Culture Clips – January 9, 2007
Clinton
vs. Clinton?
The one person whom Hillary thought
she would never — could never — have
to run against was, of course, Bill. It was Bill, in fact, who
consoled her last winter, after she was less than inspiring at
Coretta Scott King’s funeral, with the
observation that she would never have to face a charmer like himself.
He told her — trying to be reassuring, I guess: “You don’t
have to be better at this than me. You got to be better than whoever.”
But, oh dear, who would have thought the “whoever” she now may
face would be so reminiscent of the Bill Clinton who unexpectedly
captured the Democratic nomination in 1992.
Obama has several components of the
Bill Factor. First of all there is the Great Personal Story. Bill’s
was “poor boy from Arkansas makes good,”
as he used his smarts to go to Georgetown,
Yale, and win a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford.
Obama’s is much the same, another tale
of “poor boy makes good” that sees the protagonist end up at an
Ivy League school. And Obama was the first black president of The Harvard Law
Review, which is as impressive as winning a Rhodes.
The list goes on…
Myrna Blyth
National Review Online
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=
MWFkNjI0M2JiZmRmNzIwODFkYzAyYzUwMjllZjI4MjQ=
****
Voters Want Ideas, Not Ideology
The November election results have
been called everything from a Democratic landslide, to a mandate
on the war in Iraq, to a searing rebuke of President Bush's
policies. I believe these conclusions miss the broader and far
more compelling point.
From the veteran I met in the Little
Rebel bar in Jackson, Tenn., to the glass plant manager I met
on the other side of the state in Kingsport, people in Tennessee
viewed the 2006 election as being, first and foremost, about change.
But this wasn't simply about trading a Republican majority for
a Democratic one. And it wasn't about who holds the gavel in committee
hearings or which party has the power to issue subpoenas. It was
about something much simpler and far more profound -- forcing
government to live up once again to the social contract that we
put in place more than two centuries ago.
Above all, this election was about
making government work again.
Harold Ford, Jr.
Real Clear Politics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles
/2007/01/voters_want_a_government_that.html
****
House Democrats and Ethics Reform
When one is "converted,"
people look for changes in behavior that testify to a transformation
of heart and mind.
The new House Democratic majority
has announced its "conversion" on matters of institutional
and individual ethics. Now comes the watching and waiting to measure
the depth of their sincerity. Initial signs leave room for cautious
optimism, or pessimism, depending on one's faith, in people who
have created the problem to provide the solution. Liken it to
how much trust one might place in an embezzler who is put in charge
of bank security, or a serial liar who is asked to devise an honor
code.
Cal Thomas
TownHall
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas
/2007/01/09/house_democrats_and_ethics_reform
****
They Legislate, We Decide
You can't govern from Capitol Hill.
Newt Gingrich, as Republican House speaker, tried after the landslide
of 1994 and failed. Yet Democrats, with their "100 hours"
agenda in the House and 10 legislative "priorities"
in the Senate, act as if they can run Washington. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry
Reid are promising to take the country in a "new direction."
Good luck.
What stands in their way? Three
rather large impediments. One, the Democratic majority
in the Senate is fragile (51-49), and it's hardly overwhelming
in the House (233-202). Second, Democrats are fractured on many
issues — not just Iraq,
but even on whether to pursue a moderate strategy of moving slowly
and carefully or one of going for broke to roll back the conservative
advances of the Bush years. And third, there's Bush and his weapons.
The president has quite an arsenal: veto, filibuster by Senate
Republicans, bully pulpit, a potential alliance of Republicans
and conservative Democrats on selected issues, recess appointments,
discretion to act on foreign policy without congressional approval.
In a political fight, Congress can't match a president's tools.
Fred Barnes
The Weekly Standard
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/
Public/Articles/000/000/013/139wmaoa.asp
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