Looking forward and looking back. That doesn’t officially happen until Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, appears on New Year’s Day.
But you don’t have to wait until then.
The results are now official for the 2012 election. The Obama-Biden ticket carried the 41st District, 87,829-10,155. The Dream Act and marriage equality won by a wider margin than they did statewide. The slots bill lost by 110 votes out of 95,728 cast.
Now that the new lines for the 41st District have been approved by Maryland’s highest court, it’s time for me to start meeting my new constituents in Cylburn, Levindale-Sunset, Hoes’ Heights, Keswick, Medfield, Wyman Park, Uplands, and Irvington.
For now, by mail. Next spring, door-to-door.
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I saw Lincoln last weekend.
Shortly after the opening credits, President Lincoln is advised to abandon his effort to pass the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery. “The votes aren’t there,” he is told.
Lyndon Johnson faced similar counsel about civil rights legislation shortly after he assumed office. “What the hell’s the Presidency for?” LBJ responds, according to Robert Caro’s Passage of Power.
In both cases, the President prevails.
All of this, I believe, is relevant to decision making in Washington and Annapolis – on matters ranging from the fiscal cliff to the repeal of the death penalty.
