Weather-vanity

So Arlen Specter’s switch is being read off by his erstwhile Republican colleagues as crass political opportunism. Oh my, how shocking! The idea that a professional politician would stoop to this, cravenly to seek short-term electoral advantage at the cost of abandoning Principle. . . I am breathless with astonishment.

Specter’s flying leap recalls the crossover by traditional Southern Democrats to the G.O.P. in the post-civil rights era, later hastened by the advent of Saint Ronald at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. It deepens the feeling that 2008 was indeed a transitional election year and that Obama’s play-nice strategy has some potential for a long-term payoff.

The spectacle of his bosses-until-yesterday sputtering that Senator Specter is not a nice person was particularly hilarious. These are the same guys insisting that real men are ready to swallow their wuss-ant scruples and torture the flack out of anyone who looks dangerous. With an outlook like that, it’s hard to be taken seriously when you denounce cynicism.

That pathetic hack William Kristol insists in today’s Washington Post that the Republicans should be glad they’re a shrinking minority because now they get to blame everything on the other guys. Oh right, that was such consolation to all of us over the last decade.

Goofy party chairman Michael Steele added a dignified and sober note by accusing Specter of ‘flipping the bird’ to his ex-buds. I guess that’s urban street patois, sure to catch fire among all those minority voters sour on Barack and Michelle.

So it’s fun to gloat, but a note of caution is also in order given that Specter was a loyal accomplice of the worst acts of the Bush presidency, including the conquest of Iraq, the security police state, tax cuts for the rich and unwavering support for the most repulsive Bush appointees like Michael Mukasey. The best we can hope for is that Specter’s refined nose for shifting political winds will drag him kicking and screaming into less reactionary positions. But seeing the Democrats welcome this creep into their fold reminds me why I don’t care to crawl under that tentflap myself.