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Throw the Book at Him
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Testimonial to a Great American
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A Close Call at the Newseum
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Obama’s Imbroglios
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My Rahm Reunion
May 16, 2013 | 16 comments
The Current Crisis
Useless Wonks
Great presidents were never policy wonks. So how to explain people like Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich?
WASHINGTON — Do you recall in reading President Harry S. Truman’s very good memoir, Years of Trial and Hope: 1946-1952, his scholarly dissection of the Federal Reserve System and discussion of low inflation’s influence on relatively unstable growth? Actually, I do not either, and I read the book from cover to cover. Or how about Dwight D. Eisenhower, the man who led our forces in vanquishing Hitler’s war machine, became the first Supreme Commander of NATO and eventually president, serving until 1960? Do you remember his erudite discussions of domestic policy during his 1952 campaign? His plan to pare down the national debt with a temporary “surcharge” on the top 1.5% of income earners? And then there was, of course, his education policy that would include highly nutritious lunches to low-income students so the students would not be a burden on our healthcare system in future years? Well, I do not recall these discussions either.
Actually I do not recall Eisenhower’s talking in such wonky ways about anything, and I know Truman’s memoir was devoid of the stuff. It read too well. Of course, today both Truman and Eisenhower would have to be really up to the highest wonk standards if they hoped to run against Barack Obama or Newt Gingrich.
For that matter, our greatest president since the sainted Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I speak of Ronald Reagan, was not a wonk at all. Nor were John F. Kennedy or Richard M. Nixon, and certainly not Lyndon B. Johnson. Jimmy Carter made a stab at being a wonk, but as with everything else he failed. The real wonks came with the maturing of the 1960s generation, most notably Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, but there were also those curiosities California’s Jerry Brown and the ghost of 1972 Democratic convention, Gary Hart. They are a little long in the tooth to be legitimate wonks of the 1960s generation, but they tried — as for a certitude Brown was weird enough.
The true policy wonk is a juggler of facts and trends and “ideas,” who came out of the 1960s to wow all those whom he assaulted with his knowledge of government, of society, and the movies, rock & roll, and the cost of a gallon of milk. They have ideas for income distribution, the value of the dollar, for crime in the inner city, healthcare, the environment — whatever is in the headline at the moment. They dream up policies for things whose policies are unclear. The problem of global warming? Cap and trade! Healthcare? Well, tax income at a certain percentage and apply the revenue to agreed-upon disbursements for earmarked segments of the population but with mandates that… oh, forget about it. The healthcare monstrosity should have earned every wonk a price on his head. With the 1960s generation came government policies for every aspect of the human condition and there has not been a good president elected since 1988. Barack Obama is the reductio ad absurdum of every policy wonk ever heard of.
Now steps forward Bill Clinton with a new book, Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy. The presumption he attaches to the word “smart” is typical of him and his fellow wonks. Would Harry Truman or Dwight Eisenhower have the temerity to claim any of their policies as being smart? They would not brag of their policies’ stupidities but they would leave it to someone else to appraise their policies’ merits — and in the 1940s and 1950s “smart” was a word associated more frequently with couture or tailoring than with policy. Both Harry and Ike were far better presidents than Bill, the guy who got himself impeached and trapped by a Republican majority in both houses, leaving him muttering that “The era of big government is over.”
Now with this insufferable book of wonkish chatter he has come forward and boasted of all that he achieved during his big-government-is-over days and proclaimed a future that will be dominated by the biggest government of all. It brings to mind another problem with wonks. Their wonkery is not rooted in principle or ethics. It is only rooted in their egos, which are fickle.
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (100) | Leave a comment
More Articles by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
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coal carrier| 12.14.11 @ 6:48AM
The wonks on both sides of the isle don’t seem to understand that there is one and only one major problem facing us- Government.
coal carrier| 12.14.11 @ 6:51AM
Sorry, aisle.
DTOM| 12.14.11 @ 8:53AM
Actually, cc, you might have made an excellent, if inadvertent point. The Congress is decidedly an island nation unto itself, with its own reasons and rules. With the unfortunate capability of telling the rest of us how we are to trade, live, die, etc...
albert constantine jr.| 12.14.11 @ 9:41AM
To use the tired reality show metaphor, though, some times we get to vote them off the isle.
Jack in Wi.| 12.14.11 @ 6:50PM
Bob makes some good points but I hope he was kidding when he said the sainted FDR. I think old man Bush was a policy wonk on some issues especially foreign policy. His dim witted kid seemed to be just putty in the hands of his advisors, the worst being Darth Cheney. No one can accuse McCain of being a policy wonk. He was just bat poop crazy. Obama may be a wonk but he again is putty in the palms of his handlers. Neut is and always has been a disaster. It would be better if he didn't have all those ideas, which he keeps changing daily.
Alan Brooks | 12.14.11 @ 5:07PM
I did NOT write this. It is a piece at IEET. Since you value intellectual property more than Christ Himself; repeat, I did NOT write this:
"Fire all the janitors and make poor kids clean their schools? Zap Korea with an airborne superlaser that’s never worked during testing? Ignore global warming and plan to re-engineer the entire planet with untested technology instead?
