About As Gracious As He Can Get

Bill Kristol waxes semi-snarky in his Monday column in the NYT:

It will be tougher yet if [Republicans] underestimate Obama. His selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff suggests that Obama’s not going to be mindlessly leftist, and that he’s going to shape a legislative strategy that is attentive to Congressional realities while not deferring to a Congressional leadership whose interests may not be his own. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were both tripped up in their first two years by their Democratic Congresses. Obama intends for Emanuel to ensure that that doesn’t happen.

And Obama has the further advantage of inheriting a recession that will give him a very tough first year or two (for which he won’t be blamed), but that should be followed by a recovery well timed for his re-election bid.

So Obama will be formidable. But conservatives should welcome the challenge. It’s good for conservatism that conservatives will have to develop refreshed ideas and regenerated political skills to succeed in the age of Obama.

And it wouldn’t hurt for Governors Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal and the other possible 2012 G.O.P. nominees to begin bringing some puppies home for their kids.

I think this is about as magnanimous as Kristol will allow himself to get. With an eye focused sharply on taking back the White House as soon as possible, Kristol manages to recognize that Obama is capable of making smart choices in how to govern. He understands that Obama "gets" Americans quite capably, since he happens to be one himself.

Still, I'm irked by the "mindlessly leftist" comment above. Until I started to pay close attention to Bush43 after 9/11, I had always thought that presidential administrations were never "mindless." I even recognize that Reagan himself had a nuanced view of the world. In fact, his direct assault on the Soviet Union to bring about the end of the Cold War (finally mopped up by his successor, Bush41) was fantastically executed, even thought it added trillions to the debt load for future generations to retire. Bush43 surrounded himself with sharp tools, to be sure, but never used them to their fullest potential. Straightjacketed by his pathological need to outdo and individuate from his controlling father, W never used those tools to their fullest potential. He eschewed thoughtful deliberation in favor of gut instinct. It is the typical tack a recovering alcoholic in AA would take, looking for "God shots," or signs from above, to guide his decisions. This incurious take on the world was exacerbated by his excessive boorishness -- touching the German chancellor inappropriately, referring to the former Russian president as Vladimir while doing a press conference, or his predictable testiness whenever the press asked difficult questions -- and his public displays of fake confidence ("I'm the Decider"). Today, I recognize mindlessness in presidential politics. It's simply idiotic for Kristol to consider that Obama would not do a complete 180 on the past eight years and devote major grey matter to the affairs of state.

The roller coaster continues.