The voters' warning: Both parties nationally are taught lessons

The results of Tuesday's elections invite several observations.

The New Jersey and Virginia governorships passed from Democratic to Republican hands. An upstate New York congressional district seat passed from Republican to Democratic hands after an ugly squabble among the Republicans.

One observation could be that Americans still vote against the party in power -- in this case, in Virginia and New Jersey, the Democrats -- when they don't like what's going on. What they don't like is clearly the economic picture, the continuing bloodbath of jobs and what the administration of President Barack Obama is doing about it. They don't like the slight impact so far of the economic stimulus money or the juicy bailout of greedy bankers and moguls. The congressional tangle over health-care reform is also driving them nuts.

The message to the Democrats of Tuesday's elections is that if they don't get their act together by next year's elections, there will likely be a slaughter of incumbents, Republicans and Democrats. That would mean a reversal of the Democrats' majority in the Senate and big losses in the House.

Tuesday's results are clear evidence that the voting population is by no means averse to change, even in the wake of the warm "Yes, we can" promises in which Mr. Obama's victory bathed them, at least briefly. Words are not enough, even delivered with Mr. Obama's eloquence. Voters want to see action, including on health care, withdrawal from the two expensive foreign wars, and, most of all, his full concentration on meeting the problems of the people, starting with jobs.

Another question that Tuesday's results address is the state of the Republican Party. In New York state's 23rd District, the Republican candidate was driven out of the race by Republicans for being insufficiently conservative, in favor of Doug Hoffman, running as a Conservative. The Democrat, Bill Owens, then beat him and the seat was lost for the purer-than-thou Republicans to the Democrats.

House Minority Leader John Boehner maintains that the Republican Party still welcomes moderates. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who endorsed Mr. Hoffman, apparently thinks not. The result was a lost seat and the party looking dysfunctional.