'Tis New To Thee

In the final scene of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Miranda - upon meeting a number of gallant Milanese and Neapolitans - exclaims, "O, brave new world, that has such people in it!"

Her father, far older and more worldly-wise, replies, "'Tis new to thee."

Well, Miranda, you've done it again.

The American people - suffering from a chronic short-term memory deficit - have once again elected an inexperienced but appealing young Democrat to "change the way Washington does business".

As they did, with such indifferent results, in 1990, 1976, and 1960. It's a fairly reliable pattern, pointed out to me by my friend Adam Sharp. Every sixteen years since the era of black-and-white TV, the Democrats have offered up an appealing outsider and the citizenry - having had their fill of Republican government for the nonce - fall for him.

They vote for change, and they get a Democrat.

Two weeks into the Obama transition, it looks like we've got another, typical Democratic administration.

The mainstream media, having done their dead-level best to elect Senator Obama, are still congratulating us for our wisdom in following their lead.

But already, if you care to look, you can see the signs.

Rahm Emanuel, of the Clinton West Wing, for Chief of Staff. Eric Holder, Janet Reno's deputy, at Justice. Tom Daschle at HHS.

And abundant talk of Hillary at Foggy Bottom, if Bill will agree to curb his activities.

The media would have us believe that Obama is following the example of Abraham Lincoln, as portrayed in Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals - and so he may be.

But Lincoln was, for all his ambition, a profoundly humble man - a quality which not even the most fervid Obamaniacs attribute to their leader.

Moreover, Lincoln, the leader of a very new party confronted with a unique emergency, needed the advice and support of his erstwhile rivals to solve the secession crisis.

What Obama is doing feels different. It feels like a power-play - an effort to assert his control over the entire Democratic Party by co-opting the Clintonites, bringing aboard men who have held powerful leadership positions in the House and Senate, and adopting a mainstream Democratic agenda.

So far, this is only a feeling with me. I didn't vote for Senator Obama, but I believe any patriotic American would have to wish him well, given the present state of the nation.

Still, I have the strongest suspicion that - having bought a pig in a poke - we're about to learn that we have actually elected a very ruthless politician, with a Chicago ward-healer's approach to party discipline.

The two chief clues are these:

Rahm Emanuel is what Leo McGarry would describe as a "war-time consigliere". He's not the guy you bring aboard if you're going to take the collegial, team of rivals approach. He's the guy you bring in to enforce gleichschaltung on a notoriously unruly party.

And the proposed bail-out of Detroit's Big Three isn't the first policy initiative of a change agent - much less a defender of the environment or free trade. It's a big-spending, union-friendly, and enormously protectionist measure to satisfy powerful interests within the Democratic coalition - free trade and global warming be damned.

This blog has been on a lengthy hiatus while I watched in fascinated horror as the American people - including most of my friends - fell in love with Senator Obama.

I hope I'm reading the signs wrongly, but I have promised my friends that I reserve the right to say "I told you so!" - loudly and often - if their wunderkind turns out to be another Clinton, or Carter, or JFK.

I just hope that's the worst he turns out to be...