What John Said
The eminent Mr. Schwenkler:
So congratulations, America. Our long national nightmare is over, and now we’ve got a president-elect who apparently goes in for spying on his citizens, torturing his enemies, expanding the military, violating the sovereignty of our allies, threatening to attack Iran, providing effectively unconditional support to Israel, keeping massive residual forces in Iraq well beyond the date of our “withdrawal”, bailing out banks and automakers alike, massively shrinking the tax base while increasing federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, and now sticking with the kinds of agricultural policies that degrade the environment, encourage bad eating habits, and contribute to the global hunger crisis. But don’t worry – I hear he’s a sharp guy with a really calm temperament, which of course is all that really matters. Here’s to change we can believe in!
In addition to that calm temperament he also spends less money on his clothes than Sarah Palin. So, y’know, he’s got that going for him.
You know, I really do understand not supporting John McCain for president. I get that. When Rudy Giuliani was still a viable candidate, I swore I would never, ever pull the lever for McCain. What I don’t get are all the commentators–conservative, liberal, or otherwise–who thought that Obama was some sort of transformative figure in the population. He’s a one-term senator who gives a good oratory; an orthodox liberal; a go-along-to-get-along type who has done nothing courageous in his career to earn that “reformer” cred the media bestowed upon him (as David Freddoso pointed out some months ago).
So now what will we have? We’re going to wind up with some sort of hideous national health care program. For the pro-lifers out there like Doug Kmiec (he of the Douthat/Carlson spanking) we’ll have the Freedom of Choice Act, rolling back every modest gain by the pro-life movement since Roe. For the anti-war types, we’ll have endless war with countless enemies fought by an expanded army. For the opponents of torture, we’ll have someone who really doesn’t plan on changing much of anything instituted by the Bush administration.
I’m going to really enjoy seeing how the Obamacons, in particular, try to spin the next four years. It will be intriguing.