President Obama’s unexpectedly big win over hapless Mitt Romney continues to be a win/win/win/win. I have no idea of what’s going to happen regarding the “fiscal cliff,” and I really don’t care. I’m one of those who think that the Fiscal Cliff is 99 percent political catchphrase and 1 percent economic reality. We’ll probably go over it for a couple of days, with basically zero political or economic impact.
I was impressed by the weakness of Speaker Boehner, whose Plan B (I think that’s what it was) couldn’t even function as a political gimmick. I can’t believe that the Republicans will replace Boehner, but the fact that they’re even talking about it is bad enough. Politically, Boehner is as weak as Obama was after the 2010 election, and the Speaker of the House lacks the institutional power of the presidency. Ever since 1994, tax cuts have been the political glue that has held the Republicans together. “Cut taxes, shrink government” has been their mantra, even though it’s clear that cutting taxes expands government, because the less you have to pay for something, the more of it you want. How the Republicans get off this horse I don’t know, because riding still beats walking. If they want a new horse, either the Democrats or “fate” will have to give it to them.
In foreign affairs, President Obama is getting one hundred times the heat for the four Americans murdered in Libya than for the hundreds of Muslim “militants” and bystanders he’s murdered across the globe. The good news, for him and us, is that supposed necessity of attacking Iran has fallen by the wayside, at least for the next six months. With Romney crushed, and Petraeus out, the alleged “War in Afghanistan,” one of the very stupidest the U.S. has ever waged, can, one hopes, safely dwindle, leaving naught behind but one of those monster U.S. bases that unfortunately dot the globe, allowing the U.S. to inflict death by drone on anything that moves. Such glory!
Will we ever get our civil liberties back? Will we ever stop murdering the innocent? These tasks, it is clear, the President is leaving for other hands. Two or three administrations down the road, we may begin to get back to where we were before the Towers fell. In the meantime, let’s talk about electric cars and high-speed rail!