People like Maureen Dowd have been having fun with Newt Gingrich’s wackier ideas lately. But despite their snarky comments - and the fact that some of Gingrich’s ideas truly are bizarre - they’re missing something important and making a fundamental mistake.
They’re seriously underestimating both Gingrich and the “Insane Idea Industry” he represents.
The Shock of the Newt
Gingrich may sound like the mad-inventor villain from a 1930’s movie serial. But his eccentric concepts and pseudo-intellectual logorrhea aren’t just the product of his own eccentricities. They’re the natural flowering of a fifty-year trend in corporate conservatism which serves the agenda of the ultra-powerful in some very important ways.
Call him Dr. Strange. But Newt’s not some Random Idea Generator who spews out whatever crazy notion his Id generates out of half-digested Popular Science blog posts. He’s merely the latest in a long line of conservative ‘thinkers’ who play a vital role for Corporate America: They generate an ongoing barrage of radical ideas that, slowly but surely, help to undermine our country’s shared social vision.
What’s next: Ending Medicare by putting seniors in a post-hypnotic trance state so they think they’re not dying from inadequate medical care? A flock of flying squirrels to deliver the mail? Invisible robot St. Bernards instead of ambulances?
No idea is too zany to be considered - as long as it serves The Agenda.
The Crazier the Better
Think of Gingrich as the secret love child of Milton Friedman and Howard Stern. Or of nuclear-war advocate Herman Kahn and Marilyn Manson. Newt’s brand of conservative ‘idea generation’ is designed, first and foremost, to get lots of attention - which it has - and to make the values we’ve held for generations seem stale, rigid, and somehow less exciting than the futuristic corporate oligarchy of tomorrow.
Shock value is just as important as the ideas themselves. In fact, it’s more important. The Newt conservatives are conducting an intellectual guerrilla operation against deeply held values of the common good. Most of the ideas aren’t intended to be practical. They’re like performance art, but of a kind that’s designed to reinforce the suggestion that our old way of life is failing.
Newt is merely the latest and most conspicuous example of this Insane Idea Factory in action. There’s plenty more where he came from.
And the crazier the idea, the better. There are no rules and no boundaries, even those of common decency. Firing janitors and making poor kids clean the schools instead? That’s creative thinking! Ending Social Security and putting the financial security of a nation’s elderly at risk? That’s innovation! These liberals won’t think outside the box!
For all their carping about ‘liberal dreamers,’ there are no more impractical and wild-eyed dreamers on the planet than Gingrich and his fellow Conservative Utopians. They love coming up with the kinds of ideas that college students used to have in the sixties when they were getting high in their dorm rooms. The difference is that the college students were straight again in the morning.
But in the halls of conservative think tanks, the lava lamps never stop burning.
The Unthinkable
Herman Kahn wrote a book called Thinking the Unthinkable in which he argued that the US could attack the Soviet Union and start a nuclear war and “win.” That laid the foundation for decades more of a pointless and costly arms race, and spawned a whole industry of intellectual agents provocateurs whose role was to challenge conventional thinking with “rule-breaking” brilliance - even when , especially when, the conventional thinking was right.
An entire right-wing think tank industry was spawned. That network generated many ideas that served large corporations, including the concept of an “individual mandate” compelling citizens to buy health coverage from an industry dominated by for-profit insurers. That’s why Newt endorsed the idea, when it was created for the purpose of undermining the Clintons’ health reform project. He’s only rejected it now because it undermines an even more important objective: defeating Obama.
Hey, creative thinking’s great. I wouldn’t be affiliated with an organization like the Institute for Ethics in Emerging Technologies if I didn’t believe in exploring radical ideas. But the idea is only part of the process. It’s equally important to review the idea to see if it makes sense. Brainstorming begins with creativity and free association. But then it should be followed by analysis and common sense, hopefully leavened with humane values. The Gingrich types never get past the free association part.
As I was saying, creative thinking is great - that is, if you don’t forget the ‘thinking’ part.
The Agenda
The real objective is to convince middle-class Americans that most of the things they value in life - job opportunities, education for their children, a secure retirement - are obsolete, ineffective, standing in the way of a more vibrant future. That’s why Jack Kemp pushed “Free Enterprise Zones,” which would have suspended most of our labor laws and minimum wage requirements. The idea keeps resurfacing as a way to prevent outsourcing to the Third World - which it would, by turning portions of our own country into Third World enclaves.
Gingrich’s"Contract With America” was a masterpiece of word manipulation. Now he’s rebranding reality again: Economic security will “stifle innovation.” The Social Security system doesn’t “tap the energy of the market.” Unionized janitors are preventing poor kids form “learning the culture of work.”
Newt is like the kid in your high school who was pretty smart - but thought he was a genius. He’s not even close. But when it comes to distracting and confusing the public just enough to push through a radical corporatist agenda, he’s pretty damned smart.
Know what’s not smart? Underestimating Gingrich, or the corporate idea factory he represents."
Wes in the ND oilfields| 12.14.11 @ 10:04PM
they really should have a word count limit for guys like you. .. .
