The Weekly Standard, Volume 16, Number 17, January 17, 2011

2.9 MB·English

by  The Weekly Standard

JANUARY 17, 2011 (cid:129) $4.95
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Our Night Sky
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(cid:81)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:91)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:3)Our Night Sky,
Taught by Professor Edward M. Murphy, University of Virginia
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(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:78)(cid:92)(cid:178)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:70)(cid:76)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:70)(cid:72)(cid:15)(cid:3) Lecture Titles
(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:81)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:74)(cid:92)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:83)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:83)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:93)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:58)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:71)(cid:16) 1. The Constellations and 6. Meteor Showers, Comets,
(cid:90)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:82)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:40)(cid:71)(cid:90)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:83)(cid:75)(cid:92)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:182)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:3) Their Stars Eclipses, and More
(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:90)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:73)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:71)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3) 2. Seeing and Navigating 7. The Northern Sky and
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(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:77)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:30)(cid:3)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:90)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:84)(cid:88)(cid:76)(cid:83)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:30)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:17)(cid:3) 3. Using Binoculars and 8. The Fall Sky
PLUS: (cid:60)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:182)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:3)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:72)(cid:76)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:68)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:49)(cid:76)(cid:74)(cid:75)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:54)(cid:78)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:83)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3) Backyard Telescopes 9. The Winter Sky
(cid:54)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:48)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:83)(cid:75)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:70)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:178)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:88)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3) 4. Observing the Moon and 10. The Spring Sky
(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:4)(cid:3)(cid:55)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:92)(cid:16)(cid:87)(cid:82)(cid:16)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:89)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:73)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:3) the Sun 11. The Summer Sky
(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:70)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:49)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:43)(cid:72)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:83)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:17) 5. Observing the Planets 12. The Southern Sky and the
with a Telescope Milky Way
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(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:68)(cid:71)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:3)(cid:70)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:16)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:79)(cid:3) The Night Sky Planisphere
(cid:70)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:89)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:69)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:81)(cid:82)(cid:90)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:90)(cid:72)(cid:69)(cid:86)(cid:76)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:17)
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Contents
January 17, 2011 (cid:129) Volume 16, Number 17
2 The Scrapbook 2010 according to Katie Couric, calling all atheists of color, & more
5 Casual Joseph Epstein, doer
6 Editorials
Debt Be Not Proud BY YUVAL LEVIN & WILLIAM KRISTOL
We the People BY TERRY EASTLAND

A Farewell to Arms BY MAX BOOT
Articles
10 A Majority—If You Can Keep It
BY JAY COST
Lessons for John Boehner from Congresses past
14 The Martyrdom of Bradley Manning
BY JONATHAN V. LAST
10
The left has a new hero
18 Capital Markets
BY CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL
Walmart, D.C. community organizer
20 A T-Paw Party?
BY JOHN MCCORMACK
Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has a better chance than you think
Features
22 Knowledge Is Power
BY FRED BARNES
Paul Ryan and Bob Corker are unusual members of Congress. They know a lot.
26 Our Broken China Policy
BY IRWIN M. STELZER
Beijing plays chess; America plays tiddlywinks.
Books & Arts
22
30 Dutch Master
BY JOE QUEENAN
In search of Meindert Hobbema
32 Fatal Intersection
BY REUEL MARC GERECHT
The marriage of Islamic fundamentalism and European anti-Semitism
35 The Beats Go On
BY ALEC SOLOMITA
And on and on until the reader wants to howl
36 One Man’s Mirth
BY LIAM JULIAN
Will you or will you not LOL?
37 The Right Thing
BY JAMES BOWMAN
A philosopher misunderstands humanity’s code
39 True Hit
BY JOHN PODHORETZ
A classic gets the Coen Brothers treatment
30 40 Parody The new speaker can’t speak
COVER BY MICHAEL RAMIREZ
THE SCRAPBOOK
2010 According to Katie Couric
The New Year is as good a time painful symbolism of a mosque de- Well, when it comes to Islamists
as any to evaluate the Old, and liberately constructed beside the site who consecrate their lives to killing
THE SCRAPBOOK has been interested where 3,000 people were murdered as many innocent Americans as pos-
to read the varying interpretations of by Islamist fanatics. The problem for sible, people are afraid of things they
2010. Among the chattering classes, Katie Couric is not the notion of a understand all too well. But what can
for example, there seems to be con- bumptious development proposal but THE SCRAPBOOK say to someone who
sensus that the past year was a hor- the “seething hatred” she ascribes to thinks America’s problems are allevi-
ror — and from their point principled dissent. ated by sitcoms? Only that a lifetime
of view, with some reason. Of course, there’s spent in TV studios seems to affect
Not only did the guard no accounting for the brain.
