An Army Of Davids

Somehow I'm thinking this isn't quite what Glenn Reynolds had in mind. And I don't quite understand the current broad fascination with Brooks. Reading the words "assert ourselves" by him strikes me as silly. I've always viewed him and his type as part of the circus, not the real show. The times are too significant for me to get all worked up over David Brooks.

He isn't wrong to advocate a "center" in American politics. In the real world it's often where we end up. But we get there by fighting it out between the Left and the Right. The center exists as an end state, not a political force. That's partly why I'm sometimes willing to advocate positions more to the Right than what I actually want. I know that isn't where even a victory would end up. Who do you compromise with if the center is in charge? No one, that's who. And that's a disastrous thought.

Those of us in the moderate tradition — the Hamiltonian tradition that believes in limited but energetic government — thus find ourselves facing a void. We moderates are going to have to assert ourselves. We’re going to have to take a centrist tendency that has been politically feckless and intellectually vapid and turn it into an influential force.

Comments

[Jumbo]

But first, we must take back the eroding financial system - caused by the GOP. Then we can get all friendly and cooperative. Or how about stopping the illigal and immoral invasion of Iraq? Maybe then we could get all squiggly and wiggly. Or how about regaining the trust around the world? Then maybe. Or maybe stop spying on Americans - then just maybe. Or could we root out all of the DOJ leftovers from the criminal enterprise known as Bushco. maybe then. The list goes on and on and on....When we have removed the stain of the last 8 years, then maybe we can all get along. Until then? STFU.

[mark l.]

"Or could we root out all of the DOJ leftovers"
just don't fire more than 5 federal prosecutors. It will make that Rove prosecution case that much harder.

"Or how about regaining the trust around the world?"
he is well on his way. hamas trusts obama more than any other past president. russia and iran trust that obama won't do anything to curb their ambitions.

"But first, we must take back the eroding financial system"
the financial system is just the backbone of capitalism. The whole premise that you are supposing is that Obama wants capitalism to flourish. He doesn't. He just wants it to pay for socialism. Obama's goal is much akin to providing a lifesaving organ transplant, so that the person can be executed by the state.

jumbo-
you want the money that capitalism produces to pay for socialism. Do you believe that the money obama has based his ambitions on, will be there in a couple of years? If the stock market doesn't stabilize very soon, there is a tsunami of layoffs coming at every level, beyond the blip we are experiencing. The longer obama sits in a morass, the more americans resign themselves to that fate and restructure for the long term. He's got until summer, at best, to save the market.

at present, he doesn't have a plan or a clue.

[templar knight]

I'll tell you what, Jumbo, your boy has the financial system. He disregarded the GOP, passed one massive, record-breaking spending bill after another with virtually no GOP support, so this is his baby. You can no longer blame it on the GOP. Sorry about that, lol.

The Iraqi occupation is out of Bushco's hands. Your boy can bring them home anytime he wants. He is the commander-in-chief, dufus. The troops are in Iraq at his direction. And he wants to keep 50,000 troops there. Again, your fuss is with your side.

As for getting along with you, I'd knock your little ass somewhere into next week if you told me to shut up. You got that?

[mark l.]

if they start raising money for a gladiatorial death match among the webizens, I'm in for 50 bucks.

you better win templar, versus jumbo, I'll be dropping a grand on the fight. Limp at the weigh-in.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- He disregarded the GOP, passed one massive, record-breaking spending bill after another with virtually no GOP support, so this is his baby. --"

I love this canard. The GOP had a $3.1 trillion tax cut plan all cooked up for a McCain Presidency. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/02/senate-conservatives-plan/

The notion that massive spending wasn't coming in the face of a collapsing economy is laughable. Republicans spent like drunken sailors all through the last decade, they wouldn't have turned down the opportunity to keep the pork flowing. Even in the last omnibus spending bill, guess which Congressmen really brought home that bacon?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/red-states-gobble-up-omni_n_171186.html

Can you say Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, with more than $470 million in 204 earmarks? I knew you could.

"-- Senate Democrats and Republican ate roughly the same amount from the government trough on a solo basis, although Democrats have one and half times as many members. Democratic members secured about $677 million in individual earmarks; Republicans brought home $669 million. Those solo figures, however, don't tell the entire story, because about six billion more was requested by groups of lawmakers. --"

Oh golly gee, it seems like the GOoPer Congresscritters do a lot better talking about pork than they do actually fighting it. Not that this is anything new. The Democrats just have enough good sense to know that irrigation ditches and new schools and post offices and wild life refuges aren't de facto wasteful spending.

We'll see how well these pet projects go over when compared to the Bridge to Nowhere. Me-thinks the constituents won't mind as much when they actually get something back from their congressfolk.