Alan Brooks| 12.15.11 @ 5:03PM
"they really should have a word count limit for guys like you...."
And Tyrrell as well?
Larry| 12.15.11 @ 1:58AM
Ah, the "sainted" Alan! You disclaim authorship too vigorously, I think! You sympathize with all of its nonsensical wonkery.
The Clintidote| 12.14.11 @ 9:50PM
Why should we, or anybody, care a whit about what a rapist has to say about anything?
John Daniel| 12.14.11 @ 7:10AM
A quicker classification would be ivy league/non-ivy league....
Timothy L. Pennell| 12.14.11 @ 7:16AM
"How do you explain Bill Clinton?"
I don't get it. What do you mean: "How do you explain Bill Clinton?"? Was he a Great President? I must have missed something.
Ronald Reagan and G.H.W. Bush, handed him a Country with a Good Economy, and a Defeated Soviet Union. What could be better than that? How about a Tech Bubble, that hung around for 7 of his 8 years, before CRASHING in to Nothingness, for the Next Guy to deal with.
He had Dick Morris to push him to the Right, and get Welfare Reform done. He had the Republican Congress, who dragged him Kicking and Screaming, all the way to a Balanced Budget, which he would claim CREDIT, as this Year's Model of the LIAR IN CHEIF, claims Credit for a Democratic IRAQ.
Bill Clinton was Accused of RAPE, on National Television. She accused him of RAPING Her, on T.V. in Prime Time, on the #1 Rated Show in the Country. 60 Minutes. She was never SUED for that. I wonder why.
He was Accused of Groping and Molesting, by another Woman, on the very same show. She was not Sued.
He was found GUILTY of giving "False and Misleading Information" (PERJURY) to a Grand Jury, in a Case involving him EXPOSING HIMSELF to a Woman, that he had just met, 5 minutes earlier. He was forced to pay her $900,000 in Damages, and he lost his Law License for 5 Years.
He LIED to the American People about his dalliances with the Fat Intern. When he wasn't using her for a Humidor, he was having her perform Non-Sex SEX ACTS, in the closet (or some such space) off of the Oval Office, usually while some Head of State, was waiting in the other room. He taught us (And OUR KIDS) that Oral SEX, wasn't really Sex. We learned that "IS" can be defined in an infinite number of ways, depending on what a Jury is charging you with. And, that we're never truly alone, because there's always Someone, Somewhere.
And, that's just the Lighthearted stuff.
We got the 1st 911, on the World Trade Center, in 93. he took them to Court, where they promptly spilled the beans, on HOW we were Monitoring the Satellite Phone Calls from Bin Laden. Which, naturally, caused those Treasure Troves of Intelligence, to go away.
We got the Khobar Towers and the Embassy Bombings. We got the USS COLE Bombing. The unwillingness of Bill Clinton to RESPOND to these Acts of War, plus his utter Lack of Honour and Dignity and Self Control, convinced Osama Bin Laden to Attack the United States. If this man, was the best we could do? He was convinced that GOD would be on his side.
We lost 3,000 Innocent Americans on 911.
Bill Clinton was a Great President?
I'm not seeing it.
chuck| 12.14.11 @ 7:56AM
Spot on, again.
All in all, I'd still take the pervert, and maybe even his wife, over the present occupant.
DTOM| 12.14.11 @ 8:54AM
I'd take him, too, to any federal penitentiary you can name...
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:57AM
And, yet 51% of the American people think Bill Clinton was a great President. 22 million jobs created during his term, that's all you need to know, the rest is fluff. Guess you missed that too.
Timothy L. Pennell| 12.14.11 @ 11:46AM
Yeah. The rest of it was "Fluff". The RAPE, the MOLESTATIONS, the Indecent Exposure, the Perjury, the Lies, the Illegal Campaign Contributions, the WAIVER that Loral Space got, allowing them to SELL the Navigational Technology to CHINA, that now uses it to TARGET THEIR WEAPONS on US, because the CEO - Bernard Schwartz - was the #1 Contributor to the democrat Party. Our National Security was SOLD, for a few Pieces of Eight.
FLUFF.
I would say that "I guess you missed those", but you didn't. You just don't care. Character doesn't matter, when there's a D next to the person's name.
This Perp, is what we're up against. We ARE a House Divided. And we will not stand for long. His type would rather BURN IT ALL DOWN, then to let the other side, take over.
God help the United States of America.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 2:32PM
I do care, but it is fluff, you just have to pick up a magazine or turn on the tv and you'll see sex, corruption, lying, indecent exposure all over the place. That is who we are now. Just check out any reality tv show - it's crass, sex filled, immoral and yet everyone watches.
What matters is jobs, Clinton left Bush with 22 million jobs and Bush left Obama losing 780,000 jobs/month after losing 3 million himself. Obama has created 3 million jobs. That's all that matters. We're only divided because the 1% can buy the elected to ignore the needs of the 99% .
Character doesn't matter - only money does. Our elected officials prove it. D's are just a little bit less bought than R's, that's all.
