Some Would Rather Gripe than Govern

Amity Shlaes, the author of "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression," has written a piece at Bloomberg discussing the unusual vitriol of the left in the wake of an election that they won.

So Michele Bachmann’s version of history is “from another planet.” Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, is “chronically stupid.” And Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking Republican in the House, is “busy lying constantly.”

That at least is according to posts on three left-leaning blogs.

Writers who are not pro-Barack Obama are suffering character assassination as well. George Will of the Washington Post, the nation’s senior conservative columnist, has been so assaulted by bloggers that his editor, Fred Hiatt, recently wrote, “I would think folks would be eager to engage in the debate, given how sure they are of their case, rather than trying to shut him down.”

The disconcerting thing isn’t that the bloggers or their guests did this slamming. We’re used to such vitriol in campaign time. What is surprising is that the attacks are continuing after an election.

In the past, politicians and policy thinkers tended to be magnanimous in victory. They and their friends focused, post- victory, on policy and strategy -- not on trashing individuals.

She goes on to make the case that it is usually the people out of power who harp and carp, not the winners. But Obama's supporters would rather bully than govern, attack rather than analyze, discuss personalities, not principles.

Amity is a very sweet gal, and her book is tremendous. I fear that she does not recognize progressive tactics for what they are: the personal is political. Identify your target, isolate your target, attack and destroy your target. Find a new target.

But she's right about one thing. The American people are basically good and decent. They will tire of all this eventually, and demand results, not rhetoric.