Friday, November 18, 2005
Silver Linings
Ezra Klein yesterday:
It would be ideal if lessons could be learned in less painful ways - but I'd be happy enough with the "learned" part.
BAD DAY FOR THE RIGHT. Looks like the House Republican Conference is coming apart at the seams. This, I guess, was always the inevitable conclusion of the Bush years. A war started on lies and conducted on ideology was almost certain to go horribly wrong. An economic policy based on tax cuts but eager to spend would undoubtedly force painful cuts and questions later on. A president isolated from dissenting voices and dependent on a small coterie of advisors was a prime candidate to become overwhelmed when the train left the tracks. A congressional leadership that obscured ideological schisms through rigidly enforced discipline had no fallback plan when its prime pitbull got indicted for his tactics. So now the Iraq War is a mess, the budget demands hugely unpopular cuts, the president is widely disliked and increasingly ineffective, and the GOP is falling apart on crucial votes. You have to wonder if there aren't some Republican strategists wishing right now that John Kerry had won the election so their side didn't have deal with all this. You have to wonder right now if there aren't some Democratic strategists secretly thankful he didn't.Actually, no need to wonder. Though I'm not a "Democratic strategist" I did see this one coming - and was not secretive about my sentiments. I actually wrote a post way back in August 2004 stating that Kerry losing might actually be a good thing in some ways. I argued that, despite the pain to be endured and damage to be done from another four years of Bush, the Democratic Party's long term viability might be better served if the American people were privy to a clearer view of what unmitigated Republican governance looks like. If Kerry had won, the GOP would have acted like everything was on course and going well until Kerry came in and mucked it all up (can't you just here the complaints about how Democrats can't handle a war, and that the Iraq campaign went down in flames because of "cut and run" Kerry?). This was and is obviously not the case. So, who are they going to blame now? Oddly enough, as some GOP lawmakers feeling threatened have resorted to in recent weeks, maybe Bush himself. His record low approval ratings, and a Party of mixed allegiances whose lawmakers don't want him to campaign for them, are harbingers of his legacy. Congratulations Mr. President.
It would be ideal if lessons could be learned in less painful ways - but I'd be happy enough with the "learned" part.
