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RESTART.
There was a time a few years or maybe just months ago when American politics seemed suffocating. Were we doomed to an endless stream of Bushes, Clintons, Doles, and McCains -- retreads, spouses and sons of the past? (I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling back in 2006 that the main reason to resist Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations was that the idea of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton sounded, well, just not quite what the American Revolution was meant to deliver.)
And so one of the gratifying effects of tonight's results is that all of that is over. There are no more Doles. No more Bushes. (Unless Jeb rears his head, or one of the grandchildren, but I think they will have to campaign despite their name rather than because of it.) No more McCains. No more Sununus. And the ranks of mean-spirited cookie-cutter right-wing hacks who have seemed to embody the culture of modern Washington since the Clinton impeachment -- the Tom Feeneys, the Marilyn Musgraves, the Robin Hayeses -- are decimated, even if Michelle Bachmann and Norm Coleman survived.
The Republican Party now starts almost from scratch -- it's most prominent figures having either endorsed Obama (Colin Powell) or been disgraced or decisively rejected. Other than the complicated figure of Arnold Schwarzenegger, is there a well-known Republican who can speak for the party, or the conservative opposition? Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal -- you're all they've got tonight. (Perhaps the reelection of Mitch Daniels, a Republican who raised taxes, as governor of Indiana makes him a potential national figure.)
And on the Democratic side, besides Obama, we have a new generation of members of Congress and new Senators like Kay Hagan joining the stars of 2006 like Sheldon Whitehouse and Amy Klobuchar.
Last night I was at the BBC for a long while, for a short radio interview, and I saw John Bolton, who was on for a long TV segment in which he puffed about the coming backlash against Obama's socialist economics, the pointlessness of diplomacy, and voter fraud; and Mark Penn, who talked about the need for Obama to govern like the later Clinton, from the center-right. Each man is sort of despicable (although in very different ways and it's not fair to compare evil with shmuckiness) -- and once upon a time we all expended a lot of ink and energy on their failings. (Well, on Penn, I did!) And now, each is a relic, a figure from another era in American politics: the era of vicious conservatism and those who tried to tiptoe around it. We're done with that, and with them.
--Mark Schmitt.
COMMENTS (19)
Two Posts down on the blog says MN-Senate is still up for grabs, but you say Coleman won? Please explain.
Posted by: Dave | November 5, 2008 12:53 PM
I think Sarah Palin will be on the lookout for any head rearing by anyone, whether it's Vladimir or Jeb.
Posted by: John | November 5, 2008 1:04 PM
Not that I wouldn't have voted for Hillary, but I felt the exact same way... the notion of Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton was abhorrent.
Posted by: loopster | November 5, 2008 1:07 PM
At least there's the Udalls showing family will still getcha something.
Posted by: American Citizen | November 5, 2008 1:19 PM
"And now, each is a relic, a figure from another era in American politics: the era of vicious conservatism and those who tried to tiptoe around it. We're done with that..."
Not if the MSM has anyhting to say about it. They are already claiming that Obama's landslide means the country wants more bipartisanship, and more governing from the center-right.
Posted by: brewmn | November 5, 2008 1:33 PM
As a Hoosier, I gotta say, Mitch Daniels is unlikely to make a major impression on a national audience. Among other things, he has all the charisma of a turnip.
Posted by: Donald A. Coffin | November 5, 2008 1:40 PM
Coleman is ahead by a few hundred votes in MN senate election, so there will be an automatic recount.
Even if Coleman wins, there were some serious corruption charges which came out last week. He may follow in Sen. Stevens footsteps soon if these charges prove accurate.
Posted by: Mark | November 5, 2008 2:05 PM
The meme of Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton being a problem only started after Hillary got a strong pre-campaign running, only when she became the nominee-apparent (before any delegates were earned).
Coincidentally, that was the same time the Beltway Inbreds started to lavish praise on the distant second-place Democrat. Y'know, when Obama was the guy who had no chance.
Posted by: ThresherK | November 5, 2008 2:17 PM
Bolton is a vile, disgusting creature who spews venom because he has no good ideas.
How Bachmann and Stevens got re-elected is beyond me.