Jan| 12.14.11 @ 4:04PM
Burp 12.41 Obama created 3 million jobs?? uh really
Is that why the real unemployment at least 11.4%
and black unemployment is almost 20%, inner city young over 40%. Dream on.
glenn d| 12.14.11 @ 6:24PM
the 780k job loss per month under bush is a giant myth. this was the normal january adjustment to the birth / death model the govt uses. look at every jan obama has been president and you'll see the same thing.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:30PM
That's ridiculous ... prove it - link please? You weren't paying attention, Bush lost progressively more jobs/month from 2007 on... that's a fact.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:22PM
Yes, go look it up ... do your homework .
idalily| 12.14.11 @ 3:15PM
The statement that Bill Clinton is thought of as a great president by 51% of Americans despite lying under oath, committing sexual harassment, ignoring Bin Laden in the Sudan, doing nothing about the first WTS attack, the USS Cole or Tanzania, and being impeached says more about that supposed 51% than it says about Clinton.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 4:43PM
Nevertheless, Clinton is seen as a great president, something we can't say about Dubya, down in the basement.
idalily| 12.15.11 @ 2:19PM
In another decade or so, let's reevaluate, shall we? And 51% is hardly a mandate, except in Liberalville.
Teaghan| 12.14.11 @ 7:46AM
Thank you Timothy for the history lesson. Man is flawed but it seems the democrats bring forth such trash. I wish somebody would do an indepth investigation into the backgrounds of Barry and Michelle to show exactly what we have in our White House. It looks to me like the trash has been brought back in. Larry Sinclair anyone?
DTOM| 12.14.11 @ 8:56AM
Isn't your request about four years too late?
Some of us new him as an endorsed candidate of the socialist New Democrat party in 2003 in Chicago. Do you expect us to do all your homework?
Stormzeye| 12.14.11 @ 8:33AM
Good article. It also presents a catalogue of reasons not to vote for Newt, the wonk's wonk. And in response to the earlier comment from John Daniel, Newt isn't Ivy League, though Emory and Tulane come close.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.14.11 @ 8:34AM
Emmett,
I still say that it is "character that counts".
Rick Perry has a life long demonstration of good character as well as pretty wise decisions over all.
I'm saddened that he has been shunted aside for lack of good glib one-liners.
Still, I hope perseveres for when Newt blows himself up.
RCV| 12.14.11 @ 11:29AM
... and Newt will. Or else, the GOP is headed for a big, big loss.
Truth to Power| 12.14.11 @ 12:30PM
RCV is someone that has driven his state into the ground and now offers advice for his country. He thinks he is smart but the results of his efforts look like Greece. The proper conclusion is that RCV is a functional idiot. Any of the Republican candidates would be a large improvement over the current regime.
RCV| 12.14.11 @ 4:07PM
Whether or not any of the Republican candidates would be a large improvement over the current regime or not, a candidate will have to be elected to do anything. Newt Gingrich is unelectable. Many of the Republicans who served under him attest to his utter lack of leadership abilities; he is personally repellant and morally and ethically challenged. His nomination by the GOP would be welcome by Democrats like me -- which is why Bill Clinton continues to promote him -- but his coatails would be as long as his marriages. But go ahead, mr. Truth, bring him on!
Truth to Power| 12.14.11 @ 5:08PM
Obama is unelectable and will be worse next year. Get over it. As far as being morally repellent, people like you make it a full time job supporting people like Barney Frank and Barack Obama. Anybody who could sit in Reverend Wright's church of hate is one disgusting individual. I am not endorsing but just saying. On the ethical front Obama has more in common with Tony Soprano than with anyone on the Republican side. He is a man of shakedowns and payoffs. You see our problems clearly but are utterly blind to your own. That comes from a life time of training yourself to be a functional idiot. Nice job with your home state by the way. You're still sinking.
RCV| 12.14.11 @ 5:40PM
I bet you thought he was unelectable in 2008. The reality is, and as the polls confirm, he is far more popular and likeable than any of the GOP contenders.
As for California, I am confident of this: our state will recover. It's the home of creative, productive, entrepreneurial people. Most of the red states, however, will continue to suck at the Federal teat and suck dollars out of productive, progressive blue states like New York, California, Oregon and Massachussets. Because the red states are filled with people like you.
John Navratil| 12.14.11 @ 7:19PM
RCV,
I DID think he was unelectable in 2008. I was WRONG. I even voted for him in the Dem. primary (first time I ever did that) in Texas because our "man" McCain had been annointed and there was nothing else on the ballot. I figured he would be easier to beat than Hillary. Who, thought I, would ever vote for a man whose only accomplishments were to be a community organizer, to have written two memoirs on such a "rich" record (much of it still out of the public eye) and to have received two Grammy-s for same, and to give a great speech? It was inconceivable! Who could be so bamboozled.
Boy, was I a fool.
But, so was Hillary. I take no solace in the company.
I don't think he should be counted out. David "monkey butt" Axelrod will be busy. I pray the polls you read are wrong and the electorate will be paying more attention this time.
We are cursed with living in interesting times.
