A Sour Mood Previewed

The local elections this week in Indianapolis may have some relevance as a micro-level demonstration of the sour mood among American voters in general.

In a classic "throw the bums out" move, Indianapolis residents kicked out Bart Peterson and voted in a Republican majority to the City Council.

It's an angry city, to be sure. Property tax reassessment made many homeowners in greater Indianapolis exceedingly upset, with some claiming increases up to 200 and even 400 percent. That on top of a hike in their local income tax rate combined to produce an angry mob of voters prepared to force change.

It makes me think that on the national level, maybe change will drive next year's elections more than party affiliation. Could it be that the press is wrong, as they so often are, in predicting a landslide for Democrats next November? Maybe the landslide will be seen more in an anti-incumbent vote regardless of party affiliation.

I think people are sick of the parties, and are simply looking for candidates that give them straight talk and offer real solutions instead of the standard meaningless pablum the incumbents have so carefully cultivated over the years.

Got a Democrat in your district who supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, tax increases, and votes in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi? If challenged by an articulate, reasonably intelligent Republican, he or she might be surprised to find him(her)self unemployed next year.

Got a Republican in your district who participated or didn't visibly oppose the pork when his party owned the congress, aligned with the President on illegal immigration, or favored corporate interests over his constituents? Likewise, a Democrat could unseat even a seemingly entrenched lawmaker.

For President, I'm no longer assuming Hillary's a lock. Obama seems to be gaining on her, and the Republican candidate has yet to emerge.

When I hear someone say they will vote for Hillary, I try to just ask why. The reasons I hear are pretty simplistic: She's a woman (usually the reason given by women), and she's not George Bush. So let's suppose the GOP candidate gets out there head-to-head with Hillary and communicates clearly on common-sense solutions to issues, at the same time exposing Hillary as a poll-driven animal without any real principles (except, perhaps, getting and keeping power for herself). He could win.

Of course, the only candidate who has a chance to win is the one who has the best common-sense solutions to very difficult problems. Oil prices, Iraq and Iran, Terror, Illegal Immigration, Taxes and Spending, Healthcare, Social Security. Lots of incredibly tough problems out there for the next President, who I suspect will have to begin the term with the country in recession.

Is there somebody running who will be best to deal with so many large and difficult problems? I'm not sure there is, but I do think there's a tremendous opportunity from somebody to step up and prove it to the people.