change in Washington, network anchors; The Cosby Show (1984-92) was a
with unprecedented Re- and THE SCRAP- pleasant depiction of an affl uent ob-
publican gains in Con- BOOK can hardly stetrician, his lawyer-wife, and their
gress, but Barack Obama begin to explain to adorable kids in a comfortable Brook-
was unmasked as a mere Katie Couric that lyn brownstone. It is deeply insulting
politician, and a hamfi sted people in the news to suggest, as Katie Couric does, that
one at that. business, above all, “attitudes about African Americans in
THE SCRAPBOOK’s most should avoid simple this country” were affected in any way
revealing look back, how- epithets when ex- by the Cosby sitcom, especially as late
ever, came from the per- plaining complex as the mid-1980s. It takes a genuinely
spective of Katie Couric, circumstances. But provincial mind to believe that social
the CBS news reader. In then again, this is attitudes in a country the size and
2010 she was horrified, Katie Couric we’re complexity of the United States are in-
she declared, by objec- talking about — and fl uenced, in any demonstrable way, by
tions to the Ground Zero the best part of her mildly amusing TV shows intended to
mosque in Lower Manhattan, which year-end review is her solution to sell soap.
revealed a “seething hatred” of Mus- the problem of “seething hatred” for Unless, of course, you think that
lims in America. Islam: “Maybe we need a Muslim I Love Lucy taught tolerance for
To be sure, she didn’t mention any- version of The Cosby Show,” she says. Cuban-American bandleaders, or that
thing specifi c, nor explain that criti- “The Cosby Show did so much to bigotry ended with All in the Family.
cism of the Ground Zero mosque was change attitudes about African Amer- Surely that would explain how Gomer
seldom directed at Muslims or Islam icans in this country, and I think Pyle, USMC made the Vietnam war
in general — dozens of mosques thrive sometimes people are afraid of what wildly popular, and I Dream of Jeannie
in greater New York — but at the they don’t understand.” put a man on the moon. ♦
Calling All
majority of speakers and attendees ing atheism become more diverse.
Atheists of Color are almost always white men. Lead- But diversity remains elusive.
ing fi gures of the atheist movement — As of late December, American Athe-
Beliefnet .com— a religious website Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Chris- ist magazine hadn’t been able to fi nd
topher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett enough black atheist writers to fi ll
so ecumenical that it serves every
— are all white men. a special Black History Month edi-
community, from the Bahai to pagans
tion for February. In another telling
to faithful nonbelievers — recently Alert the EEOC!
sign, the Council for Secular Human-
ran a sobering piece about the ap- ism tried in vain to present a diverse
palling lack of diversity in the atheist Atheists are working to put a more array of speakers at its four-day Octo-
community. diverse public face on their move- ber conference in Los Angeles. Most
Most atheists, it turns out, are ment. A new group, Black Atheists of the 300 attendees were white men,
of America, drew about 25 attendees as were 23 of the 26 speakers.
white men. Says Beliefnet:
at its fi rst national meeting in Octo- “Considering the changing demo- Y
N
ber. Also last year, the Institute for graphics of our country, we need to ELE
From the smallest local meetings Humanist Studies was born in Wash- consider why our message is not reso- RL K
to the largest conferences, the vast ington, D.C., with a goal of help- nating with Latinos, why it’s not res- EA
22 // TTHHEE WWEEEEKKLLYY SSTTAANNDDAARRDD JANUARY 17, 2011
onating with people of color, and why
it’s not resonating with women in the
way that it could be,” said Debbie
Goddard, director of African-Ameri-
cans for Humanism.
Well, then. The atheist establish-
ment types are saying all the right
things about their diversity goals, but
can we really take them at their word?
After all, if they really cared about it,
wouldn’t they take the sort of radi-
cal measures that the diversity police
routinely force on fi re departments,
government contractors, and the rest?
If atheists can’t increase minority
participation through recruitment,
then it may be time for some selfl ess
white atheists to suspend their non-
belief and start going to church, for
the good of the cause.
Meanwhile, the folks over at the
Stuff White People Like blog need to
update their list. ♦
Read, Learn, Enjoy
Upon returning from its holiday
revels, THE SCRAPBOOK found
not one but two excellent gifts of
the season in the mailbox: sparkling
new issues of two of our favorite
quarterlies, the Claremont Review
of Books (Fall 2010) and National
Affairs (Winter 2011).
The Claremont Review features
many writers familiar to readers of pace, Ralph Lerner’s charming and to an increasingly contentious and
this magazine— Christopher Caldwell penetrating refl ections on Abraham adversarial American press corps. It
and Matthew Continetti, James Lincoln and the Declaration. And by is to his great credit that he served his
Ceaser and Harvey Mansfi eld, Cheryl the time you’re done with that . . . you’ll country’s cause with energy and suc-
Miller and Jeremy Rabkin, to men- be just in time for next quarter’s Clare- cess while retaining the admiration
tion only some. They and their fellow mont Review and National Affairs. ♦ and respect of reporters.
contributors are all at the top of their After Vietnam, he became a se-
form. Curious about Barack Obama Barry Zorthian, nior executive at Time Inc., and up
or Somerset Maugham, the state of until the time of his death was a fa-
1920-2010
democracy or the strength of the miliar, and much admired, fi gure in
West? There’s an amazing amount Not too many civilian officials the Washington public relations and
of high-quality refl ection and lively emerged with distinction from policy making world. His life was also
writing on these and other topics in the Vietnam war, but Barry Zorthian, an interesting sidebar to the American
this issue’s 70 pages. who died in Washington last week at dream: Born in Turkey to Armenian
And when you’re done with that, 90, was an honorable exception. Chief parents who fl ed for their lives in the
pick up National Affairs — a little less spokesman for the United States early 1920s, Barry Zorthian was a Ma-
polemical, a little more policy-orient- government in Saigon (or in formal rine artillery offi cer in the Pacifi c dur-
ed, but equally thoughtful and stimu- terms, head of the Joint U.S. Public ing World War II, and a Yale graduate,
lating — and consider James Capretta Affairs Offi ce) during 1964-68, he had Class of 1941, where he was tapped
on the budget, John Hood on the the diffi cult, and deeply unenviable, for Skull and Bones — not bad for an
states’ fi scal crisis, Jeffrey Miron on task of explaining the American mis- immigrant’s son who had landed in
redistribution, and, for a change of sion to the South Vietnamese — and America with nothing but hope. ♦
JANUARY 17, 2011 TTHHEE WWEEEEKKLLYY SSTTAANNDDAARRDD // 33
The Fake-Tocqueville suckering the speechwriters of great
(and not-so-great) men ever since:
Virus Spreads
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Colin
John J. Pitney Jr. of Claremont Powell, Ross Perot, John Kerry, et al.
McKenna College’s government As Pitney says, “It’s the quotation
www.weeklystandard.com
department sends word that the that will not die.” ♦
celebrated “fake Tocqueville” quote—
“America is great because she is Sentences William Kristol, Editor
Fred Barnes, Executive Editor
good”—continues to proliferate. Pit-
We Didn’t Finish Richard Starr, Deputy Editor
ney fi rst chronicled this plague in our
Claudia Anderson, Managing Editor
pages 15 years ago (“The Tocqueville ‘If everyone in America was very,
Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson,
Fraud,” November 13, 1995). He very pleased with his or her health Victorino Matus, Lee Smith, Senior Editors
notes at his blog, www.bessettepit- insurance and had no complaints and Philip Terzian, Literary Editor
Stephen F. Hayes, Matt Labash,
ney.net, that its most recent victim is had access to quality, affordable health
Jonathan V. Last, Senior Writers
TV host Glenn Beck, who cited it on care in our country, it still would have Matthew Continetti, Opinion Editor
January 4. “De Tocqueville said this,” been necessary for us to pass the health Jay Cost, Staff Writer
said Beck. Nope. Its earliest known care reform care bill . . . ” (outgoing John McCormack, Online Editor
appearance is in the 1940s. Eisen- House speaker Nancy Pelosi at her Daniel Halper, Deputy Online Editor
Kari Barbic, Emily Schultheis,
hower popularized it, and it has been January 4 press conference). ♦ Kelly Jane Torrance, Assistant Editors
Michael Warren, Editorial Assistant
Philip Chalk, Design Director
CRUISE WITH P.J.! Barbara Kyttle, Design Assistant
Carolyn Wimmer, Executive Assistant
Max Boot, Joseph Bottum, Tucker Carlson,
Noemie Emery, Joseph Epstein, David Frum,
David Gelernter, Reuel Marc Gerecht,
Michael Goldfarb, Mary Katharine Ham,
Brit Hume, Frederick W. Kagan, Robert Kagan,
Best-selling author (and contributing
Charles Krauthammer, Tod Lindberg,
Weekly Robert Messenger, P. J. O’Rourke,
editor) P.J. O’Rourke will join the
John Podhoretz, Irwin M. Stelzer,
Standard’s Contributing Editors
European cruise this spring!
Terry Eastland, Publisher
We sail May 12 from Barcelona with stops Nicholas H.B. Swezey, Advertising Director
Catherine Lowe, Marketing Director
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Richard Trocchia, Fulfi llment Manager
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London, and
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4 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 17, 2011
CASUAL
Dr. Do and Mr. Hide the narrator’s father and an old family
friend. “Fundamentally speaking,” the
friend posits, “man is what he hides
. . . A wretched little pile of secrets.”
“ ‘Man is what he achieves,’ my
R
obert Benchley said that when the Russian ambassador died father answered, almost savagely.”
the world is divided just before the convening of the Con- If I were a marriage counselor, I
between those who divide gress of Verona in 1822, is said to have would suggest that a Do and a Hide
the world into two kinds asked, “I wonder why he did that?” not marry, for the difference between
of people and those who don’t. I But I try to be on the qui vive for hid- the two speaks to profound differences
am one of those who do, and would den motives, and if I discover them in about what is important in life. I’m
like to present a fresh such division. people, I weigh them in when I make not even certain that the two differing
Here the little darling is: The world judgments about them. And judgmen- types can become truly close friends,
is divided between people who tal—not a good thing to be, I realize, for the Do is likely to think that the
believe that what is most important in our empathy-approving culture— Hide is missing the great point in
about human beings is what they life, which is that, within limits, we
hide and those who believe that all control our own destinies through
what is most important about our actions, while the Hide is likely
people is what they do. to think that the Do, in his concen-
An old friend and I frequently tration on the surface of life, is him-
have conversations that end up self merely covering up, and in his
nowhere because we are on oppo- achievements compensating for,
site sides of this divide. He is a something he is hiding.
Hide, and I a Do, man. As a Hide More people who have been
man, my friend is—no surprise infected by contemporary col-
here—a Freudian. Freud is of lege education are likely to fall
course the Hide man par excel- into the Hide camp than peo-
lence. For Freud nothing is as ple who have been brought up
it appears, everything is in hid- free of higher education. But
ing: Ids are seething below stairs, among those who have been to
in the attic Oedipus complexes college further distinctions can be
remain unresolved, and though made. Business school and science
a cigar may sometimes be a cigar, graduates are likely to be Do’s; those
it is more likely disguising some- in the humanities and most of the
thing vastly more suggestive. social sciences Hides.
My friend is also a devotee of The Do camp has a moral gran-
the sociologist Ervin Goffmann, deur wanting in the camp of Hides
who holds that life is a theater in I am, a relentless, resolute engine of that comes from taking responsibility
which we are all playing parts, wear- judgment-making. We Do-people for one’s actions. If one believes that
ing masks, changing roles—in short, tend, I suspect, to be more judgmental we are what we hide, responsibility
that we are, under social necessity, than Hide people, if only because we drops away because we are hostage to
hiding our real selves. I have only have a fi rmer basis on which to make inner demons that, behind the scenes,
myself to go on here, but my sense is judgments: namely, actions. are really calling the shots. Do-peo-
that, if you pull away the mask I pres- Everyone from time to time has ple have no such excuse.
ent to the public, you will see under- hidden motives; everyone has secrets, Do, Hide, Do, Hide, Do—I begin
neath it the selfsame mask; remove some of which are part of one’s invio- to sound rather like Frank Sinatra
that second mask, and, lo, there I lable being and oughtn’t to be prod- humming Do Be, Do Be, Do. But the
am again, playing the same role of ded and searched out, even by thera- distinction, all apologies to Robert
a mildly sly, slightly skeptical, out- pists. But the real question is do these Benchley, seems to me crucial, and at
wardly conformist creature. motives and secrets constitute one’s some point in life everyone has to ask,
Being a Do man doesn’t mean that deepest and truest self. I don’t happen Which am I? Hide or Do? And once
I don’t believe people have hidden to think they do. one decides, lots of other things fall
Hmotives, which of course many people In his novel The Walnut Trees of into place.
