NEWSWEEK: Obama as Gorbachev. “Granted, the comparison is more than a little overripe, even alarmist–the United States is still the world’s most powerful country, and it is in no danger of collapsing like the Soviet Union. But there are disturbing parallels. . . . As Obama finds himself bogged down in one nearly impossible issue after another—financial reform, health care, budget deficits, Afghanistan—while meeting with a solid wall of GOP opposition, some around the world wonder whether the America everyone used to look to for leadership is unreformable itself.”
Hey — I predicted “thumbsucker columns on whether America is ‘ungovernable!'” Right on schedule!
And I’ll repeat my earlier question: If Obama is America’s Gorbachev, who will be America’s Putin?
UPDATE: A reader emails:
Aren’t you missing a step? Isn’t the more relevant question at this point: “Who will be America’s Yeltsin?” That is, who will steward the post-“reform” America into such comprehensive ruin that we actively long for a return to the glory of the recent past, no matter how ghastly the baggage that goes with that?
America’s Putin? Who can say? That’s a beast slouching toward Bethlehem waiting to be born. But America’s Yeltsin? I definitely think Joe Biden is up to the task. Mitt Romney, too. Does anyone have Jerry Brown’s email address? Teddy Kennedy would have been perfect for the role, and there’s nothing that says he can’t do it posthumously. There’s no shortage of candidates for the Yeltsin role.
Yeah, the Yeltsin slot’s one for which most of the Senate is suited. Hence my skipping a step . . . .
Okay, actually that’s not quite fair. Yeltsin did actually demonstrate courage a time or two.
UPDATE: Reader Douglas McRae writes that ungovernability isn’t a bug, it’s a feature!
How do I personally go about making this country ungovernable in a thousand small instances of civil misobedience? Some ideas would be file my income tax forms on April 15th on paper by mail, listing my race as NOYB (none of your business), weekly emails to my legislators, etc.
Civil “misobedience”? I like that. Sounds like some sort of work-to-rule campaign . . .