Let me finish tonight with this.
Respect the voters. That’s what the people we elect need to do now. I truly believe that politicians — the elected people — should follow two rules after an election.
One: respect the other people who won. They are as entitled to a point of view as you are.
Two: respect the electoral. Show favor to the side that won nationally. So it’s a couple million votes. The president won the popular vote as well as the presidency. Both sides need to give him some support.
This means that, while the president needs to negotiate to get Republican support beginning with averting the fiscal cliff this January, the other side needs to lean a bit his way. The deal should be a deal in the president’s direction. It needs to favor the Democratic side because the president won the election. It needs to respect the Republican side because it’s the party that won big in the House of Representatives, which is really an incredibly representative body, and also one responsible to the voters every two years.
I want action. I want deals struck between the two sides, starting with the questions about taxes and defense spending that are at the heart of the issue right now. Nothing succeeds like success. If the two sides can cut a deal in averting the fiscal cliff, this could be the start of something big.
Chris Matthews