Musings Over Morning Coffee

Stories That Never Grow Old.

One of the remarkable things about this gap between when Obama won – an across the board rejection of Bush, conservative and Republican politics – and when Obama takes over is the fear it engenders in those with a stake in "more of the same". Guiltier than most is the media, who can't give up the old themes and haven't wrapped their heads around the new. The new is the public has other things on their mind, like the economy, foreclosure, health reform and why the Bush Administration can't just go away.

Here are some golden oldies that you don't want to hear again, but will anyway:

1. Unhealthy obsession with the Clintons.

When you don't know what to write about, write about Hillary. If that doesn't work, write about Bill. And if all else fails, write about how Bill affects Hillary. But enough about the Clintons. What do you think about the Clintons?

I think she'd make a terrific Secretary of State, but I'm getting tired of the ink wasted on whether she will or won't. The public really doesn't care, and wants to get on with it. But fact-checking and learning about the issues (this is your chance to study up, reporters) is hard, and it's so much easier to talk about the Clintons.

2. Republicans are united, Democrats are divided and in disarray.

You know, the Obama campaign was perfect, but the transition team? Making mistakes left and right (David Ignatius says so, so it must be true.) The Bushes, who did everything right, would never have made these mistakes. And whether they leaked names, of course, foreshadowed exactly how well they governed. It's got nothing to do with the talent of the names being bandied about.

3. Rejecting public campaign financing is TEOTWAWKI^*.

So 3.1 million donors to the Obama campaign doesn't represent change, and it doesn't represent what campaign finance reform really was meant to do. What's far more important is that for the first time in memory, Republicans were out-raised by Democrats. This is against the Natural Order of things, and must be reversed. Why the public doesn't seem to care a fig is just inexplicable.

4. Center-right. They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.^**

Every day in the Abbreviated Pundit, you can find some sad-sack right wing hack who is insisting that the huge across the board win wasn't really what it seems.The public wants Republicans to work with the new President, wants the GOP to be more inclusive and less conservative, and doesn't think Sarah Palin is qualified to be in the WH. So, the way to return to power for the GOP, they say, is to ignore the public, and purge the apostates. Good luck with that.

Well, having abbreviated the same pap day after day, I'm looking forward to some substantive discussion of where the country is at and where we are going. I'm not holding my breath, mind you. That will require hard work and focus. And so far, with some notable exceptions, the media pundits have not been up to the task.

^{* The end of the world as we know it
** Inigo Montoya}