October 15, 2010
Unfortunately, I Don't Think We've Seen the End of Petulance, Yet

Victor Davis Hanson once again has a perceptive take on just where, and how, things went wrong for the Obama administration. Two things stood out, for me:

A hard-core leftist base is petulant that Obama copied Bush’s anti-terrorism protocols and broke a lot of promises in the process; they will vote only if they happen to be driving by the polls on a Tuesday afternoon.

This is exactly what I've been hearing from the people who sit so far to the left in the peanut gallery they're in danger of falling off that edge of the world. To which I can only say, "this isn't the election you're looking for. We can vote about our business. Move along..."

And then there's...

I think pundits have not appreciated the fact that this is not quite a red/blue, Republican versus Democratic race, but a historic election in which many of the Republican candidates are first-time politicians, beholden to no one, and not part of the Republican establishment.

This is what I've been saying, for months now. The Republican establishment has reacted with such outrage precisely because of it. My side's great disillusionment came at the end of the Bush years, when we came to the realization that the only real difference between the two sides was the color of the tie tacks. We don't want to put the same set of people who sucked in '07 back in charge in '11. We want new faces, and it looks like we'll get them.

Well, yes, they're gonna suck, too. But they'll suck in different ways, and before they really start to stink they may very well do some good.

Via Instapundit.

Posted by scott at October 15, 2010 06:46 AM

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The only real difference between the two sides is their foreign policy. This, to me, is actually a GOOD thing, because domestic policy technically should be what's best understood by both parties (even if the general public doesn't actually like the ugly truth... laws and sausages, you know). We can't say for certain how foreign powers will act, but our political parties should at least be trying to understand what their own constituents need, what they want, and how to deliver the latter without running short on the former.

Of course, similarity on domestic issues can be caused by both parties being completely out of touch, which I suspect to be the case. I just wonder if it may not actually be a bad idea to go the libertarian route though... what happens when hundreds of politically connected bureaucrats with intimate, almost lawyerly, knowledge of how government systems operate, suddenly find themselves looking for work?

Posted by: Tatterdemalian on October 15, 2010 07:03 PM

I'm a big fan of the 3rd party. If you get a serious influx in one election, that'll help get some focus on the major 2's flaws. Two elections in a row with strong showings from 3rd party candidates? That could actually cause a people-based shift in policies.

By about the 5th election or so, however, we'd be back to square one.

Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on October 15, 2010 07:11 PM

And the 5th day after scrubbing the toilet, it needs scrubbing again.

It's still better than what happens if you don't scrub the toilet, though.

Posted by: Tatterdemalian on October 16, 2010 02:00 PM

I dunno. Sometimes you can get some really cool colors that way...

Agreed, however, to have 10-15 years of actual fiscal conservatism would be stellar. It might even be able to undo the damage done by Bush and Obama.

Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on October 16, 2010 03:16 PM
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