I can’t remember a mid-term election that fascinated and worried me as much as tomorrow’s.
I shudder at the awful legislation and frightening judges likely to emerge if the Republicans end up with control of both houses of Congress. Fortunately, I take comfort in what seems to be the punditry’s general sense that the Democrats can hang on to the Senate (the Political Wire weblog has a useful round-up of predictions). But it may well be that I only pay attention to pundits who agree with me.
Let’s just hope that good left-leaning people don’t delude themselves, as many did in the Gore-Bush contest, that there’s no difference between the parties. On most issues of note (pace Iraq), there’s a world of difference.
My fingers are crossed.
As a former classical musician, I read with interest Anthony Holden’s account of the musical chairs for the world’s top conducting posts. I wish, however, that he’d injected some critical perspective into the article. How can one pass up the opportunity to recall Franz Welser-Most’s nickname when he was in London a number of years ago — Frankly Worse Than Most. And can anyone explain to me how Seiji Ozawa, after some unremarkable decades at the Boston Symphony, can still be regarded as being in the top flight of maestri?