I, too, will be very amused to see the epic flip-flop to come: the Republicans blathering about protecting the traditions of the Senate . . . and the Democrats talking about the need to eliminate obstruction.

Will there be a new “Gang of 14″ do you think?

You know . . . this flip-flop makes matters very simple for those of us who observe politics.
We just need to replace “Republican” with “Democrat” and vice versa at the header of most institutional-related Talking Points, and we are good to go.

I also note that Obama has been condemned by some folks in the European press as a “war monger” for his committment to Afghanistan.

Everything old is new again.

Two reasons:

(1) President Bush has gone FAR beyond any previous president in ensuring this will be seamless transition. Obama was talking yesterday about how he already has team members shadowing Paulson etc. Even before the election, the Bush administration had briefings with both contenders on security issues to get over the dangerous transition period. Contrary to the surliness — if not the myth of the removal of “W”s from WH keyboards — with which Bush was “welcomed” in 2000, Bush appears focused on ensuring a seamless and hospitable transition. Even the New York Times has given him credit for this.

(2) A Democrat has won. This time, in 2004, Democratic blogs were wondering if they could turn electors so as to “elect” John Kerry…there was the “Not My President” meme, which was widespread among Democrats…as well as that bizarre series of online photographs apologizing to the world for the election of Bush. Classy!

And, of course, who can forget the sheer hatred, and bile, directed at those in Red States who had the nerve to vote for Bush over Kerry.

Novelist Jane Smiley's lovely little 2004 essay – “Why Americans Hate Democrats – the unteachable ignorance of the red states” — is an example of how Democrats respond to Republican victories. How many of these pieces filled the newspapers in 2004? There has been none of that this time.

http://www.slate.com/id/2109218/

I particularly enjoyed Smiley's stereotyped smear of tens of millions of Americans: ” red state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do—they prefer to be ignorant. As a result, they are virtually unteachable. . . . .
red state types love to cheat and intimidate. . . “

No, I don't think this transition will see anything like that.

President-elect Obama won. Republicans are focused on looking at their own faults, instead of conspiracy theories and ranting about the “ignorance” of those who do not share their views.