John Sides believes he observes the end of freakonomics--economists eschewing the study of, say, allegedly racist basketball referees, and turning instead to the issue of How the Hell do we Get Out of This Mess Anyway.
It's an insightful suggestion, but I'd go further and postulate the end of freakoverything. On the theory that there are no atheists in foxholes, I'd speculate that the current uproar has had the beneficial effect of scaring some of the silliness out of us. Specifically in politics, you can spend your time worrying about gay marriage and flag pins when there is not a Hell of a lot going wrong. But when the support beams are on fire, go looking for the extinguisher. That would explain of the commentary lately has showed a level of caution and restraint that you wouldn't expecct--well, rather, that you would expect only in troubled times.
Or at least for the moment, while the tsunami is still rolling over us. I do think the newbie Obama is getting a kind of bye at the moment, and deserves it. But if he hasn't magically solved the problem in six months--more specifically, if things have gotten only a little bit better but are not perfect yet, then I suppose we can expect a reverse tsunami that will bid fair to carry him off with it.
Afterthought: Maybe I am just repeating de Tocqueville's dictum that the most dangerous time for a regime is not when things are bad, but when they start to improve.
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