Truth to Power| 12.14.11 @ 7:38PM
I thought the moderate acting Obama was unbeatable in 2008. I knew he wasn't moderate but he and the media sold him that way successfully. That won't happen again. He is a goner. California is a goner too. Say hi to Greece on your way down. You won't be getting bailed out by the federal government that you have helped bankrupt. By creative I think you mean that when you have a debt problem, you need to go into more debt. Very creative. I live in a blue state by the way and am quite blue. I see functionally idiotic arrogant twits like you all the time. Your act is wearing thin.
Margie| 12.14.11 @ 9:00PM
I find your hypocrisy most blinding, RCV. You preach morality in a candidate and yet you also preach a different gospel other than the one of Jesus Christ, which condones Homosexuality?
You and Ken the Reprobate Do really make a fine team against not only Bible believing Christians, (those of us whom he refers to as "Bible Idlolators"), as he also says that God "made Homosexuals"~ but anyone with half a brain.
How you Leftists and Liberal hypocrites try and justify yourselves never ceases to make me ill.
As you know, my motto is: BETTER A REPENTANT FORGIVEN SERIAL ADULTERER THAN AN UNREPENTANT SOCIALIST.
(that unrepentant Socialist is Obama, in case you can't figure it out, and the former is Newt!).
Margie| 12.14.11 @ 9:02PM
That is, to make it clear, YOURS is the different gospel that preaches Homosexuality is NOT SIN.
RCV| 12.15.11 @ 11:24AM
Yada, yada, yada, Margie. Not interested in hearing anything more about your quirky, hypocritical non-Christianity. You've bored everyone to tears here with your self-righteousness and your personal spats with everyone else.
RCV| 12.17.11 @ 2:35PM
Margie - I'd be tempted to support Gingrich or Santorum, just for the pure pleasure of watching you have to endure the President worshipping each week at a Catholic Cathedral and welcoming the Pope and Cardinals and Bishops to the White House!
VonMisesJr| 12.14.11 @ 8:53AM
Clinton and Obama follow in the footsteps of
Wilson and FDR. Each envision themselves as a Nietzsche "Superman." Wilson described himself as one of the intelligent few" in his speeches.
But my hero Von Mises explains praxeology (human action through choice) and catallatactics (competition in the free market among producers) that results in multi-millions of private decisions each and every day by individual Americans. This is what free markets mean (310 million people making individual choices based on their individual wants and needs). And it works to boot.
But if markets are allowed to work, then Clinton and Obama don't get to play G-d while skimming off a healthy measure for their trouble.
hardcard| 12.14.11 @ 8:57AM
more clinton legacies; Waco, Ruy Ridge, TWA Flight 800, the Arkansas Folies, Draft Evasion, Vince Foster, Tyson, I have to stop I can't go on.
Aces and Eights| 12.14.11 @ 9:24AM
You left out Clinton taking bribes from the Chinese and giving them nuclear weapons and missile technologies in return. "Year of the Rat."
Ground Control| 12.14.11 @ 9:35AM
Technologies which have found their way into the hands of the Koreans and Iranians, by the way.
TrueBlue| 12.14.11 @ 7:30PM
Also forgot the favored trading status for China that is one of the main reasons so many companies shifted jobs over there. Why stay here and pay our high tax rates when they can go over to China, pay lower rates, and not have to worry about import taxes when they ship stuff back stateside?
albert constantine jr.| 12.14.11 @ 9:48AM
Sorry, while I would like to add Ambassador Larry Livingston's "Arlington Cemetery-gate" to the Clinton list, Ruby Ridge occurred in 1992, prior to his election. Some of the cover up was during his watch, (and more egregious, the Potts promotion), but this is one Clinton actually can't be tagged with.
PolishKnight| 12.14.11 @ 9:21AM
All Democrats are wonks because the Marxist ideology is about an ideal government running peoples' lives and when a like minded group of people get together, it always sounds good by definition because they form a consensus.
The problem is those pesky "special interest" groups which, the Democrats define, as anyone who isn't on their side. Government unions? A force to help the "middle class". Working class whites who fix their plumbing and cars? A menace 2 society. Ironically, a Democratic socialist state (which is largely what we live in, sadly) only compounds those problems as different special interests make war with each other. Since the policy wonk Democrat worships a future utopian welfare state rather the present, their policies making things worse while simultaneously giving them power isn't a problem. If the whole country looks like Detroit including Democrat mayors, no problem. They'll worry about converting it all into Sweden later.
This is the reality that makes socialists uncomfortable. Don't bother arguing policy with them. Secretly, they couldn't care less. Or morality. Future Sweden is so wonderful in their minds, that a few death camps here and there aren't a problem. You have to face the future because that's where their mind is at. That they will never get their utopia and in the end, they'll be tossed under the bus along with the friends they've stabbed in the back.
Louis Jenkins| 12.14.11 @ 9:22AM
"and certainly not Lyndon B. Johnson. "
Sorry, I take exception with Johnson. The War on Poverty? One of the biggest wonks ever.
Vern Crisler| 12.14.11 @ 9:24AM
So now we're supposed to vote against Newt because he knows too much?
