Washington is run by teenage girls

I foolishly spent my morning caught up in some blogosphere fun in the form of Serious Washington Journalist James Carney vs. blogger Atrios. In a nutshell, the Serious Washington Journalist wrote a comparison piece on President Bush and President Clinton for the horribly named Time Magazine blog- Swampland. His argument is that Clinton was once hugely unpopular and that Bush should follow Clinton's lead.

The problem with his post? It is simply not true and the blogger Atrios called him on it. Clinton was never as unpopular as President Bush, and when he did fall out of favor, it wasn't even close to as long as Bush has been*. Instead of taking the criticism in stride, Serious Washington Journalist got snippy (I highly recommend checking it out as it is a great example of how badly the Washington press, in general, handles criticism- here, here & here).

Nevertheless, the absolute worst part of the whole thing is this quote by Carney, in regards to President Clinton's 1995 State of the Union:

Then he proceeded to deliver what may forever be the longest State of the Union address in history -- 81 long minutes of policy prescriptions large and small. It was interminable, a seeming embarrassment.

You see, for a Washington insider like Carney (Time Magazine's DC Bureau Chief) the last thing this country needs is a President that focuses on policy. His job isn't to run the country, it is to serve as the central figure in political warfare. Carney, and his ilk, don't seem to understand why President Clinton was so popular- he made policy a priority rather then staging photo-ops on aircraft carriers.

*providing even more evidence that the Washington press refuses to believe Clinton was liked more than Bush