The day after the elections, President Bush announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was leaving his post, and nominated former C.I.A. Director Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld. Gates is a member of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group commissioned by Congress to find new strategies for establishing security in that country and determining the future U.S. role there.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who if elected Speaker of the House by her party would be the first woman in U.S. history to hold that post, says the Democrats' agenda in the new Congress will concentrate on issues the party campaigned on.
"To make America safer by enacting the 9-11 Commission recommendations [regarding ways to fight terrorism], raising the minimum wage, to make college more affordable, improving health care by advancing stem cell research and by enabling the Secretary [of the Department of Health and Human Services] to negotiate for lower prices for prescription drugs, moving toward energy independence [and] preserving social security," said Pelosi.
Most analysts say the Democratic Party's Congressional agenda will likely trigger clashes and possibly a legislative stalemate with the Bush administration and Republican lawmakers. With the White House no longer able to easily get Capitol Hill to approve its initiatives, analyst Jennifer Duffy at the Washington-based says she expects President Bush to take his case directly to the people in the hopes that they will pressure the Democrats to agree with him, especially in one key area.
"You have to remember that there is no bigger megaphone in American politics than the White House. And he [i.e., President Bush] still has that megaphone [regardless of the election outcome]. One of the centerpieces of the Democratic agenda has been rolling back some of his tax cuts. He will certainly remind Americans that rolling back these tax cuts means higher taxes for them," says Duffy.
The consensus among political observers is that both the Democratic and Republican parties are now training their sights on the presidential contest two years from now, and that with no incumbent to re-elect, the White House is up for grabs. Those analysts say that because many voters expressed distaste for the political posturing in Washington, each party will have to hold back on partisanship and prove to the electorate that it is responsive to the needs of the people. But some observers say that despite promises by both Democrats and Republicans to work together, such restraint and forward-thinking may not be entirely achieved.