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=

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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

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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

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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