According to conventional wisdom, the first day of a president's second term marks the beginning of his lame duck session and the end of any chance for compromise. The president and his party lose the incumbancy edge, and the other side starts plotting the next election.
But that hasn't happened yet. Instead, we're seeing a weird window of time when everybody is rushing for the medium ground. They are actually compromising. They are actually doing stuff.
Randi Weingarten and Chris Christie AGREED on something. They passed merit pay legislation in New Jersey, which marks a huge concession on the Democrats part.
Republican pundits are making HUGE changes in their position on immigration and the role of government.
Bengazi and the Susan Rice thing isn't going away, but I'm also not seeing a lot of conflict about it. I think the Democrats are throwing her to the dogs right now, because they don't want a fight. (A huge mistake, BTW. This is a fight worth fighting.)
I don't know how long this honeymoon is going to last, but it's highly amusing to watch it unfold.
Apt. 11d 
My first thought on your post was that seeing the current state as a “honeymoon” suggested to me that politics (and maybe political science?) is a bizzarro world.
(How is Weingarten giving in a move to the middle ground; I didn’t watch the video, but off hand, ti just seems like the same old same old of liberals giving in).
LikeLike
“Bengazi and the Susan Rice thing isn’t going away, but I’m also not seeing a lot of conflict about it. I think the Democrats are throwing her to the dogs right now, because they don’t want a fight. (A huge mistake, BTW. This is a fight worth fighting.)”
Benghazi is a very deep rabbit hole. So far, the scenario that puts it in the best possible light for Obama (at least in my opinion) is that the CIA was holding militants there secretly and the administration has been blowing squid ink because of the embarrassing contradiction between that and their stated policy. (If Broadwell is to be believed, that may be the answer.) However, if that isn’t the case, you probably have what the story seems to be on the surface–security in Libya cut down for appearance’s sake despite the fear of the embassy staffers, a predictable Sept. 11 attack, an ambassador murdered, brave men saving their countrymen, but left to die by a White House that had hours to save them and the necessary resources, but was unwilling to take the risk, and then weeks and weeks of obfuscation and scapegoating of that American Copt filmmaker. Oh, and not to mention what looks like a very dubious military adventure in Libya and the creation of a power vacuum that is being filled by Al Qaeda.
There’s material for several books in just that paragraph. It sounds like not a bad Matt Damon vehicle, actually, but I suppose he wouldn’t be interested.
LikeLike
I don’t think Rice has any particular fan club or power base beyond Obama himself, and if he starts to find her costly or inconvenient, over the side she goes.
LikeLike
Benghazi = Fox News-manufactured scandal = Fast & Furious
I’m with Andrew Sullivan: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/benghazi-is-not-a-scandal.html
LikeLike
Benghazi is a very deep rabbit hole.
When someone owns a shovel, of course, they can make the hole as deep as they choose. This is a great example of Republican echo chamber. If you are watching Fox News and listening to AM talk radio, it is reported constantly. Outside of it, no one really cares.
The Republicans are attacking Susan Rice over it, and inside the echo chamber, it is about Benghazi. Outside of the echo chamber, it looks like another attack on a woman for something she wasn’t clearly responsible for.
Not that I am trying to give advice to Republicans or anything, but this seems like a pretty clear case of the Republicans attacking a particular woman for a particular thing, and then becoming surprised when their favorability rating drops among women.
LikeLike
I try to avoid commenting on Benghazi because I know that my understanding of stuff like this is totally dependent on popular culture. I keep thinking “What would Saul say about this?” Or, “It’s like in Argo, when the Iranian people stormed the embassy.”
But I agree with the Economist article Sully quoted: if Benghazi is a cover-up, IT HAS TO BE COVERING UP SOMETHING. The only thing it appears to have been trying to cover up is that the Benghazi location was a CIA outpost. Now that everyone knows, there really is no point in wondering what the cover-up was about. We know. Case closed.
LikeLike
I have to admit that I was shocked, shocked (and, I mean really, rather than in the form of that there’s gambling in the casino) with the Pakistan/contractor who pulled out a gun and shot people and ran for an escape vehicle that killed civilians on the way to rescue him. That incident seemed like a scene out of a movie rather than real CIA activity. I would told you that our CIA was bloodless data gathering, but, I am coming to realize that I was wrong. I remember the double-speak in that incident as well, when people couldn’t say what everyone knew was true (i.e. American “contractor” really meant a spy).
I heard a story on NPR the other day, about a CIA operation in Iran, to rescue American operatives who were trapped there after the revolution. They pose as a pre-production crew for a Hollywood movie. The striking info was that the organizers first step is to arrange Canadian visas for the gang of American operatives. Apparently, the Canadians do that for their allies. So, now, when Canadians affect outrage that spies carrying out operations were carrying Canadian passports, I’m going to be a little bit more suspicious of their outrage.
LikeLike
And, regarding McCain and Benghazi, I think he’s going over the bend and suspect the early stages of dementia.
LikeLike
“I heard a story on NPR the other day, about a CIA operation in Iran, to rescue American operatives who were trapped there after the revolution. They pose as a pre-production crew for a Hollywood movie. The striking info was that the organizers first step is to arrange Canadian visas for the gang of American operatives. Apparently, the Canadians do that for their allies.”
Dude, Argo. Likely to be nominated for an Oscar. Go see it. This was probably the most suspenseful movie I have ever seen where I knew the ending. I was a wreck afterwards from the adrenaline. Also, they got Canadian visas because they were hiding in the Canadian Embassy.
LikeLike