(I have no idea who would play Drama or Turtle.)

Here ends the vapid analogy.  Can I have a job at the Corner?

There are two really good reasons why I think it was really smart of him to hire Emmanuel.  

1.  Although the political discourse in the country has changed, and even though Obama will be a better kind of president, he still needs someone on his team who understands and will engage in Clinton-style enforcing to get  legislation to the white house.  It is far better to have that kind of person as an instrument rather than as an opponent, and Emmanuel is exactly the kind of enforcer you will want on your team.  Obama's style is not confrontational, but to move house and senate members behind the scenes you need someone who is because these institutions have NOT been changed by the election, no matter what the pundits say.  Their institutional cowardice and idiosyncrasies will remain. Emmanuel's worst tendencies will be moderated by his boss.

2. The second reason why this is a good thing is that it removes him from being the head of the DCCC.  Although he helped gain a number of seats, he also opposed the netroots' efforts in several key districts, and, if he put his mind to it, would have been one of the most formidable opponents of progressive legislation. If the Dems are smart, they'll install someone who understands the influence of the netroots a bit better and can work with them to elect more Democratic house members.

Which brings me back to Joe Lieberman.  Josh thinks Godfather--Emmanuel's more Untouchables, and would probably invite Joe over to the White House mess and wax rhapsodic about baseball.  In short, you start with DeNiro, and you end up with Pacino.  But you have DeNiro around if you need him, and the members of the House (and Senate) will get that.  It's brilliant.  (I have a suspicion that Emmanuel's fingerprints will be on Joe's sudden demotion.)

The wheel finally comes 'round.

Let there be no doubt: when she started running for 2012, McCain's staff prepared to give her a proper field dressing.  Sweet Jeebus this is going to be fun to watch.  This clip is priceless.

(1) To the public intellectuals such as (but by no means limited to) Fred Barnes, Jonah Goldberg, and Bill Kristol, who had the thoughtfulness to acknowledge the historic nature of Obama's election and to congratulate him for it: kindly go fuck yourselves.  Having done everything possible to brand this man as a traitor, a terrorist, and a caricatured stereotype, your words mean nothing.  Yeah, it's a unity party, but you are not invited.  Enjoy the wilderness.  Pack a bag.

(2) Watching Fox news, in particular Brit Hume, after the election was called for Obama, was delightful.  Kristol et al managed to keep it together, but Hume looked as if someone had just fed him a shit-flavored tic tac, and that little morsel just kept on giving till I went to bed.  Happy retirement, Brit.  Enjoy your C-Span.

(3) It has long been my suspicion (confirmed by Hersh's quote on the front page) that the stuff that is going to come out about the last eight years in the next few months will be a hundred times worse than what's made it into the news thus far.  It is my profound hope that if crimes are exposed, that this "unity" pony will not prevent the arrest and prosecution of people that broke federal law.  I'm not suggesting a partisan witch hunt.  I am suggesting accountability.

(4)  Sarah Palin will become even more of a running joke.  McCain's staffers are already pulling the knives out, and her demolition will be fun to watch because she simply has no one to blame but herself.  Oh, and by the way, when she gets back to Wasilla, I hear there are some legislators that want to talk to her and boy are they pissed.

(5)  The English language is going to make a comeback.  After eight years of semi-retarded malapropisms, it was like our political discourse was trapped in a cage.  For four years, we will be led by someone for whom rhetoric is more than a tough college C.

(6)  Bring on the inaugural.

This is not really about the Obama presidency--that chapter is a long way from being written.  It is more about him as a candidate, and the barriers that he had to overcome to get this close to the finish line and, ultimately, cross it.  On the one side, you have a man born to a single parent who attended the Ivy League based on his brains alone, and then elected to give back to his community rather than immediately enrich himself.  His story is that of the American dream and then some.  It's what every single middle class parent wants to believe is possible for their children.  

And he's black.  Think back just forty years, from the more graphic images of George Wallace, Selma, separate but equal water fountains to today, when you see store security guards warily eye a group of black teenagers as they walk by, and watch their customers hold their purses a little more tightly.

In order for Obama to get where he is now, he has to be a substantially better candidate than his white counterparts.  Exhibit A: John McCain.  Exhibit B: Sarah Palin.  Suppose, for example, that Barack were a VP candidate and could not name a single newspaper that he read.  Or a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade.  Or forgot which secretaries of state had endorsed him.  Or had been censured by the Senate for an ethics violation.  He would have been castigated for it, and to some extent rightly so.  These recent weeks, however, should remove any doubt from anyone's mind that the attacks would have another subtext to them, and that is a confirmation of pre-existing racial animus.  As the first black candidate, he couldn't be just good.  He had to be damn near perfect.  You can't be perceived as a wimp (see Kerry, John; Gore, Al), but cannot under any circumstances be perceived as angry (see Dean, Howard) no matter what they call you.  And, to top it off, you must do that when statements like "evolution does not exist" is treated by "responsible" media outlets as controversial rather than the premeditated lie that it is.

In short, the navel gazing over "media bias" that has already begun to appear in the Post's op ed pages (Howell on Sunday, Applebaum today) is a myth.  If the press were truly calling this race fairly, "hopegasm" would not even begin to describe either the significance of Obama's accomplishment or the competence with which it has been executed.  The blowout you're going to see today will reflect that reality in a way that the papers and cable TV will not and never have.  It also shows that the people of this country are a lot smarter than the press that they've unfortunately been saddled with.  

And now, turning to the merits for just a moment, the cowardly thing to do would be to leave one's church of several decades because some asshole says it's politically necessary.  Please save us from these people.