With just days before the U.S. Congressional elections, Washington is consumed with predictions that the Republicans are on their way out of power. What would a Democratic majority actually mean for U.S. foreign policy? Foreign Policy asked Washington insiders, ex-politicians, and pundits to look beyond November 7.

Resident Scholar Joshua Muravchik

Joshua Muravchik

One of the noblest traditions in American politics is that partisanship stops at the water’s edge. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have done everything in their power to reverse that. What raises their dander is not jihadists but Republicans. Every new challenge or tragedy that our country faces is for them nothing but the occasion for yet another sound bite against George W. Bush. Rarely do they say what they would do different, settling for denouncing “Bush’s failed policies.” If these two become majority leaders, expect a lot of jockeying for position between the parties with an eye to 2008.

Resident Scholar Norman J. Ornstein

Norman J. Ornstein

Foreign policy will not undergo a seismic shift if the Democrats take one or both houses of congress. Two things will change: There will be lots of investigations, on Iraq, torture, intelligence failures, and so on; and there will be more congressional pushback on the unprecedented expansion of executive power--but in both of these areas, expect the president and vice president to push back even harder, leading to constitutional confrontations, tension, acrimony, and lots of vetoes.

Vice President Danielle Pletka

Danielle Pletka

Democratic control of one or both congressional chambers would mean little change in the reality of foreign policy. The party is unlikely to have sufficient control to drive through controversial ideas. Members would be further constrained by a Republican Executive that already holds much of the necessary authority to conduct foreign policy. But reality is not everything. If the Osama bin Ladens, Mahmoud Ahmadinejads, and Kim Jong Ils of this world already believe Washington is weak and divided, they will only be encouraged by a Chairman Murtha, who believes America is “more dangerous to world peace than Iran or North Korea,” an empowered Senator Kerry, who longs for an end to the focus on terror, and a Speaker Pelosi, who believes an immediate withdrawal from Iraq is the wisest course.