New Brave World

I was moved (again) by Peggy Noonan's recent WSJ essay "Brave New World" which impressed me as an intelligent and honest analysis of the choices we have in the next election. If you read nothing else about politics, you should read this essay. http://www.wsj.com/article/SB121330247663568945.html


In November, Americans will go to the polls with a clear choice. McCain represents Old America; Obama represents New America. The individuals themselves do not matter, so we should not get hung-up on the personalities. The president is not the Emperor. If the congress has any gonads at all, the president cannot do anything that is contrary to the will of the people.

My liberal friends (most of the people I associate with) like to blame everything that has gone wrong in the last 7 years on George Bush. I find this a bit too simplistic. There are many conspiritors afoot.

Bush lied and people died, is a clever reduction, but it does not square with the real situation. The democratic majority could have voted against funding the war in Iraq and it would have been over long ago. But they didn't. They drove the getaway car, and that makes them accessories just as if they had committed the crime with their own hands.

My conservative friends are quick to point out that things are not as bad as they would have been under Al Gore or John Kerry. I am inclined to agree with them, and I will admit that I voted for Bush both times. In retrospect I think my vote for dubya was more against the other guys. I was voting against the guys who had spent their lives working in the Washington machine. I did not trust them to have the intestinal fortitude to stand-up against their powerful special interest sponsors.

Perhaps this is just revisionist. I am acutely aware of the human tendency to justify past choices, even when they turn out to be disasterous.

Back to Peggy's thesis. I think she has nailed it with her description of the issues and choice at stake - New America vs Old America.
Unfortunately for her camp, she has clearly made the case that guarantees an Obama victory. She romantically characterizes what Old America stands for, forgetting the inconvenient truths of Traditional America - which was fine if you were white, good looking, and lucky enough to have Ozzie and Harriet for parents. Most of the people who will be voting in the next election don't identify with that shining vision - or memory.

Do we still have time to impeach Bush for poisoning the tomatoes?