Conservatives in Washington (oxymoronic as that may sound)
greeted the Obama inauguration with mixed feelings, to put it
mildly. Some were accepting, and even attended inauguration-related
events. Others in these troubled economic times rented their homes
to Obamaphiles willing to pay an arm and a leg just to be on hand
for the hyped-up festivities. Finally, there were those who left
their houses under lock and key and fled the area for the entire
long weekend, in a complete boycott and blackout of anything having
to do with the swearing-in of the 44th president of the United
States. I don’t think they returned to Washington any wiser or
happier.
Political life goes on, as in the U.S. it always does. It’s not
the end of the world, merely the beginning of a new day, and last
we checked the earth was rotating at its regular speed on the same
axis. Even more comforting, the victorious Democrats, left to their
own devices, were botching matters at a faster clip than even the
sorest GOP losers might have wished for. If the Obama team can’t
find a way to contain the Illinois mullah Blagojevich, how ever
will it cope with nuclear-equipped mullahs? Uber-liberal E.J.
Dionne actually praised Obama’s “patented approach to problems—wait
and think to see what develops before acting” as a political winner
for Democrats.
The modern liberal evidently thinks he can control events by
having them control him. It’s going to be a twisted next four
years.
Conservatives have been there before. As a longstanding product
of Chicago politics and survivor of 1964, 1976, and 1992, Bob
Tyrrell this month offers them all the coping mechanisms and
survival guidance they will need during their latest sojourn in the
political wilderness (p. 78). The great Roger Scruton provides the
philosophical underpinnings for life in serious
opposition—beginning with the axiom “There is no greater political
virtue than the ability to accept the government of people whom you
heartily dislike” (p. 38). Maybe one of these decades the
Bush-loathing culture will second that emotion.
For now that same Obama-adoring culture is living in denial. For
all the harsh domestic and international realities the new
administration is having to address, the buildup to the
inauguration could rarely go beyond covering such grave matters as
the former Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s qualifications, the Obama
children’s new private school, and the bodysurfing brilliance their
father displayed along the shores of blue Hawaii. Serious questions
received short shrift, unless they could be blamed solely on the
outgoing president. So Democratic policies didn’t set in motion the
housing crisis and collapse of the mortgage market? Peter Wallison
authoritatively begs to differ (p. 22). And government regulators
continue to exacerbate a problem they could otherwise mitigate? A
panel of experts brought together by our economics editor, Brian
Wesbury, explains the how and why (p. 28).
President Obama is said to have a dream team at his disposal,
but no one should confuse it with the Charles Barkley edition that
knocked off Angola 116–48 back at the 1992 Olympics. That team
didn’t have Hillary Clinton at point guard, or Eric Holder fixing
calls with the referees. Nor did it have Tom Daschle as the team
doctor and pill dispenser. Of all Obama’s players, Dr. Tom comes
best prepared, determined to complete the mission Hillary Clinton,
in her rookie year, failed to accomplish. He’s even written a book
about what he intends to do. If you liked the Federal Reserve
Board, you’ll love Daschle’s Federal Health Board.
As Philip Klein, our Washington correspondent, reports (p. 16),
Daschle so far is facing next to no opposition from Republicans.
And we don’t know, given their dwindling skills and thinned out
rosters (see also Jim Antle, p. 42), whether they’ll even take the
floor. Perhaps Angola would prove to be more competitive.