The Clintidote| 12.14.11 @ 9:54PM
There are plenty of reasons to vote the hell against Gingrich. Just sitting on that damn couch with Pelosi shows his fundamentally statist and scientifically-ignorant mindset.
He'd be a scary wild man in power. Unfortunately for us, the other weak sisters the GOPussies have proffered are useless as well.
Anthony| 12.14.11 @ 9:24AM
Clinton was/ is no wonk. He and Gore thought of themselves as the smartest folks in the room when they were pushing the "reinventing government" fad in the '90s.
This book is probably a ripoff of the "Reinventing Government" book. I bet the sexual predator in chief got the Obozo Administration to buy 100,000 copies of the book. Come to think of it, maybe that's where all the MF Global money went.
But give the devils their due, Clinton and Gore are both great wackers, as opposed to wonkers, especially with nubile interns and massueses.
So who did Clinton dedicate the book to, eh?
Aces and Eights| 12.14.11 @ 9:34AM
I always like that term "reinventing government", especially when the intellectually challenged AlGore used it. It is derived from the phrase "reinventing the wheel" and refers to performing a task that is redundant and unnecessary; a waste of time. But then, AlGore always thought what he was doing in life was somehow important, significant, and altruistic. It was never any of these things.
Riff Raff| 12.14.11 @ 9:30AM
Frankly, I can't explain either Gingrich or Clinton. Gingrich at least has professional credentials, he has after all a PhD in History and has written a few history books, but I wouldn't have him over for tea. Clinton? This goofball and traitor is an expert in absolutely nothing (he isn't even very good in picking up little girls, supposedly his forte. I mean, Monica Lewinski? Really?!) Just what is he supposed to be a "wonk" in? Faked sincerity?
Mike Hawk| 12.14.11 @ 10:26AM
Au contrare, Der Schlickmeister is an expert at groping, philandering and womanizing. He is an accomplished BS artiste as well. Der Schwartz Fuhrer on the other hand is an expert at nothing.
albert constantine jr.| 12.14.11 @ 9:55AM
Eisenhower didn't necessarily need to be a wonk; he had experience in running a large enterprise with a large staff (wonks) and subordinate commanders, some of whom were worthy of the trust placed in them. When a chief executive is a good judge of character and competence, and has them in good supply, he needn't be a wonk. That requirement can shift in their absence, though, in either the part of the executive or the subordinates.
bill| 12.14.11 @ 10:24AM
Obama is a carbon copy of Jim Carter and LBJ.
Carter and LBJ both embraced socialism and imposed their ideology on us.
Obama choose their paths, and gave America recession, debt, and deficit.
Obama is economically illiterate and has no intention to learn from his socialist predecessor.
Obama is pathetic.
JimP| 12.14.11 @ 10:24AM
'Good ole, Bubba.' He can always be counted on to do something so outlandish it makes me want to laugh at him with derision while I cringe at his gaucheness. [I think that's a word. Anyway, you all know what I mean.]
The best Bubbaism of recent utterance was when he in effect admitted that Newt saved him from himself by publicly questioning that very premise. Whether we hate Newt or not, Newt DID end up saving Bubba from himself and helped all the rest of us in the process. Unfortunately, the circus that is the low class [I'm intentionally being euphemistic] Clintons did not prevent the grim Obama administration.
Aces and Eights| 12.14.11 @ 10:56AM
I like that term "the low class." Economicall, we have an upper class, a middle class, and an under class. In politics we have the "low" class. Perfect.
JimP| 12.14.11 @ 11:27AM
That wasn't how I meant the phrase, but I like your interpretion and think it is VERY fitting. If you have no objections I will use it in the future when fitting.
What I was referencing was a phrase we Southerners still use when talking about 'Caucasian rubbish', but some folks now days object to the literal phrase for being "racist". [I don't get it either.] So, to my fault, I was being politically correct and using the euphemistic phrase "low class" to try and capture in sum people who lack honor, integrity, grace, and good manners. Down South having money or position does not bestow these traits. It's how one conducts themselves that ultimately matters.
Aces and Eights| 12.14.11 @ 5:15PM
It's all yours.
Tiddly| 12.15.11 @ 12:02AM
"One" conducts "themselves?" I hope grammar isn't a prerequisite for being in the gracious class.
JimP| 12.15.11 @ 6:48AM
LOL Point taken. Mea culpa.
Stefan Stackhouse| 12.14.11 @ 10:32AM
We used to have "leaders." How I do miss that former country we used to have.
russel| 12.14.11 @ 10:37AM
Our Founders were loathe to the idea of some sort of King George here and did everything possible to see to it we didn't get one . Yet thanks to the flaws humans are so succepitible to which they attempted to circumvent , we now have the likes of Clinton and Obama . Greed and power has all but ruined this great nation , just as it has others . Well , let us hope the citizens fight back the next election , it might be the last chance we have to take back the freedoms we keep losing .
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:58AM
You forgot DICK Cheney in your list, our last president... I'd say Bush, but he was just Cheney's puppet.
Anthony| 12.14.11 @ 12:57PM
Really Purp? Tell that to Scooter Libby, moron. Gee, if only Scooter was a D; hack Fitzgerald would not have indicted him because Scooter would have been able to use the Eric Holder defense, "It's not lying if you believe it".
