Tallied Ho

The British election is settled with a coalition government that just put 43-year old Tory Party reformer David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, and debate star Nick Clegg of the Liberal-Democrats as his governing partner:

Following tradition, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Cameron at Buckingham Palace – a stately denouement to a behind-the-scenes dogfight between Cameron and Brown for the cooperation of Britain's third-place party, after an election that left no party with a majority.

Within minutes, the 43-year-old Cameron was installed at No. 10 Downing Street, becoming the youngest prime minister in almost 200 years, since Lord Liverpool took office at age 42.

An announcement followed that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg would become deputy prime minister – a rarely awarded and prestigious post – after days of hard bargaining with his former political rivals. Four other Liberal Democrats also received Cabinet posts.

While they will be making drastic spending cuts as their way to get Britain through its current economic crisis, they have to horse trade with their new partners, and I think it's a good thing, much better than the Lib-Dems joining with Gordon Brown's deadweight on his Labour Party. Both parties share the pain and any gain, and unlike with the new American Radical Right that's taking over the Republican Party, they haven't lined up the positions as absolutely, religiously or violently.

I say give Cameron a chance. He has some Obamaesque qualities, I'm assuming he listened to Clegg and must have that ability to hear other people and make sense of it to get things done. I'm betting he and Obama will get along famously and make some good stuff happen. His wife looks like she's ready for the Michelle Obama/Carla Bruni 1st Ladies Club.

The wags are sure that the coalition with crumble within a year and new elections will be held, but I'm not so sure about that. Brown was the old guy, Cameron-to-Clegg seems like the future, although some young charismatic mover may be poised to take leadership at Labour.

Here's to democracy, in all its inefficient forms. And in that spirit of idealism and optimism, here's to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in what may be his biggest career highlight to date, a 96-0 vote to approve his landmark "Audit the Fed" amendment.