The philosopher Santayana said, “Those who do not learn from
history are doomed to repeat it.” By a fascinating coincidence,
the same quote is attributed to Santa Anita, or at least to a
grizzled old tout who made book there. Santa Anna, on the other
hand, noted: “Those who do not learn from repeating are doomed to
be history.” Or something like that; after all, the man was
President of Mexico seven different times. (What do you expect
from a guy who thinks Lopez is a first name and Anna is a
surname?)
In the case of the ubiquitously obstreperous Senator
Charles Schumer, we not only fail to learn from his history, we
tend to forget it completely. Noting this phenomenon, he has
chosen to revive a favored strategy which served him well in his
early career.
Here is what he did back in the day. He was a nobody
Congressman from Brooklyn , who won his seat by manipulating
naïve Orthodox Jews (a story for another day) into thinking him a
kindred spirit. This was in a district he had personally created
for himself when he was a State Senator in Albany, New York,
during the redistricting after the 1980 census, effectively
sabotaging the career of Stephen Solarz in the process.
But being another Jewish lib from Brooklyn is not a pathway
to the United States Senate, especially with a whiny voice about
halfway between Joy Behar and Fran Drescher. He had to find a way
to be seen as a national figure.
His first try was with gun control. He made a raucous
ruckus for the cuckoo caucus, haranguing anyone with a camera or
a microphone about the Right who bear arms, which he was ready to
amend in a second. This succeeded only in gaining him notoriety,
trapping him further in the urban liberal mold and making it less
likely that upstate New York voters would find him disarming… er,
in a good way. Then — give the devil his due — he came up with
a stroke of genius. He would make sure they new his name and rank
by giving them cereal numbers.
Yes, cereal. A corny idea, flaky, fruity, loopy, yet
inspired. Schumer realized that big subjects like gun control are
too diffuse to be associated with one individual, plus they have
entrenched opposition. A small issue that affects everybody in a
small way gains nationwide attention, is credited exclusively to
the initiator (or instigator), and faces no scary enemies. Before
long he was everywhere in media, posing frowningly with Cheerios
and Wheaties, promoting
his study that showed a 90 percent surge in the price of
breakfast over a short period.
Trix of this sort are not for kids, apparently, and as
embarrassingly absurd as this is to report, Chuck Schumer was
catapulted into national prominence and power by sending in three
box tops and a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Fast forward to 2010 with Democrats in bad odor after
passing an unpopular health-care bill. The country is raging at
the machine, at the establishment, at the vast impersonal
megalith that petrifies all the mobile energies in our
population. People feel Big Brother is not only watching you, he
is taking your temperature and depressing your tongue. If Mister
Big is out, reasons Chuck, it is time to revisit Mister
Small.
His target this time is the airlines, notably Spirit and
its $45 dollar fee newly imposed to cover their overhead; that is
to say, if you want your carry-on bag to occupy space in the
storage bin you will have to pay rent. Schumer is circulating the
political and journalistic world decrying this slap in the face
of the innocent traveler. This must be resisted at
all costs, by legislation if necessary.
His complaint is utterly without substance. The airline is
not really charging some people for space. The total price,
including storage, is the true value of the ticket. What they are
really offering is a discount to those who are prepared to cede
this benefit. Say you are prepared to pay $150 for a ticket for
you and the bag, and they ask for $105 for the seat and $45 for
the bag. You lose nothing. If they ask $150 for the seat and $45
for the bag, you leave the bag or you buy a ticket from the
competitor. At the end of the day, people will decide based on
the total package. And your airline passenger is someone who
plans carefully and does not overlook details.
Being wrong never fazes Schumer; this is his natural
habitat and comfort zone. What counts is political effectiveness
and to here he has a proven winner. So he is content to let
Barack Obama go big and take the heat while he goes small and is
seen as cool. Like the joke about the guy who explains the
division of authority in his home, where his wife makes the small
decisions and he makes the big ones.
“For example, what house to buy and what car to get, small
material things like that, is her department. I am in charge of
the big stuff, like global warming and world hunger…”
