A New Republican Disorder: Bush Fatigue

Michelle Malkin is complaining that Republican office-holders are knucking under to the tide of Obama popularity.

Malkin conceded that it's appropriate to show some deference to the occasion, but she complained that Republican lawmakers aren't standing their ground.

"Especially in the Beltway," she said, "they are more wrapped up in who got invited to what dinner and who didn't. And my criticism of the GOP establishment, as they've rolled on every [Obama Cabinet] nomination, is they are completely out of touch with how fly-over America feels about this spectacle."

Given that Obama's poll numbers are in the 70's, "fly-over America" must be shrinking rapidly if its opposed to the spectacle of Obama's nomination.

Not that Malkin--who lives in a DC suburb--would know.

But Malkin is right about Congressional Republicans. They're not putting up anything like determined resistance to the incoming Obama administration. It doesn't look like Republicans in the House or Senate are going to do much to obstruct Obama's Cabinet apppointments, stimulus package, or withdrawal from Iraq. Of course, they might not have much choice. The Democrats have a 70 seat majority in the House, 57 seats in the Senate, and access to votes from Senate Republicans like John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Joe Lieberman.

After all these years, Republican moderates have finally become players.

Hmm. Maybe I haven't really taken Lieberman back yet.

In the final analysis, it may be that Congressional Republicans aren't "standing their ground" because they've been exhausted by eight years of fighting for the Bush administration.

The Democrats were certainly worn out in 2001. There was a palpable exhaustion to Democrats in the first months after Bush was inaugurated. They didn't put up much of a fight on Bush tax cuts, Bush's absurd claims to executive privilege, or the invasion of Iraq. But the Democrats weren't just "spineless," they had been ground down by the constant fighting over the Clinton presidency and weren't in any condition to fight an aggressive new Republican administration. In fact, memories of the "Clinton Wars" were one of the reasons why Democratic elites weren't very enthusiastic over Hillary's candidacy.

The Republicans might be in the same position now. It's important to remember that the Bush administration were almost as arrogant toward the Congressional Republicans as they were toward the Democrats. Rush Limbaugh is famous for saying that he was tired of carrying water for Congressional Republicans. Congressional Republicans might have gotten tired of carrying the water for the Bush administration.

And who can blame them.

Bush fatigue: Republicans caught it.

Finally!