The recent Republican landslide is historically fascinating.
Using 1946 as a vantage point, consider the following: President Clinton, with approval ratings in the 40s, is the butt of every comedian's jokes. Most Democrats seeking re-election preferred not to have him campaign for them. (Harry Truman is the '46 counterpart.)The first Republican Speaker of the House since the '50s, chubby Newt Gingrich, is coming on strong. (Joe Martin.)
Bob Dole, who is about to become the Senate Majority Leader, is an elder statesman who has his eye on the presidency. (Bob Taft.)
Dominating both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years, the Republicans are sure one of their own will be president soon.
It is reminiscent of the 1946 midterm elections, when the House and Senate were taken over during the presidency of Harry Truman.
Truman suffered intensive criticism from the time he became president after the death of Franklin Roosevelt.
The trouble with Truman, many people said, was that he wanted too much to please - to get along with everybody. He was "essentially indecisive."
Not since Andrew Johnson had a president been the target of such abuse, much of it in the form of jokes - like the one about Truman being late for a Cabinet meeting, because he woke up stiff in the joints from trying to put his foot in his mouth.
The Republican two-word campaign slogan was perfect - "Had enough?" Truman's approval rating fell to 40 percent, then dropped again to 32.
Senator Robert Taft said Truman's foreign policy was "so futile and contradictory" that it made the United States "the laughingstock of the world."
Truman even had a failed health plan.
During the 1946 campaign, few Democrats even mentioned the president's name, because it was bound to bring a chorus of catcalls.
After the 1946 Republican sweep, J. William Fulbright, at the time a brash, young Democratic congressman from Arkansas, (irony) had the nerve to propose that Truman appoint Republican Arthur Vandenberg secretary of state, then resign, thus making Vandenberg president. In response, Truman renamed the congressman "Halfbright."
The 80th Congress had Massachusetts' short, square Joe Martin as Speaker of the House - and Ohio's remote, privileged Robert Taft as Majority Leader. Truman respected Martin, because he was the son of a blacksmith, but Taft's elite world escaped him.
Taft, often tactless and brusque, said, "The purpose of the opposition is to oppose."
Miraculously, Truman got the Marshall Plan, Containment and recognition of Israel out of the 80th Congress.
Despite continuing criticism, the President became a more forthright leader.
The Truman-Taft political combat contributed to the flowering of the president.
Taft wanted to be president, but "Give 'em Hell Harry" ran against overconfident Gov. Tom Dewey of New York in a hard-hitting, feisty campaign, directed at "the do-nothing 80th Congress."
Truman won - despite the polls.
This may not be the 1996 scenario - but the parallels are intriguing. It is not impossible to imagine Clinton making a comeback in 1996, running against another Republican Congress.
The only thing missing is Truman's zest for the jugular, a tendency Clinton has shown no taste for as yet. But after doing battle for two years with a bulldog like Gingrich, who knows?