Interesting times in politics
From Paul A. Rahe writing at
Big Government
The Coming Republican Surge
Back in early May, James Carville gleefully published a book entitled 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.
In part, an extended rant against George W. Bush and his administration, it also purported to show that �the Republicans are going to keep getting spanked again and again for forty more years because we�re right and they�re wrong, and Americans know it.�
Of course, Carville added, �the Republicans have been down before, and the Democrats have won Congress before, and we�ve still managed to lose.� But, he continued, �this time we strung our policies together into a coherent, appealing narrative. And we did it with the help of the historically diverse, historically Democratic young people who will be the foundation for a lasting Democratic majority.�
This may have seemed a plausible claim late in 2008 or early in 2009 � when the ragin� Cajun sent off his book to Simon & Schuster. By the time of publication, however, the Republicans in Congress had shown that they still had some fight in them, and the Tea-Party Movement had already made its appearance.
To anyone with any political nous, it was obvious that the Democrats were not going to have a cakewalk. In the course of the summer recess, it became clear that they had a war on their hands.
There had been what I called in August �The Great Awakening,� and it threatened to turn American politics upside down.
That it really may do just that is now evident in the polling data.
I cannot think of any time in the course of my long life in which there has been a political turnaround on this scale in so short a time. If there is not another sharp reversal in public opinion, the Republicans will take the House in 2010 and may secure the Senate as well.
Some will, indeed, get spanked � but not the party that James Carville had in mind. So much for the dreams of the ragin� Cajun.
Heh - voters will put up with some measure of crap as long as they are happy with the overall outcome. What has been happening over the last year would be enough to wake up Rip Van Winkle from his twenty-five year nap.
Posted by DaveH at December 12, 2009 7:38 PM