A glimpse of things to come?

Just after the Presidential elections a friend and I were discussing what the Democrats response to defeat might be, and who might run in 2008. She said: Hilary Clinton with John Edwards as running mate; I said: not a chance.

Kerry ran a good campaign and did better than expected but the fact is he did not connect with the American electorate at large and the Dems know it. Perhaps because there was no natural choice, they reluctantly went with the stiff and awkward Kerry who is probably the archetypal New England Democrat. That sort of thing just doesn't go down well in Arkansas, Wyoming, or, well, you know the sort of places I'm talking about. There's no way they're going to make that mistake again. I'd love to see Hilary in the Whitehouse but it just won't happen. Not because the USA isn't ready for a female President, but because the USA will never be ready for Hilary Clinton.

No, I reasoned that the Democrats are going to go away, lick their wounds and come back with an agenda that appeals to the values of mainstream America: something faith driven with a strong emphasis on "values" that won't alienate Mr and Mrs Average in Smalltown, USA. So I was interested to read this in today's Independent. The next Democrat minority leader in the Senate is likely to be Harry Reid, a teetotal Morman who opposes abortion and was the architect of a motion to make flag burning unconstitutional.

Looks like the Democrats could be moving to the right quicker than anyone expected. It's still very early days but if this is any sort of indication of what is to come, there may not be much of a choice by 2008: morally conservative Christian from the Democrats or morally conservative Christian from the Republicans? Hmmm.