Posted by: AndrewW | November 5, 2008 2:30 PM
Not only are there two more Udalls (and quite possibly soon another Sen. Biden), but it's worth pointing out that if Gordon Smith wins in Oregon, he's Tom Udall's uncle on his mother's side. The dynasty thing may not quite be dead.
Posted by: J Bean | November 5, 2008 2:48 PM
I don't think we're 'done' with all that, at all.
Obama's margin, while impressive, wasn't that great: 6 points, plus/minus, depending. "Vicious conservatism" isn't dead. In a bit of a retreat, yes. But it's ambulatory, and falling back on prepared positions. There's way too much chaos loosed on the land to believe that, even with the highest hopes and best intentions, Obama stands any better than a 1-in-10 chance of living up to the hope-hype he, himself, has created.
I hope he can. But I just doubt it. And if he can't satisfy MORE than a bare minimum of the promises he made, the 'vicious conservards like Bolton and that grossly obese addict Bill Bennett, to say nothing of the union-busting of Mark Penn, will undoubtedly be there in the wings, wiating to drag us into totalitarian unanimity with CorpoRatism...
Posted by: woody | November 5, 2008 3:23 PM
Day One on my odyssey to keep Obama from turning into a dud:
Job #1 for Obama:
Hire Dean Baker (James Galbraith too) as your economy person! One of the few economists who saw the Crisis coming! Remember, Mr. Pres. --Wall Street is not the people's (aka Main Street) friend!
Say no to the Clinton Wall Streeters who were at least half responsible for the Crisis. Say no to Rubin, Summers... Also say no to the University of Chicago Milton Friedmanites...
Might as well say no to the neo-cons as well--Dennis Ross, et. al
Dr Wu, the last of the big-time thinkers
Posted by: Dr Wu, I'm just an ordinary guy | November 5, 2008 5:51 PM
There are plenty of vicious neo-cons and venomous cohorts of Bolton/Penn who will work to smother the Obama agenda in its infancy.
As I'm sure everyone knows in their hearts, the gauge for Obama's performance will be much more stern as the 'First Black-American' president than it would have been for any other.
And the MSM (read Republican Noise Machine) are still waiting to magnify every slight mis-step and pounce.
Posted by: C. Davie | November 5, 2008 7:18 PM
"Not if the MSM has anyhting to say about it. They are already claiming that Obama's landslide means the country wants more bipartisanship, and more governing from the center-right.
Posted by: brewmn | November 5, 2008 1:33 PM"
They don't know anything and their influence is waning, except for Rachel Maddow. Who cares what they think?
Posted by: Reality Man | November 5, 2008 7:57 PM
I think the dynasty thing is one of the stupidest arguments of this campaign. So what you're saying is, if there had been one more liberal justice on the Supreme Court in 2000, you'd have no problem with Hillary running?
Posted by: ChrisO | November 5, 2008 9:09 PM
Watching Simon Schama next to Bolton on the BBC broadcast was a treat, especially when he made it clear that Bolton was way less smart than he thinks himself.
(Gore Vidal's piece was fun, for other reasons.)
Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | November 5, 2008 10:25 PM
To focus on what the neocons are doing and saying is looking backward.
Posted by: rbe1 | November 6, 2008 2:16 AM
Bolton fumed about a somewhat adversarial interview with a Colorado McCain campaign worker, conducted by a Beeb reporter. Bolton took the Beeb's Election Night moderator to task for the apparent bias shown by the reporter, unaware of how Britain's press work, and ignorant that the Beeb reporter had the facts right and was defending himself from the interviewee's charges that the reporter "had his history all wrong."
Not having at least a nodding familiarity with the ways of the British press is just ONE of the reasons why Bolton at the US was a travesty.
His being a complete jerk is another ...
Beeb coverage was superb--heavy on analysis, light on anchors' opinion and on canned statements from Obama and McCain staffers. At any given time, viewers could see Chris Hitchens, Simon Schama, Jane Hamsher, Erica Jong (!), Bolton, Penn, or any of a myriad other informed viewpoints.
Posted by: Jamey | November 6, 2008 8:26 AM
My sense is that a lot of the fulminating that we're seeing and that Mark describes is verbally adept variants of the water and witch scene from Wizard of Oz -- "I'm melting! I'm melting!!!"
Posted by: bdbd | November 6, 2008 12:35 PM