They’re back. . . . .

It’s hardly surprising that the Republicans have regained control of the US House of Representatives.  The economy absolutely sucks – in no small part because of the Republicans’ “borrow and spend” policies under Bush 43 – and, when the economy sucks, the American electorate takes it out on the party in power.

So, what can we expect from the Republicans in the House and the Senate?  John Boehner, the Speaker-in-waiting, has made it pretty clear that he expects the President and the soon-to-be minority House Democrats to play nice with the Republican majority, although one suspects that what Boehner really means is that he expects Obama and the Democrats to capitulate to anything the Republicans dictate.  Funny how perspective changes – when the Republicans were the minority in the House, they whined constantly about how poorly they were treated by the majority.

Although the Republicans did NOT win a Senate majority, nobody seems to have told Mitch McConnell, the current and future minority leader.  Sen. McConnell has made it crystal clear – most recently today – that the Senate Republicans’ top priority will be to make sure that President Obama does not get a second term.  As McConnell explained today, if the Republicans are to implement the mandate of the American electorate in this election, they must have a Republican president who will not veto their tax cuts, repeal of health care reform, and other spending cuts. 

From where I sit, it looks like we’re in for two more years of legislative gridlock in the service of partisanship.  Boehner is a skilled partisan infighter, and will make sure that the House Republicans hew to the party line – which is the same agenda that got the country into this mess.  However, there are still enough Senate Democrats (if you include the DINOs) to make sure that much of what the House sends up goes nowhere.  And, if something untoward does get passed by both houses of Congress, the President can veto it.  The Republicans do not have enough seats to override a veto.

It will be interesting to see how the Republicans spin the legislative inaction we can expect under their watch.  It will be more interesting to see if the electorate will be paying attention, and whether we will make the GOP pay for being the “party of no” in the 2012 election.