David Keene

Voters today in Virginia, New Jersey and New York are trudging to the polls in elections being watched closely by politicians, pundits and activists looking for clues as to what might be in store next year.

Voters today in Virginia, New Jersey and New York are trudging to the polls in elections being watched closely by politicians, pundits and activists looking for clues as to what might be in store next year.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R) warning last week that the Obama administration may be headed down the road that ended so disastrously for President Richard Nixon in the ’70s has set off a minor firestorm among the president’s supporters and detractors.

The Senate has passed the so-called Baucus bill, which, as all but the least sophisticated newspaper reader knows, wasn’t a bill at all, but a ticket to the finals. The real healthcare bill is being written in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office, and no one knows how much of what the Senate has already passed will survive.

Some years ago a friend of mine and I flew from Miami to Johannesburg on South African Airlines. We bought coach tickets, hoping to score an upgrade at the airport for the long and tiring flight. The business and first-class sections weren’t even close to full, so we approached the gate agent with a good story and high hopes.

One of President Barack Obama’s first orders was to “close” the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay by January 2010, but Obama’s secretary of Defense and others believe the deadline cannot be met, because they don’t know what to do with the 225 or so prisoners housed there.

A year ago Republicans, banished to the outer darkness by voters fed up with their performance, feared it might be a long time before they’d be back. A year is a long time in today’s world, and now those same Republicans are savoring the prospect of a comeback in 2010.

People live in their own little worlds and have a tendency to shut out or ignore information that makes them uncomfortable. This is particularly true of liberal politicians and journalists, who find it easier and easier to ignore facts and developments that run counter to their view of how things ought to be.

When Congress leaves town in August, Washington’s politically obsessed breathe a sigh of relief and try to get away. Some head for the beach or Europe. Some, like me, hit the road in search of open spaces, fresh air and a fish or two.

We all know that few members of Congress bother to read the bills on which they vote and often don’t seem anxious to examine much evidence for or against a bill before they vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), perhaps inadvertently, summed up the feelings of many of his colleagues when, as the Senate began considering Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, he acknowledged that he hadn’t analyzed any of the controversial jurist’s decisions and “hoped” that he would never have to even read them.