Pushing The Envelope

Charles Krauthammer writes that there are “Three Envelopes:”

Old Soviet joke:

Moscow, 1953. Stalin calls in Khrushchev.

“Niki, I’m dying. Don’t have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble.”

A few years later, first crisis. Khrushchev opens envelope 1: “Blame everything on me. Uncle Joe.”

A few years later, a really big crisis. Opens envelope 2: “Blame everything on me. Again. Good luck, Uncle Joe.”

Third crisis. Opens envelope 3: “Prepare three envelopes.”

In the Barack Obama version, there are 50 or so such blame-Bush free passes before the gig is up. By my calculation, Obama has already burned through a good 49. Is there anything he hasn’t blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad — everything but swine flu.

So when does it end? When does the Obama administration man up and own the events of the day? Never, Jim Geraghty writes:

Periodically you’ll hear some some old Washington veteran or others lament, “When is the Obama administration going to realize that the campaign is over and it’s time to start governing? When are they going to realize that the big pep rallies and media blitzes and fundraisers and attacking the opposition are supposed to be put aside, and it’s time to start reaching deals on legislation and making hard choices?”

Let me help them with that question: Never. It’s never going to happen, or at least not until a severe crisis forces them to put all the usual campaign stuff aside. This crew isn’t that interested in governing. To govern is to choose, and this group doesn’t like making hard choices. They don’t want to tell a Pakistani crowd to stop whining and stop using America and India as scapegoats for their government’s bad choices. They don’t want to tell their anti-war base that they have to accept more troops in Afghanistan. They don’t want to admit that their stimulus hasn’t created jobs the way they hoped.

Well into 2012, we will still be hearing about the terrible mess they inherited, and our diplomatic representatives will go around the world, telling foreign audiences that their problems are the fault of the Bush administration.

Or having state-run media surrogates whine that disagreement with The Won is “Holding Democracy Hostage.”