feeling a little better

So yes things are better than I'd expected. Surprising -- the front page of the Times yesterday had a long article about Bush's attempt to shore-up support among his base, and a few days prior was a poll showing that the Rs were catching up. But no: Dems won handily. What does this mean?
1. Americans like the Constitution. The Constitution means divided government (remember my Pol 101 kids?)
2. The Democratic victory is actually bigger than it seems. I'm not talking here about registration and polling irregularities (like the arbitrarily strict ID policies here in IN and elsewhere), or other structural advantages (the bully pulpit, etc), although they do matter. If you combine the 28 seats the Ds won in the HR, and add that to the Senate (which I predict the Ds will win once the votes are counted and re-counted), and add that to the governorships, this means an impressive majority of voters supported change.
3. "Change" here means a lot of things, but most importantly it refers to Iraq. The best thing Bush could do right now would be to fire Rumsfeld. The Dems can take heart that he won't, however. This bodes ill for the country (and especially for the troops), but it bodes well for Democratic chances in 2008. Rumsfeld is the face of failure, and both parties know it.