tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post8947733841873553483..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Before NormalcyJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-1321277221382563862010-12-29T16:01:39.714-06:002010-12-29T16:01:39.714-06:00This is a bit late but I'm going to give a sem...This is a bit late but I'm going to give a semi-defense of Douthat's column, there are disgruntled liberals out there who think that this Congress did squat in advancing the liberal agenda and couldn't care less about whether we have a Madisonian system or not. Not all of them are young and many of them should know a lot better but they exist. We've talked about them a lot on this blog and even had posts about them.Lee Ratnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139895689217213860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-3008661273849802662010-12-28T23:17:52.842-06:002010-12-28T23:17:52.842-06:00I agree with you on the Douthat issue. His argume...I agree with you on the Douthat issue. His argument regarding Obama and liberal support for him is such a pervasive right-wing talking point that a felt obligation or sheer familiarity are much better explanations than animus. Hippie-punching is one of the favorite pastime of the Capitol Hill set, after all.<br /><br />As to the substance, setting up the liberals as soft-headed foils to the "pragmatic" lame duck session is a clever and subtle way to share the claim for those successes while white-washing conservative opposition to the more popular successes of the session, and perhaps making those successes more palatable to the die-hards in the process.Heronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14776242322789918501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-19416814894564942132010-12-28T17:25:48.462-06:002010-12-28T17:25:48.462-06:00In further support of the point of this post, ther...In further support of the point of this post, there were anti-Obama people who also saw the 2008 election as aligning things for big liberal victories -- Fred Barnes, for instance, who fretted all through the Fox election-night coverage in '08 about card check, which he apparently thought had just become inevitable.<br /><br />And I also disagree a bit with "Anonymous" about Douthat. My view of him, as of David Brooks, is that these are guys who for whatever sociological reasons found themselves aligned (and/or in more natural fellowship) with "conservatives" when they were young, so they defined themselves accordingly and it paid off for them with high-profile journalistic gigs. They're not willing to pull a David Brock and just switch sides, but they know that most current movement conservatism is nonsense. So they end up writing a lot of intellectually dishonest stuff aimed at nit-picking liberalism or balancing the ledger by asserting false equivalences. Basically they need to run their lives over again and not fall in with the cons to begin with, but instead become the moderate-liberal, badly underpaid and totally obscure college professors they were meant to be -- like I did.Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-48739297995982830542010-12-28T10:07:20.849-06:002010-12-28T10:07:20.849-06:00Good comments all. I will disagree about Douthat:...Good comments all. I will disagree about Douthat: I think he's a smart guy, and was/is an excellent blogger, but either he's not very good at the column format, or there's something wrong with the format. I think it might be the latter; the job of "conservative op-ed columnist for the NYT" really doesn't work well in an era in which conservatives are embracing the crazy all the time. If he spends his time attacking that stuff, then he's not really the conservative columnist; if he either embraces it or, as he did in this one, goes for "all sides are at fault," then he's going to sound stupid much of the time.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-17599652930617773432010-12-28T10:02:54.161-06:002010-12-28T10:02:54.161-06:00I think the most annoying thing is that Douthat...I think the most annoying thing is that Douthat's point with all of this seems to be, "See, OF COURSE Obama couldn't get much done, you were all just fooled by a good campaign." But the problem is, Obama HAS gotten a lot done. God knows we don't need to go over the list again, and god knows he had a lot of help, but the proof is in the pudding, right? Plenty of the things Obama's supporters wanted got done, and plenty more really could've been if not for a few mistakes.Colbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14262426400735202537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-24816203200649846672010-12-28T08:49:25.139-06:002010-12-28T08:49:25.139-06:00Douthat is a paradigm of our corrupted media. He ...Douthat is a paradigm of our corrupted media. He is a partisan intellectual mediocrity given a national platform due to a craven editorial board's feckless quest for "balance."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-4728605026831196422010-12-27T18:33:04.571-06:002010-12-27T18:33:04.571-06:00Jonathan, I, too found that graf offensive. But I ...Jonathan, I, too found that graf offensive. But I walked away with another take on Douthat's column:<br /><br />Republicans obstructed just about everything until the top earners got their tax cut extended, and then rolled their sleeves up and got to work. And Ross calls this a 'return to normal.'<br /><br />That's his view of normal; redistributing income upward.zicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-55338917368127934232010-12-27T18:09:10.053-06:002010-12-27T18:09:10.053-06:00It would be nice if Douthat could be a little more...It would be nice if Douthat could be a little more specific about the "over-the-top promises" Obama made. It is my recollection that the candidate tried very hard to be inspiring, and tried equally hard not to be specific.Tom Nawrockihttp://www.debris-slide.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-49131510080901865342010-12-27T16:13:10.767-06:002010-12-27T16:13:10.767-06:00There has never been a person on the face of the E...There has never been a person on the face of the Earth that hates hyperbole more than me.<br /><br />Did Douthat miss every previous Presidential election, including the 2004 race? I remember a Stars-and-Stripes Kerry campaign that idolized his military service. He was the perfect liberal candidate that would defeat the evil Bush administration. He was the anti-Bush in every way--debate team champ, military hero, smart as a whip. I remember the talking points well.<br /><br />Heck, remember that disturbing scene from Jesus Camp where school children literally worshiped a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush? I'd call that a real "unsettling personality cult" that "only gets creepier in hindsight."Kalhttp://twitter.com/Kalbelgarionnoreply@blogger.com