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6 Reasons Every Conservative Should Be Happy Today
Given my, shall we say … imperfect record at prognostication, I’m going to avoid anything that looks like a prediction. But with that aside:
- Hillary Clinton is not taking the Oath of Office. For nearly a quarter century, this had been (rightly) the stuff of conservative nightmares and it’s not happening. I think everyone here can be glad to have dodged that particular bullet.
- President Barack Obama is leaving office. While the rest of his party suffered defeat after defeat, Obama always managed to emerge — if not unscathed — then at least whole. As of today, the Left’s great (and, currently) only effective champion has left the field.
- President-Elect Donald Trump’s appointments and nominees make for, on the whole, an impressive crowd. Especially after the last eight years, it’ll be incredibly refreshing to have senior federal officials who don’t believe that the center of the universe is on the Potomac River.
- Similarly, someone who didn’t spend his whole life running for president is about to take office. This is, in itself, a very good thing, if only for breaking the usual pattern.
- We have a highly-motivated Congress that is, more or less, the Tea Party Congress that was elected in 2010. The analogy’s far from perfect, but imagine what Newt Gingrich could have accomplished with a friendly president in the White House.
- The Republican Party holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures. Twenty-three states have both Republican governors and Republican majorities in their legislatures; by the same measure, Democrats control only seven state governments. This is an incredible opportunity to do good work (or, at least, stop bad work from continuing) without Washington running interference.
It bears mentioning — it always does — that this too shall pass. But we should savor the moment and make the most of the opportunity.
It would have been worth it for Reason #1 alone: No more President Clintons.
I wonder if any among the Democrat leadership are honestly questioning yet, “What if we hadn’t brushed Jim Webb aside quite so fast???”
Did I miss #7? Or was #6 a two-parter?
Not that I’m not delighted at the 6 you have!
No, introspection is not a Democrat character trait. And besides, he’s a white male.
Second time today I’ve cussed-up something because I didn’t check the headline. You didn’t miss anything.
Good points all, Tom. Well said.
#7
Sanguine: word of the day!
Excellent points Tom. Especially #7!! I hope she takes an active role in her First Lady job. The more she is seen, the better I feel. As to your point #1…
Tom, I told you right after the election that the more real data came in about President Donald Trump the happier we would all be with this choice that America has made. Okay, I was a little more condescending than that. You admitted you were wrong about Trump’s electoral prospects, and now you have admitted you were wrong about Trump’s cabinet picks. You are a man of your word, and I encourage you to continue to embrace real data, as opposed to spin and insinuation. I pledge to do the same. Onward to better times!
Does the White House really need to be fumigated or is that a symbolic gesture?
Yes. The lingering stench of socialism would have strangled a businessman.
They are looking for the Russian “bugs”.
#8. Trump is, in some ways, a centrist. When we had a Republican congress and a centrist, “hold finger up and figure out which way the winds were blowing” President in the nineties, the economy roared along, good legislation got passed, and the government either largely stayed out of our lives or could have been a lot worse. The downside is that the Democrats got all the credit for it, because their guy was in the Oval Office.
This time around, if we have the same phenomenon, conservatives will be able to get the credit.
Thank you for writing this post.
Nice summary; with all the bickering lately, this brightened my day.
Hear, hear Tom, but let me add another. Don’t know which number, #9?
The elitists of all stripes today are eating humble pie. Hear, hear, for President Trump!
That would be nice… and logical. But credit is determined by PR, not facts.
It’s definitely something to hope for!
Related to one of your points, I recently heard Bill Bennett comment on Trump’s cabinet (folks should recall that he served in Reagan’s cabinet). He stated Trump’s cabinet is more solidly conservative than Reagan’s.
Astounding day – even the speech – which will be trashed as too populist, too insular, but it’s why he won. He’s not going to tone it down, even with all the people in the audience – I think the Obamas and Clintons were about to faint. He put everyone on notice – along with the dug in Republicans, that it’s about two thing – the people and results. I wish the Obamas well. They are flying off to their safe space of CA. Mistakes will be made, but I think he means what he says and will do they best he can.
He’s the bull in the china shop we always wanted!
That’s reason 1-5 for me.
and that would be 6-10 for me.
The rest is all all all gravy.
I hope she doesn’t. First Lady isn’t a job, it’s a term of respect. She doesn’t have to do anything.
This might be a stupid question, but what’s wrong with populism? Aren’t we a country by the people and for the people?
I’m a somewhat snobby, entirely overeducated, almost overbred lawyer in Boston. Seriously, the government shouldn’t be watching out for me; it should count on me to figure out my own life. If “populism” is “people like bridget aren’t going to be the centre of policy and everyone’s attention like they were for the last eight years,” I’m okay with that.
Let the liberal tears flow. We’re ready:
As soon as President Trump took the oath of office I told my husband, “You owe me $200.” We had a bet going that Obama would find a way to impose marshall law. He happily conceded, and we sent the money to a ministry we support. I had tears in my eyes as P. Trump repeated the oath. What a rollicking 4 years ahead of us!
Populism in and of itself is amoral. If it means what you put in your post, that the needs of the masses outweigh the needs of the powerful, then that’s fine. The problem is that populism unmoored from ideology leads to silliness like William Jennings Bryan’s infamous, “I’ll look the arguments up later,” moment. I know I’ll get called an elitist for saying this, but what the people want and what the people need aren’t always the same thing.
Populism as an ideology is basically pure democracy, which was never what the USA was intended to be. A good argument can be made that we currently have too little democracy, and I might agree with most of them, but there’s still such a thing as too much of it.
Thank you for posting a little optimism.
You do realize the jovial nature of my comment. Well just in case…I’m KIDDING!
Actually, it may not. The fact that the Dems re-elected Pelosi House minority leader and made Schumer Senate minority leader tells me that the national Democrat leadership is not going on a soul-searching mission, but instead will keep their party focused on things that now do not matter to a majority of people outside of California and New York.
However, you are right in the sense that The Stupid Party can still muck it up. They have to realize most of the country is not politically conservative (or part of the conservative movement), but they live their lives conservatively and will now react at the polls to any party that tries to change that.
Not so sure I agree about #5 (most of those “Tea Party” congressmen have been huge disappointments, I don’t trust them) , but I agree with the rest.