeona every Republican within a half mile of the Bush Administration? Do we go after gun bans, immediate troop redeployment out of Iraq, Universal Health care, free trade restrictions, etc etc etc??

Or do we govern for these two years closer to the center but skewed a bit to the left? We subpeona and investigate, coordinated between the two houses but limit the scope to the most important? Do we stick to issues mainstream America supports like what Pelosi has been pushing? Raising the minimum wage? Reforming lobbying in Washington? Prescription drug and embryonic stem cell research? Attempt to change the course in Iraq by demanding change from Bush, but stopping short of a pullout?

Keep in mind, many of the Democrats who won new seats yesterday are fairly moderate. Expect the Blue Dog coalition in the House to grow above 50+. Someone like Jim Tester from Missouri as a heck of a lot different than a true blue liberal like Sherrod Brown from Ohio.

In the end, are we REALLY the Big Tent party? Are we open to differing views? Or do we want to govern from the hard left just as the republicans governed from the far right? This represents an opportunity for our party to really sustain lasting majorities for not just two years but for the long haul? What to do?

[Mythsaje]

1. We do what the American people asked us to do...

We root out corruption in Congress.

We reform healthcare.

We raise the minimum wage.

We restore the Constitution.

We get out of Iraq.

We SERVE America, not ourselves.

[Deja Q]

2. In a civilized society, there is no substitute for compromise.

Therefore there can be as much a 'too left' as there is a 'too right'.

[longship]

3. Almost never been a problem for the Democrats.

:kick:

[napi21]

4. Well, I hope the Demscan do more than one thing at a time!

I think beginning with Nancy's ideas are a very good start. You also heard Joe Biden say that if he becoms Chairman of the Judiciary Committee he WILL hold hearings beginning in January on the leadup to the war and why we really went there. He said the American people want to know, and they deserve to know.

[ShaneGR]

6. Ya, I think the interesting part of this will be the investigations and their scope..

And if they can use those investigations as leverage to get important legislation through the hill.

[bigtree]

5. we will chew gum and walk at the same time

we know how to govern

[bushass]

7. how to govern?

hell! i dont think we can govern now? because we have control, the tara-ists are going to take over!............................

just ask baby rushie!

[damntexdem]

8. Have to? No, get to. It will be a change for America after 6 years ...

to have someone actually governing.

[upi402]

9. the "to-do" list here;

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601030_kucinich_... /
I will not prejudice with any criticism or charges any oversight hearings of any committee I may chair in the next Congress. However, I do know that the American people still have unanswered questions about
9/11,
WMDs,
the abandonment of international law and the Geneva Conventions,
the war in Iraq,
the White House Iraq Group,
the Rendon propaganda machine,
Afghanistan,
Abu Graib,
Guantanamo,
the Pat Tillman case,
Iraq war casualties,
the missing $10.8 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds,
the human and economic toll of the war,
rendition,
wiretapping,
domestic spying,
and plans for an attack on Iran.