Make It Mean Something

FIRST, the sour grapes: Remember the glum little pouts on the faces of the network anchors twelve years ago, when it was the Republicans sweeping the map? Remember Peter Jennings’s bitchy little aside – that the voters who elected a Republican majority were like infants having a “temper tantrum”? Remember the stricken, blood-drained faces of the liberal Conventional Wisdom crowd – your Judy Woodruffs, your Howard Finemans – as the returns came in, and the speed with which the phrases “extreme right wing” and “radical conservative” and “the Gingrich who stole Christmas” splashed their way into headlines across the country?

Boy, things have changed, haven’t they? On Election Night, as the columns starting stacking up in the “D” section of the onscreen grid, the mood at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS was so tastefully jubilant, so infectiously optimistic, that even I felt like celebrating. I opened an expensive bottle of champagne, poured a glass, raised a toast to Speaker Pelosi (Historic! A woman!), brought the glass to my lips, and was about to take a sip when suddenly I thought, “What are you so happy about? Your team lost.” And so I put the glass down.

FIRST, the sour grapes: Remember the glum little pouts on the faces of the network anchors twelve years ago, when it was the Republicans sweeping the map? Remember Peter Jennings’s bitchy little aside – that the voters who elected a Republican majority were like infants having a “temper tantrum”? Remember the stricken, blood-drained faces of the liberal Conventional Wisdom crowd – your Judy Woodruffs, your Howard Finemans – as the returns came in, and the speed with which the phrases “extreme right wing” and “radical conservative” and “the Gingrich who stole Christmas” splashed their way into headlines across the country?

Boy, things have changed, haven’t they? On Election Night, as the columns starting stacking up in the “D” section of the onscreen grid, the mood at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS was so tastefully jubilant, so infectiously optimistic, that even I felt like celebrating. I opened an expensive bottle of champagne, poured a glass, raised a toast to Speaker Pelosi (Historic! A woman!), brought the glass to my lips, and was about to take a sip when suddenly I thought, “What are you so happy about? Your team lost.” And so I put the glass down.