As we close in on Election Day, everyone’s naturally fixated on the Obama-Romney race. But if I were the Democrats, I’d be radiating the calm confidence of (in Mark Twain’s famous phrase) “a Christian holding four aces.” Because as much as Obama hates Romney and loves the golfing and partying aspect of being president, the truth is that many Democrats won’t be sorry to see him go. Obama’s ineptitude and his manifest hostility toward the country he nominally leads are embarrassing to many donks, and the increasing likelihood that he will turn out to be a one-term wonder like the first (and so far, only) black mayor of New York, David Dinkins, is causing them to start looking beyond 2012.
The way we were, 1990: 2,245 homicides
You remember Dinkins — he defeated Rudy Giuliani in their first head-to-head match-up in 1989, then lost in 1993 after the Crown Heights riot and other disasters finally brought the citizens to their senses and, holding their noses, they called the cops and elected a law-and-order Republican in place of a liberal Democrat.
I recall asking my editor at Time whom she was voting for in the mayoral election of 1989 and she said Dinkins because, in her words, “it’s time for a black mayor.” A lot of Americans probably felt the same way about Obama in 2008, but it seems clear from the polls that considerably fewer do today; the point was made in Obama’s handy victory over the listless John McCain and there’s no need to repeat it this time. Obama must win or lose on the merits of his stewardship, not his race.
In any case, that was then and this is now. Dinkins had the appalling record murder rate for Giuliani to hang around his neck; Obama has the appalling economy. The only question is whether the Romney campaign is smart enough to realize that it’s going to be on defense for the next not-quite 100 days unless it gets its act together and starts using the Left’s own tactics against it, this time for keeps. Obama’s unfitness for office must be the sole issue of this campaign, and Mitt can start making the case by ceasing to pretend that the president is “a nice guy who’s just in over his head.”
But even should Romney win, the Democrats can still afford to smile, knowing that Obama’s “advances” — such as Obamacare — are going to be very hard or impossible to roll back. They know from history that American counter-revolutions never really restore the status quo ante, and that “progressive” ideas are nearly impossible to root out, especially with the media blocking for them. And they know their unfireable, beetling minions in the judiciary and the regulatory agencies aren’t going anywhere soon, no matter who wins.
Which is why the real fight lies elsewhere. For conservatives are engaged in a two-front war, one against the Democrats and the other against the sad, wan, spineless things known as mainstream Republicans. Alas, some of these creatures hold actual positions of authority in both the party and the government, in effect acting as facilitators for the other side. Such as this guy:
A spine is a terrible thing to waste
By now it’s clear that the “Republican leadership” in Congress — which keeps reminding us that they’re only one half of one third of the zzzzzzzzzz…. sorry — it’s clear that Boehner & Co. are going to offer no meaningful opposition to Obama’s increasingly lawless rule by executive fiat when Congress fails to move quickly enough for the Emperor Hussein’s taste or, mirabile dictu, actually frustrates one of his objectives. Win or lose in November, the GOP “leadership” needs a thorough house-cleaning. In the Senate, that means the McCain/Graham “moderates” need to be stripped of power and influence before finally losing their seats, while in the House, an assault on the seniority system by the Young Turks is long overdue, to speed Weepy John’s return to back-bencher status and install a speaker who understands the true nature of the opposition.
Because, as much as the GOP establishment doesn’t want to admit it, the rules have changed. Obama is Alinsky’s true disciple, a hand-me-down animus boiling inside him; behind the Bobby Bonilla smile, he is animated by rage, and if re-elected will turn its full force on the productive class in order to achieve the implicit goal of every Democratic president and party platform since FDR: to turn Americans into wards of the state, gratefully voting to sustain their misery in perpetuity.
The 2012 election will bring the Dems as close to this nomenklatura nirvana as they have ever been, and the only thing standing between them and the Permanent Underclass Ruling Majority is Willard Mitt Romney. If ever there was a man unsuited to the moment it seems to be Mitt. But maybe he’ll yet surprise us. And even then, our real work will only just have begun.
As Bismarck observed, “God protects fools, drunks and the United States of America.” Let’s hope His patience is not yet exhausted.
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