Where do Both Parties Go From Here?

After the Brown victory in Massachusetts and the President's SOtU address, both parties are scrambling to figure out where they should go from here. Democrats, especially in the House, had been retreating from health care reform, fearful for their jobs with their evaluations coming up in November (i.e. the 2010 midterm election), until the President took up his role as chief of party and specifically chastized Democrats for doing so. Republicans are enjoying their newfound popularity as the party of opposition and outrage over the administration's intrusive health care plan and anemic attempts to revive the economy, but seem equally as ambivalent as Democrats about the idea of compromise, and what direction to take next. Coming together to restart the economy and create more jobs would be a step in the right direction for both parties. Clinton and the Republicans were able to share credit for such things as ending AFDC and creating government surpluses, but that was only after the 1994 wake up call. The blue collar conservatives are still wondering if they can trust a party that still refuses to embrace the common sense Reagan populism espoused by people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and Democrats seem unable to break away from their liberal base and reach out to the non-union middle class. President Obama criticized the agenda of the previous 8 years by saying, "Let's try common sense for a change" but so far neither party has embraced the idea.