Where is Scranton Joe?

 

There’s been lots of talk lately about the virtual disappearance of Joe Biden. I’m not complaining – the less Biden is involved in policy decisions – or anything else, for that matter – the better.

But one question the press has not been asking is, Is Joe Biden qualified to be vice president? They continue to ask that question about Sarah Palin, even though she is safely away from power back in Alaska.

Does anyone believe that McCain would have hidden Palin the way Obama is hiding Biden?

Help is on the way.

The Washington Post today praises President-Elect Obama’s selection of Larry Summers to be head of the National Economic Council based on Summers’ criticisms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Summers accurately noted that the gains of these “government-sponsored enterprises” were privatized while their losses were socialized. The Post goes on to say, “Mr. Summers is clearly right that the hybrid public-private model no longer makes sense – a point that his future boss, President-elect Barack Obama has also embraced.”

Ummm, “no longer” makes sense? When did that model make sense – right up to the second before it inevitably put the taxpayers on the hook for $5,000,000,000,000?

I’m happy that the “public-private model” of Fannie and Freddie is coming under attack. I hope that all such public-private models get the same scrutiny – before we find out that they, too, “no longer” make sense.

The Great Communicator.

I’ve been reading lots of comparisons between Obama and Reagan lately. One of the obvious comparisons is their ability to communicate. But President Reagan was called the Great Communicator often in a pejorative sense – in that, he was only a communicator. People forgot, or more likely ignored, Reagan’s many accomplishments – former head of the Screen Actors Guild, governor of California, etc. In fact, it is Mr. Obama who accomplished little more than communicating before being elected president.

Anyone surprised?

James Pethokoukis thinks Obama may be increasing taxes even higher than he promised.

h/t – Glenn Reynolds

Only ourselves to blame.

P.J. O’Rourke on how the Right blew it:

The South Side of Chicago is what everyplace in America will be once the Democratic administration and filibuster-resistant Democratic Congress have tackled global warming, sustainability, green alternatives to coal and oil, subprime mortgage foreclosures, consumer protection, business oversight, financial regulation, health care reform, taxes on the “rich,” and urban sprawl. The Democrats will have plenty of time to do all this because conservatism, if it is ever reborn, will not come again in the lifetime of anyone old enough to be rounded up by ACORN and shipped to the polling booths.

None of this is the fault of the left. After the events of the 20th century – national socialism, international socialism, inter-species socialism from Earth First – anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions. No, we on the right did it. The financial crisis that is hoisting us on our own petard is only the latest (if the last) of the petard hoistings that have issued from the hindquarters of our movement. We’ve had nearly three decades to educate the electorate about freedom, responsibility, and the evils of collectivism, and we responded by creating a big-city-public-school-system of a learning environment.

h/tp – Iain Murray

Well, this is cheery.

 

Victor Davis Hanson on what Obama might do.

Change we can believe in.

With the election of Barack Obama, we’re finally going to see the end of the influence of money in politics. Oh wait, never mind.

h/t – Glenn Reynolds

In defense of Gov. Palin – cont.

From Mark Steyn and Rich Lowry.

Good man.

 

The Washington Post writes about President Bush’s efforts to ensure a sure transition, especially with respect to the Islamic-terror threat and the financial crisis. Doesn’t quite sound like the actions of someone who, as the Angry Left has charged, overhyped the terrorists’ threat.

It’s the Culture, Stupid.

The New York Times has an interesting article, which notes a growing consensus that The Cosby Show had a large cultural impact:

“The Cosby Show,” which began on NBC in 1984 and depicted the Huxtables, an upwardly mobile black family — a departure from the dysfunction and bickering that had characterized some previous shows about black families — had succeeded in changing racial attitudes enough to make an Obama candidacy possible.

I find this entirely persuasive. We’ve enacted many laws since the passage of the Civil Rights Act with the hope of an increase in black elected officials. But these laws could not do all, even most, of the work. The culture needed to change. While the changes may have been too slow for some, they would have been far more contentious had they been imposed rather than accepted.