You may have noticed that there hasn’t been a lot of activity at ETS lately. We offer no good excuses, minus the growing demands of work and an incessant and obsessive monitoring of the last days of the election. ETS extends its congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama. 

Now that the two-year plus presidential campaign is complete, ETS is in the process of reorganization, both in terms of design and objective. As we assume you are all waiting with bated breath for our return, we are aiming for a relaunch sooner rather than later. The new ETS is preparing to offer coverage of a broader spectrum of topics; however, fear not, we will continue to monitor the murky waters of politics – it’s our favorite past time after all. 

In the meantime, I offer a question for you all to ponder. Although I (and many others) decried many of the tactics of his campaign, Senator McCain was arguably one of the very few Republicans that had even the most outside chances of winning in this acutely anti-Republican period in the political timeline. Yet, McCain suffered one of the most lopsided defeats in recent history, even losing long-time Republican stalwart states such as Virginia and North Carolina. 

The question is: Following a literal drubbing in the Presidential, Senatorial, and Congressional elections, what direction must the Republican party head in order to repair its evidently tarnished image? Does the party continue to play into the hands of the ever-dwindling (but no doubt persuasive) social conservative base embodied by figures such as Gov. Sarah Palin and outgoing President George W. Bush? Or does the GOP return to its one-time ideal of common sense fiscal management personified by former Republican and current New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg?