Sour Alba

The West Wing title screen

“Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.”

Isn’t that a wonderful way to change the world? When I heard that I was greeting almost as much as Jesse Jackson.

Mind you, I was less impressed with the whole “yes, we can” business. You’d have thought Obama could have found better source material than Bob the Builder.

And, of course, like Bill Clinton Tony “Yo, Blair” Blair, Obama will disappoint. Though hopefully he won’t squander the excitement and expectation as much as they did. Setting aside the historic nature of Obama’s victory, it’s great to see a sensible, intelligent, rational person in the White House. It’s like the West Wing coming true.

But it’s like the West Wing in a more irritating way. The mood music is that Obama will be run a “big tent” administration, striving for consensus, building bridges with the Republicans.

Why do progressives feel the need to do this? Blair came out with this stuff as well and missed a once-in-a-lifetime to radically improve Britain. The Right never feels to be nice or gracious in victories. No, they destroy industries, impose poll taxes and start wars over personal grudges. And in the US, they appoint supreme court judges who are able to help out with any chad-related problems.

After Bush, after Palin, the American Right deserves to have its face rubbed in defeat and its hopes trampled mercilessly. Obama should appoint Scoop, Muck and Dizzy to his cabinet before he even thinks of inviting any Republicans.