A Sigh of Relief

As much as I would have liked the nation to rise up and totally repudiate the politics of hatred and fear that have gripped us for the past two years, I did not expect it, and it did not happen.  What did happen was precisely what the political talking heads predicted: Democrats took the House of Representatives and made gains in Governor's and down ticket elections.  Republicans held the Senate in a very favorable electoral scenario where many of the seats up for grabs were in "deep red" areas.
He who must not be named spent the last week before the election howling about brown people invading from the south and various other dog-whistle fear tactics, but as far as I can see he barely moved the needle.  The thing that I guess makes me feel sort of better about our government this morning than I have in a few years is that yesterday was peaceful (first and foremost), but also that it was predictable.  I'm just getting weary of the chaos, maybe it's my age, but I just can't take the constant outrage and frenzy that comes with he who must not be named.
I'm tired of him, and I think the election gives a glimmer of hope that I'm not alone.  The House of Representatives is the thing that we needed to take the lid off of his boiling kettle of bellicosity.  I'm under no illusion that the Democrats who will take control of one of our legislative assemblies will suddenly be able to get much accomplished, but I at least have the sense that they will be able to do something besides wring their hands and faint on the sidelines.
Various hopeful commentators this morning are outlining what I think would be a fine strategy for the next two years, and it boils down to this: give he who must not be named the chance to deliver on some of the things he claims to want and has promised his base.  Introduce an immigration reform bill that solidifies the status of dreamers, but also which addresses some of the gaping holes in our system.  Introduce legislation that REALLY helps the working class, not just for pretend like the GOP.  INFRASTRUCTURE, not fancy tech-y stuff either, guys (and gals) with hardhat stuff.  This is all stuff that he who must not be named, demagogue that he is, would have a hard time saying no to, because it's stuff that I think, if he has any integrity in him at all, he actually does want.  The Senate might hem and haw, but honestly at this point they don't have the spine to stand up to he who must not be named.
I think that smart people should be able to figure out how to use he who must not be named the same way he has figured out how to use his base.  It would seem to me that with just this one lever of power to pull those we elected yesterday could maybe make a big difference in some really important ways over the next two years, but it's going to mean learning some lessons.  That is probably why I'm actually (sort of) relieved that it wasn't a "blue tsunami" or something that delivered the Democrats everything they always wanted, then they would have no impetus to learn from anything and probably might try to talk Hillary into running again.  As it is, they're going to have to get smart and work at this thing to show the country that they really are an alternative to he who must not be named and his Peter Pettigrew, Turtleman.
The cynical part of me is ready for gridlock and stalemate, but I've gotten kind of used to that.  At the very least, we have pumped the brakes on our descent into madness, it remains to be seen whether we can get meaningful control over the vehicle.