"The Liberal Hour"

Rick Perlstein has a TAP article that’s worth a look. Its historical argument — that the experiences of FDR and LBJ show that progressive presidential agendas must be accomplished quickly and ruthlessly, before the saboteurs descend — is not exactly news, but it’s a history worth bearing in mind if Obama wins and (in what seems a near-certainty at this point) Democrats make big gains in Congress. Campaigning and governing are obviously different species of politics, but Perlstein is right — if Obama wins, extending the “right hand of fellowship” to Republicans would be catastrophic.

Perlstein also revisits one of the least-remembered episodes of the Carter administration — namely the hatchet job William Safire performed on him in mid-1977. For those of us who stand slack-jawed in amazement that the NY Times would offer work to William Kristol, the hiring of Safire in the mid-1970s was almost as inexcusable.