Last October

...But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.

And now.

What do you know. A politician who's spent his entire life as a far-left tax-and-spender turns out to be a far-left tax-and-spender.

This is nothing if not audacious hope. If he’s right, then looking back, March 2009 will be the dawn of the Age of Stimulation, or whatever elegant phrase Niall Ferguson comes up with. If he turns out to be wrong, then it will look very different, the entrance ramp to the Road to Serfdom, perhaps, and he will reap the whirlwind that follows, along with the rest of us.

"If he's right." I'm amazed at the number of otherwise-smart people who act as if this approach--massive new spending and tax increases--has never been tried before as a route to prosperity. Maybe this time for sure!

Buckley spends several paragraphs describing the dangers of Obama's approach, but even against his own judgement and experience, he still hopes it works. Maybe the stick of dynamite WILL unstick the kitchen drawer.

Give him another few months.