Fitzgerald would have happily accepted that explaination and gone home to Chicago to look at David Axelrod's monkey ass.
But unfortunately for Scooter, he's no Eric Holder.
Justice is blind, but only if you are a corrupt leftist.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 4:51PM
Fitzgerald is a Republican, or did you miss that tidbit? That is why Karl Rove and Dick Cheney aren't in jail - he let them walk. They were both guiltier than Scooter, but they made Scooter the patsy and Republican Fitzgerald went along. See, in the Republican world, the elected, connected and wealthy get special favors ... they cozy up to the 1% and get paid for their butt-kissing.
Tiddly| 12.15.11 @ 12:09AM
That silly 1% stuff sure gets tiring. You obviously missed another American Spectator article that might have done you some good: "Inequality in Perspective
By Ron Ross on 12.9.11 @ 6:08AM
Purp| 12.15.11 @ 1:08PM
Yeah, I read that trash too. But, you can't refute my assertions apparently, so I guess I'm right.
You just have to look who the R's stick up for in their voting records - not what they say because they lie. But their records say it all.
martin j smith| 12.14.11 @ 10:39AM
The words smart and government put together only relate to Socialists because they think they are so brilliant. Oh, did I forget establishment Republicans too.
Peppermint Tea| 12.14.11 @ 10:42AM
Bill Clinton gave us:
a nuclear North Korea
an embolden Al Qada
a stained dress
a massacre at Waco
a pretended welfare reform
and various frequent lies.
At least he failed at giving us Al Gore.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:59AM
And what did Dubya do to correct these things?
Bob Grant| 12.14.11 @ 2:17PM
Bush was a disaster because he became a Democrat-lite.
By the way, no one has mentioned GW Bush but you. Your little straw man arguments are tiresome.
RCV| 12.14.11 @ 4:10PM
Oh, please, Bob. There was nothing "Democrat" about George W. Republicans can, and must, take frull credit for his tenure.
VonMisesJr| 12.14.11 @ 11:12AM
So far Obama has given us:
Hamas in Egypt
al Qaeda in Libya
drone assassinations as policy
Iran on the verge of nuclear weapons
Wall Street and mortgage bailouts
$787B slush fund
ObamaCare
Frank Dodd
OWS
a Failed Presidency
Bill| 12.14.11 @ 12:44PM
adding to that: RECESSION
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 5:01PM
- Egypt and Libya are rid of dictators - that's an accomplishment, thank you for your support of Obama - what the Egyptians and Libyans do with their FREEDOM is their business.
- Drones have saved American lives - so, of course, you support that.
- Iran's been on the verge of nuclear weapons for years, nothing new now, what's your point?
- Bailouts saved the economy, so you had to add it to your accomplishment list
- the 787 Billion Recovery Act saved jobs too - and gave us 300Billion in tax cuts, so, again it was good you added it to the list of accomplishments
- Obamacares is quite an accomplishment - ask a senior that saved on their medicines or anyone that had a pre-existing condition or had gotten sick and got kicked off their insurance. Another great item for the list.
- Dodd-Frank I think you mean - have you seen that your credit card statements tell you when you will pay off your balance if you pay the minimum payment? That's only 1 item of Dodd-Frank, so agreed, another great accomplishment
- OWS is not something Obama has accomplished, so that's wrong
- The only presidency that is complete recently is GW Bush - which by all accounts, left, right and center was a miserable failure, but Obama can't be credited with that one either. Dubya did that all by his lonesome.
VonMisesJr| 12.14.11 @ 7:30PM
S/B Prop for propaganda.
Either you work for the government, get paid by MoveOn or love socialism with a religious fervor.
In any event, I don't wish to try to educate when you reject reason.
Read "The Psychology of Revolution" by Le Bon. He analyzes the French Revolution and describes fanatical "mystic"beliefs that are not something that can be discussed with logic or reason.
So what is the "One's" approval rating? 41?
So what is the percentage of people that believe the country is going in the right direction? 25?
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:27PM
There is nothing "mystical" about the death of Osama Bin Laden, something Bush could not accomplish. There is nothing "mystical" about the end of the Iraq War - another milestone Bush could not achieve.
Funny how these 2 accomplishments could not be delayed or blocked by the Republicants - which we can't say about job creation, national debt extension and the economy. There is also nothing "mystical" about the Republicants self-professed #1 goal to unseat President Obama. And, don't kid yourself, America is well aware who is with the 1% and who is with the other 99%.
Tiddly| 12.15.11 @ 12:13AM
You and your 1% - 99% Marxist class warfare again. Really, really tiresome.
VonMisesJr| 12.15.11 @ 5:48AM
Tiddly,
I suggest we don't feed the troll. He's not going to read the book, and he'll never understand the discussion on the French Revolution, nor read Von Mises "Socialism" and understand why it never worked and never will.
Merry Christmas. VM,Jr.
Purp| 12.15.11 @ 1:10PM
YOU think the 1% vs 99% is tiresome - you're Socialism push is so tiresome, that's all you ever talk about. Nothing but socialists and socialism do you see everywhere.
