Rant Alert.  But it’s a short one.

So David Brooks has decided that the best offense is a good capitulation (The Upside of Opportunism).  He makes it sound very reasonable, as he usually does, but sounding reasonable does not detract from the fact that it’s wrong, wrong, wrong.  

At best Brooks’ description of a Romney presidency is wishful thinking.  I’ll grant that Mitt’s constant changing leaves loads of room for wishes.  He certainly could do just about anything once he wins the election.  He could become the moderate he’s been claiming to be this month.  He could bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.  He could strive to put a chicken in every pot and three cars in every garage.  Likely, though, he’ll cave to every wish of the far right, since he won’t be happy with only one term in the White House and that’s the only way he’ll get there again.  He’s tied to the wing nuts and he’ll have to stick with them at least through the first term, by which time we’ll probably be involved in two to three new wars and have an even more massive debt that will miraculously not be the result of any of his policies.

Regardless, Brooks thinks the “upside” of electing Romney would be that, having gotten their way, House Republicans would end their two-year temper tantrum, get up off the floor and try to act like responsible adults.  In his scenario the Democrats, relieved to face a group who are not simply screaming “No!  No!  No!  No!  No!”, would work toward some agreements so that the government can move forward in a meaningful way.

That’s the upside.

In other words, since the Democrats are the only sensible players in the game, the sole option to save us from four more years of stonewalling is to elect Romney and for the Dems to give in to everything the Republicans want.   So we win by losing?  Isn’t the major lesson of the last two years that the only thing anyone gets for being the adult in the room is praise from the pundits on MSNBC?

Sorry Mr. Brooks.  That’s not an upside.  An upside would be the victory of an Obama who, with no worries about a re-election, is ready for a serious throw down, who will call out all of the House Republicans and force their hand at every opportunity.  Maybe he won’t get the big things done, but he could do severe damage to the Republican brand outside the base.  More important, he would take the mask off the petulant children who have held up significant Congressional action since 2010.  The alternative is to encourage this kind of behavior on both sides of the aisle for the foreseeable future.