Or is a good laugh its own self-justification? And is this symptomatic of something deeper?
Isn't possible that--much like the grieving process--what we're seeing here is the acting out of deep psychological need? On both sides, actually. The more they lose power, the more desperate is the conservative need to re-assert that lost power in the form of ever more wild-eyed claims. And the more they insist on reminding us of the deeply insane mindset that has controlled our politics, the more we need to ritually purge ourselves of the hold they have had on us. Maybe it's simply a fact of human nature that most folks need to go through this process for a good long time before they can really refocus on the everyday joys of rational governance again.
Isn't possible that wonks are just wired differently, with a much greater capacity to quickly move on from decades of trauma over tragically inept conservative governance? In which case, we ought to be thinking more about ways to connect the two projects--that of advancing new progressive policies and that of exorcising the demons of conservative dominance.
I believe this is very much a part of Obama's political success so far. He has branded himself as the anti-Bush. Even the fact that he doesn't do this overtly, that he went out of his way to be nice to Bush, is part of that branding. Of course the refusal to "go after" Bush Administration officials for running the country like the Corleones would have is just more of the same.
This is, of course, only one possible anti-Bush. There are more certainly other, more progressive versions. Ones who, say, re-institute the rule of law. Ones who don't extend his horrendous "state secrets" claims. Ones who clean house, rather than reappointing Bushies and the Dems who love them to run all the most crucial parts of the government. Ones who actually get that global warming really could wreck human civilization as we know it, and that now's one of those odd times when being prudent means being "extreme."
And maybe integrating a healthy dose of continued conservative bashing into the mix is just a natural way to make a different anti-Bush posture more well-rounded and psychologically appealing.
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