Just read Eugene Robinson’s latest op-ed. I don’t want to get into whether his basic assertion about the role of race in conservative activists’ ideas about President Obama is right or wrong. But he’s right on the nose when he says that “establishment Republicans… are surfing the Tea Party wave – while at the same time scheming to co-opt the movement.”

I don’t think that voters who wanted to “take back our government” were thinking of giving the party of capitalist regulatory capture such a boost. (Robinson touches on that, too.) Mitch McConnell’s top action item (“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” he reportedly told National Journal) is revealing, isn’t it? His top goal isn’t to boost economic growth, or get the cost of health care under control, or make our air and water cleaner – all of which are things the Obama administration has been aiming for. No, he just wants to get Obama out of the way, presumably so that the GOP can provide better value to its campaign donors through vertical integration. I am unable to convince myself that Mr. McConnell has my best interests at heart. I don’t see why the Tea Party should be convinced, either.

Voters need to pay heed to what the GOP does, not to what it says. More to the point, we need to watch what the GOP doesn’t do. John Boehner’s plan apparently is to sit back and shoot down the administration’s legislative initiatives one by one until the drag of the economy makes Obama’s defeat in 2012 inevitable. Yeah, that’s taking back something.

I hate to say it, but it looks as if we’re in for 18 months of partisan gridlock, puctuated by the occasional passage of some not-very-progressive legislation, and followed by another vicious election cycle full of lies and deceit. ‘Twas ever thus?

Keys: politics