The republican rout made lose its superb one in George W. Bush. The American president announced yesterday his will “to work” with the democrats. Those have been in a majority in the two rooms of the Congress for the first time for twelve years (they had the majority only with the Senate between 2001 and 2003). The President, with the capacity until 2008, was to lunch with the future leaders of the two rooms, in order to try to find compromises on the new orientations which the democrats want to impose.

War in Iraq the resignation, Wednesday, of the secretary to Donald Rumsfeld Defense opened the way with an inflecting of the strategy pursued hitherto. “I am opened with all the ideas and all the proposals”, conceded Bush yesterday. Objectives, and the means to implement them, are in the balance. ………. summary……….

Economy and social Nancy Pelosi intend to immediately propose a raising of the federal time minimum wage from 5,15 to 7,25 dollars (from 4,29 to 6 euros). The democrats also promised to abolish the tax reductions granted to oil and gas industry. They wish moreover to entitle the government to negotiate the prices of the drugs with pharmaceutical industry, for the benefit the most stripped of. Moreover, the Congress will inquire into the favours granted by the republicans to industries, as well pharmaceutical as oil.

Environment the democratic camp recommends the granting of a budget amounting of billion dollars to encourage the search for sources of alternative energy. This question is related to Iraq, of many democrats wishing to reduce the dependence with regard to the oil of the Middle East. But few projections are awaited on the climatic reheating. Bush, who refused to sign the protocol of Kyoto, has the capacity to impose her veto. “Like the republicans, numbers democrats, are opposed to measurements on the climatic change”, notes the economist Dallas Burtraw (to also read pages 11 and 31).

Immigration an area of agreement is possible between democrats and republicans who alienated many Hispanic voices after their decision to build a barrier at the Mexican border. The project of Bush, who was not followed by her party more restrictive than him on this question, consisted in temporarily regularizing part of the 11 million clandestine, and creating a program of “invited workers”. The democrats are not hostile there.

Public freedoms With for objective the presidential one of 2008, the democrats will be attacked with prudence on this discussed subject. The decisions taken by Bush within the framework of her “war against terrorism” (that it is about the statute of the prison of Guantánamo Bay, of the question of torture or the phone-tappings without mandate) nevertheless will be examined and supervised more closely.