S
A
NDY Rhmaovtei.v Ie sa mas n Potr isnoc cel eMveert tiner fin sichhin, gw ohuot, ATlhteenrebiunr ga, dAinaldorgéu eM oaclcruarusx beatgwreeeens. JOSEPH EPSTEIN
A
JANUARY 17, 2011 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 5
EDITORIALS
Debt Be Not Proud
As the 112th Congress begins its work this month, few months at most, the government would be unable
it must take up some unavoidable unfinished to repay existing debt and interest and would confront
business left behind by its predecessor. In their default.
frantic, sloppy struggle to advance big-ticket items on the The exact implications of this are hard to predict. But
liberal agenda, the Democratic leaders of the 111th Con- none of them are good. The Treasury probably would
gress not only failed to produce a budget for the current have to prioritize debt repayment and entitlement checks
fi scal year, they also failed to address the fact that the fed- and arbitrarily slash other spending, all while turning
eral borrowing necessary to fund their spending binge away potential lenders, unnerving the bond markets, and
was quickly nearing the legal debt limit. sending interest rates upward—thereby increasing the
That means the new Congress, with a Republican cost of our debt even more.
House and a narrowly Democratic Senate, must pass an None of this is what our ailing economy needs as it
appropriations measure for the rest of the fi scal year by struggles to recover, and none of it is what the voting pub-
early March, when the temporary continuing resolution lic wants to see. It would all inevitably end with Congress
now in effect runs out. And it means the new Congress raising the debt ceiling (as Republican and Democratic
must raise the debt ceiling—to allow for federal borrow- Congresses have done ten times in just the last decade),
ing necessary to cover expenses already incurred by Pres- but on terms far less friendly to Republicans, who will
ident Obama and the last Congress, regardless of what the have used up a great deal of political momentum and cap-
new Congress does about spending. ital for naught.
On their face, these hardly seem like ideal conditions It is easy to understand the frustration of Republicans
in which to begin reining in government. But if Repub- confronted with the task of cleaning up after the Demo-
licans resist the urge to deny the reality of these circum- crats’ orgy of spending. They want to get right into the
stances, and instead seek ways to turn them into opportu- work of restraining government excess and unleashing
nities to advance their agenda, they might fi nd that they growth. A vote for raising the debt limit—however ines-
have quite a strong hand after all. capable the necessity—feels too much like acquiescence
If Republicans are not careful, both the budget and in the binge they were elected to end.
debt-limit debates threaten to devolve into games of But it need not be. Rather than revolt against the
chicken in which each side tries to blame the other for circumstances they have been handed, Republicans in
failing to avert a government shutdown (if not a default Congress should turn these Democratic loose ends into
on America’s debt). In such a confrontation, President opportunities to begin changing the spending culture of
Obama would have the advantage. He and his party have Washington, and to strengthen their position in the big-
nothing to lose from a government shutdown. The pub- ger fi ghts to come this year.
lic knows that the Democrats, as the party of big govern- The 2010 election has given Republicans a stronger
ment, do not desire a shutdown, and so would blame the bargaining position, but it has not made them supreme
impasse on Republicans. Concern over absent govern- in Washington. They have the power to stand athwart any
ment services and benefi ts, undoubtedly magnifi ed by the further lurches toward European-style social democracy,
press, would create pressure that, over time, would divide and they will surely do so. The hyperactive period of the
the Republicans but unite the Democrats. Obama could Obama presidency is over. The question for Republicans
let such an impasse continue indefi nitely, and would gain is whether their situation—controlling the House but
from every passing day, as Bill Clinton did in 1995. not the Senate or the White House—also allows them to
Furthermore, if the debt ceiling, and not just the bud- advance a positive agenda of their own, while persuading
get, is at the heart of the showdown, the costs will be not the public to give them the power to do more in 2012. The
just political but economic. The Treasury could, for a answer is surely yes, if Republicans use their improved
time, move money around the various government trust bargaining position wisely and reinforce rather than
funds to avoid actually hitting the debt limit—though defl ate the public mood that got them here.
such moves, especially if they involve Social Security or That means picking fi ghts they can win rather than
Medicare, would be politically unpopular. But within a forcing confrontations they are sure to lose. It means
6 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 17, 2011