What you don't realize is that you ARE the 99% and you ARE socialists already. You just don't know it.
idalily| 12.15.11 @ 2:23PM
Lies are always tiresome. Class warfare is always tiresome. Liberals are tiresome. And for all the same reasons.
And what I realize is that this oh-so-evil 1% hires a lot of people and creates a lot of jobs. I wonder how many jobs Bill Gates is responsible for creating. More than all the OWS idiots put together, by about a billion.
Bill| 12.14.11 @ 12:46PM
adding to that: sexual harassment in the Oval Office in American History
Bob K.| 12.14.11 @ 10:44AM
Nice to see you included Gingrich however briefly.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 11:08AM
"Great presidents were never policy wonks. So how to explain people like Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich?" - How can you say that when the first 5 Presidents were instrumental in creating and implementing the first policies of the Continental Congress and Army and later the Constitution and implementation of the policies of government? Of course, they were policy wonks. What exactly is wrong with policy? That is what government does.
Bob Grant| 12.14.11 @ 2:13PM
More policy = more fascism.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 10:28PM
then stop voting ... that's a policy too.
VonMisesJr| 12.14.11 @ 12:52PM
We have come full circle from "Useful Idiots" to "Useless Wonks."
Cicero| 12.14.11 @ 1:38PM
We can find all the faults we want as regards Newt, Mitt, Rick, Michelle, etc, but at the end of the day, we are going to vote with one of them. Those are our only choices. The more important races are in the Senate and House. If the Repubs get control of the House, Senate ant White House, and fail to truly reform the government by cutting its size and scope considerably, they must go the way of the Whigs.
We will vote for the hand that is dealt. That doesn't mean that we have to stay at the table for the next shuffle of the deck.
Anthony| 12.14.11 @ 1:43PM
Has anybody else noticed recently, that every time Clinton is photographed, he always has his mouth slightly open with a vacant look, as if he's about to catch a fly with his tongue?
Bill Clinton, our white haired, white trash, president, with forked tongue, soon to be wearing white diapers.
bill| 12.14.11 @ 2:18PM
And Bill got a new mistress: Lady gaga.
JimP| 12.14.11 @ 3:35PM
I noticed it too, Anthony. No kidding. I'm not sure what's going on, but it could be the onset of that slack jaw symptom many old folks have.
Scott| 12.14.11 @ 9:55PM
The only one happy with the way things are going is Obama and his WH campaign advisers.
This current crop of candidates has next to no chance in winning a general election against Obama, which is pathetic considering how vulnerable he is right now.
Scott| 12.14.11 @ 9:56PM
Folks should put a lot more effort and money into maintaining the House majority and winning back the Senate..both of which are realistic.
POST American| 12.15.11 @ 1:15AM
----------------------BOTTOM LINE------------------------
Rockefeller deep-linked Clinton, and Harvard/Princeton
'innie' with sealed records, mysterious
'benny-factors', a premiere job as aide to
arch Globalist Kissinger, and who just happens
to bear an uncanny resemblance to Soviet enabler,
RED China enabler and all around Globalist
psychopath supreme ---Averell Harriman
--aka Bar-Rock O--BAM-a.
--Could it be? ----YOU DECIDE.
Anyway, SO much for the face of POST American
grassroots 'RA--dick--ALL--ism'.
Theo Prinse| 12.15.11 @ 8:03AM
Pres. Truman set the debate on non-proliferation that imho became the final instrument to have F.W de Klerk hand over the 350 year old administration of the white South African protestant community to the evil ANC communist clowns like Mandela, Mbeki, Zuma, Maharaj, Tutu, Trevor, Gordhan etc. But more important was that the white community was mislead by the US liberal elite in adopting of what was a communist class defined variant of racism which expressions are still politically (electorally) obscuring problems like sangoma witch doctor child killings (muthi) and white farmers murders, ANC robber capitalist corruption etc. Eisenhower for his speech on the (nuclear) arms, (political) and military complex. The kenian for betraying the western idea of freedom throughout the (once christian) arab world to the Clinton Muslim Brotherhood Outreach and staging an asymmetric 3rd World War on the African continent between the christian South and the muslim North.
Crawler| 12.15.11 @ 7:20PM
I wonder if the ex-impeached president gives his favorite presidential candidate credit for his success?
After all, if it wasn't for Ross Perot he'd still be an unknown preying on peoples wallets in Arkansas...
Cookie Sewell| 12.15.11 @ 8:37PM
Excellent job, Bob. I smell a "Coogler" nominee on the way...
Dipesto| 12.19.11 @ 12:49AM
Let us not forget that great Wonk, Alexander Hamilton, a "know it all who did Know It All," and could talk for hours at a stretch about every government and its economy from ancient Athens to 1790s America. The US as it is was born in the brain of Hamilton via Posstlethwaite's(sic) encyclopedia of business.
Dentist Anchorage | 12.19.11 @ 4:37AM
Its a great article. I like the way it describe the definition of wonks. I agree that wonks does not involve in presidents, not their ideas and facts but it is in the ethics and ego of the presidents.