Ascendancy of the Centrists?

Our reporting on the Republicans' loss of Congress took a look at what the triumph of moderates and pragmatists will mean for domestic and foreign policy. Many readers were eager to bid good riddance to scandals and a faltering war strategy, while others remained wary or skeptical of any bipartisan gain

Re "Reaching for the center" [Nov. 20]: The American people used the power of the vote to boot the corrupt, ideologically blinkered, full-of-themselves Republicans out of their congressional majorities. Our Founding Fathers were skeptical of the notion that seemingly virtuous politicians would always govern wisely. The founders knew from historical experience that even the most righteous can succumb to the temptations that power brings.
Troy Lee Zukowski
Portage, Michigan, U.S.

The election did not bring an overwhelming number of Democrats into the House, and they hold only a one-vote majority in the Senate, so it was not "a robust whupping," as Joe Klein so poignantly declared. Democrats should celebrate while they can, since I trust that those who should rightfully govern this country will be back soon.
Jean Sember
Hawthorne, New Jersey, U.S.

The Republican-led congress has acted like a latter-day Emperor Nero, fiddling with the issues of same-sex marriage, abortion and flag burning while the Middle East is a conflagration, the global climate overheats and our health-care system crashes and burns. The slim majority that the Democrats have in both houses of Congress as a result of the midterm elections is not a mandate but a challenge to both major parties to work cooperatively to solve the nation's foreign and domestic problems.
Kirk D. Gulden
Wilkesboro, North Carolina, U.S.

I believe the midterm elections may finally swing the pendulum back from President Ronald Reagan's conservative revolution. But it took the needlessly spilled blood of too many young Americans to do it. Tragically, Reagan's "Morning in America" has become mourning in America.
Russell Kussman
Los Angeles

Kklein quoted a senior administration official who referred to the failure of Bush's Iraq policy as "a Mick Jagger moment ... You can't always get what you want." Now we will find out if the President recognizes that he has to abandon his six-year Under My Thumb approach to dealing with Congress.
Jay P. Maille
Pleasanton, California, U.S.

Covering the Results
I was flabbergasted that your cover in the wake of the Democratic election triumph was a Venn diagram with the headline "Why the Center Is the New Place to Be" [Nov. 20]. Huh? The Democrats kicked butt. You should have put Howard Dean on the cover. It was his 50-state strategy, along with the great fund-raising work of Congressman Rahm Emanuel and Senator Chuck Schumer, and a whole bunch of great candidates with grass-roots support, that won the election.
Ruth Adkins
Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Twelve years ago, when the G.O.P.took control of the Congress, the cover of Time heralded the "G.O.P. Stampede." Now, when the stampede is by the Democrats, what does the cover say about it? There was nary a mention of the Democrats' historic victory or the Republicans' brutal thrashing, just the headline "Why the Center Is the New Place to Be." But the American people did not move to the political center; they strongly repudiated the hard right.
James K. Power
North Bergen, New Jersey, U.S.

After receiving the third magazine cover in a row with a white background, I have to say: How boring. Half the fun of getting the magazine is guessing what will be on the cover and then seeing what Time has chosen. I understand the red and blue Venn diagram, but it looks terrible on my coffee table. I hope the Person of the Year cover will not be an abstract artist's caricature of somebody on a white background. If I want to see that kind of art, I'll go to a museum.
Karen Walters
Paradise, California, U.S.