Worthy analysis and some advice

Go here for Charles Krauthammer's words of wisdom about last night (video). He sticks his fork in the Obama agenda and finds it done. And he makes a compelling argument that yesterday's show of the will and power of the electorate will shift the Senate in a rightward direction. Those up for reelection in 2012 may be a lot less willing to walk the plank for the Obama agenda from now on.


I'd be willing for some of my tax dollars to pay for tattooing Sen. Jim DeMint's rules on the forehead of every new member of Congress. Here they are, boiled down by Andy McCarthy:

1. No earmarks — if you play the game, they own you.
2. Hire conservative staff — don’t get undermined from within.
3. Don’t be seduced by committee assignments — you have a public platform and, particularly in the Senate, you are not limited by committee assignment or seniority from legislating on any matter.
4. Don’t seek titles in the hierarchy — see no. 3, above.
5. Doing your job takes priority over being reelected to do your job.

Oremus.


The great Roger Kimball sees yesterday's vote as a case of reverse peristalsis:

. . . the American voters have indulged in a violent but purgative episode of reverse peristalsis with respect to the Obama-Reid-Pelosi stew of statist, high-tax, politically correct European-style government bureaucracy.

Yes, Harry Reid and Barbara “call me Senator” Boxer are still stuck there in the public craw. Who knows where Barney Frank is lodged. I, too, regret it. But it is seldom that any one bout of regurgitation is 100 percent effective. Let us draw a veil over this unpleasant spectacle and concentrate instead on the deeper meaning of last night’s activity.

If you look at the headlines, you’ll see lots variations on this AP banner: “Republicans ride voter unrest to control of House.”

But it wasn’t “unrest” that was on view last night. It was disgust tinctured with condign anger, fear, and contempt. And it was only incidentally the Republican party that rode this wave of nausea. Republicans were, en masse, merely the vehicle. The cause  was the rumbling, grumbling, visceral feeling of being betrayed by an arrogant and overweening government. Perhaps somewhere along the corridors of power, someone is reciting Kipling to the President, the former speaker of the House, or the Senate Smaller-Majority leader:

“The Saxon is not like us Normans, his manners are not so polite
But he never means anything serious till he talks of justice and right
When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own
And grumbles ‘This isn’t fair dealing,’ my son leave the Saxon alone.”

It's almost inconceivable to me that the unholy trinity of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid could learn a lesson from this. (And I'm guessing that Kipling fans are greatly outnumbered by Alinskyites among the current ruling class.)



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