What happened
Jubilant Democrats this week laid out the legislative priorities they'll pursue when they take control of Congress in January. The agenda for the party's "first 100 hours" in power features raising the minimum wage, increasing college financial aid, easing restrictions on federally funded stem-cell research, repealing oil company tax breaks, and authorizing the government to negotiate prescription-drug prices for Medicare recipients. Several leading Democrats, including Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Joseph Biden of Delaware, also called for troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin in four to six months. "We have to tell the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over," said Levin, who will chair the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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What the editorials said
The Democrats won by showing discipline, for once, said The Wall Street Journal. They "kept in check their ideological ambitions" and made the election "a referendum on Republican governance." But new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reid now have to choose: Do they cater to the voters or to the party's "Bush-hating left," which craves the catharsis of partisan hearings designed to embarrass the president? Voters didn't elect Democrats in order to flood "the Beltway with subpoenas."
Democrats gave the Republicans "a thumpin'" for one reason, said Newsday. Most Americans were disgusted by "six years of corruption, incompetence, scorched-earth partisanship, and ideological warfare." Democrats can best serve the country
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