corrente

Local columnists are still the best. Those contemplating steps like quitting political involvement altogether, or disemboweling the Democratic Party, are asked to read this first. And note that while we here in Blogland get trolls, people who put their real names on their stuff in a real paper are targets for trollish hostility too:

(via MN Star-Tribune)

Despite the belief in some quarters that an extraordinary amount can be accomplished in a mere seven days, it will take a bit longer for people to come down from the emotions of the election.

The victors are still on a roll, like kids who've found copies of upcoming tests and are having a blast making sure that the students who won't share in the spoils know who they are.

There's the Internet poster of the four cell phones, each viewscreen filled with that now-famous photo of George Bush giving the finger, with the message: "Can you hear me now?" Eight days ago, I would have expected this from a Democrat, but that's because I thought the gesture wouldn't play well among The Base. I was wrong.

I've only heard from these victors through e-mails and letters. Most of us hang out with people who are like us, so my actual conversations have been only with others who are worried about the country's direction. You can pretty much imagine how they've gone; it's the whole "five stages" thing: Denial, anger, French silk pie, depression, acceptance.

It will take a while to recover. But not as long as it felt seven days ago. After all, people have had time to filter spin from substance. No question, a record number of people voted for Bush, but a few deep breaths also revealed that a record number voted against him. That's what happens when more than 115 million people vote. That it came down to a mere 3.5 million difference -- can you see the pie chart in your head? -- which signals that the debate about our nation's direction will remain alive and vigorous.

It's been quite a week, though...And seven days out, balance seems to me to be the key, albeit for slightly different reasons than some people might attribute to a liberal.

We tend to think of balance as a state of equanimity, but it's also a state of heightened alert because one way or the other lies a tipping point.

Right now, our country is canting in a certain direction, by the will of the people, but just barely. It could tilt further, and it may well do so, but the counterweight of almost equal proportions that currently exists will keep the scales from canting too crazily. Unless, of course, one side starts to bail out and the tipping point is reached.

So to those of us on the receiving end of the celebratory screeds and the presidential portraits, who have commiserated over the past week with our fellows in driveways and coffeeshops and Target lines: We can take heart in our collective weight, of our very avoirdupois, so to speak.

We are a long way from the tipping point. Be it humble or French silk, that pie helped, after all.

[Very minor snippage for length, so you don't have to bother with the Strib's PitA registration.]