Well, it’s official: Nancy Pelosi is now the first female Speaker of the House, as Congress reconvened this morning to kick off the 110th Congress. From a certain point of view, it’s sweet– a woman is now second in line of succession (Shooter, aka Scowl, of course, is first). Of course, from a partisan point of view, it’s even better– just one impeachment and a heart attack away from a Democratic return to the Oval Office. From a historic point of view, such a succession would be memorable. I’ve always felt a woman had a better chance of becoming President first before a black (although Obama’s speech at the convention a few years back wowed me, as it did hundreds of thousands of others; I found myself thinking, “If there’s a black president in my lifetime, it’s gonna be him.”), and I still feel that way, regardless of the jockeying we’re seeing now from Clinton and Obama. I don’t particularly care if our leader is a woman, black, brown, deaf, gay, or whatever, but there’s still quite a bit of sexism and racism in this country. Half the time it seems we’re supposedly under attack from so-called “Islamofascists,” and the other half the of the time the threat appears to be homosexuals. Never mind the fact that there are innumerable problems we face in this country that have nothing to do with Iraq or sexual orientation…

What I find amusing about opening day is the behavior of the Republicans. It’s been covered quite a bit elsewhere since, but this morning I read Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s on-spot assessment of the whining elephants, who are hypocritical crybabies don’t seem to understand that the philosophy of “you give as good as you get” may very well haunt them over the days, weeks, and months to come. As Milbank notes,

…Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) … packed a whole lot of chutzpah when he walked into the House TV gallery yesterday to demand that the new Democratic majority give the new Republican minority all the rights that Republicans had denied Democrats for years.

“The bill we offer today, the minority bill of rights, is crafted based on the exact text that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted in 2004 to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,” declared McHenry, with 10 Republican colleagues arrayed around him. “We’re submitting this minority bill of rights, which will ensure that all sides are protected, that fairness and openness is in fact granted by the new majority.”

Omitted from McHenry’s plea for fairness was the fact that the GOP had ignored Pelosi’s 2004 request — while routinely engaging in the procedural maneuvers that her plan would have corrected. Was the gentleman from North Carolina asking Democrats to do as he says, not as he did?

“Look, I’m a junior member,” young McHenry protested. “I’m not beholden to what former congresses did.”

Anne Kornblut of the New York Times asked McHenry if his complaint might come across as whining.

“I’m not whining,” he whined.

And so it begins… Politics is equal parts public relations, compromise, negotiation, and payback.

I’m not sure where this new Congress is headed– while the House is firmly in the grip of the Democrats, the Senate is a far different story, as anyone who’s been paying attention knows. A shaky 1-member advantage places the Democrats in an uneasy position– luckily, Senator Johnson seems to be out of danger so far, though he’s still not completely 100% out of the woods. He’s a very lucky man, regardless– many people have died from the same condition he suffers from. But I digress…

Regardless of the direction Speaker Pelosi takes us, the first day was a satisfying start in one way: House ethics rules have finally been given some teeth, even if the bite isn’t fully what it should be. The reforms passed concern meals and other goodies provided by lobbyists, and restrictions on travel funded by interested outside parties. While these changes obviously stem from Abramoff scandal fallout, and are reactive in nature, it’s better than nothing.

There are tons of issues I’d love to see the new majority tackle, such as investigations and probes into war profiteering, the shaky, practically non-existent rationales provided by Smirk, Scowl, Rumsfailed, et al for the debacle in Iraq, the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and lots of other subjects. I’d love to see our troops returned safely home and some reforms instituted regarding our military policies and budgeting (for example, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” needs to be thrown out the window– patriotism and a willingness to serve should trump race, class, gender, and sexual orientation). I’d love to see budget deficit reduction and rollbacks of such sops to the privileged as the Paris Hilton Welfare Act (aka tax cuts for Those Who Least Deserve Them).

But I’m realistic– a solid House and a shaky Senate versus a recalcitrant President and courts controlled by white male conservatives isn’t a recipe for changes across the board. Still, I’m hoping that there will be some concrete results, some modifications or outright reversals of some of the damage that this administration has caused in the last six years.

Today, I applaud Speaker Pelosi. Tomorrow, I expect to see some action. I don’t want this brand new day to be a short one, but as long as possible.