The Incumbent Party I

Craine's Greg Hinz

The Democratic activist, a veteran of the Bill Clinton years, was furious at U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. But not for making life miserable for Mayor Richard M. Daley, Gov. Rod Blagojevich or other Democrats under investigation.

Instead, this good Democrat was irate at how Mr. Fitzgerald is slapping around the Republican Bush White House.

"Fitzgerald is trying to criminalize politics," griped the activist, his drink nearly sloshing out of his glass at the political fund-raiser we both were attending a couple of weeks ago. "It's just not right."

...Like a character in an Ayn Rand novel, he wanted to do what he wanted to do, and did. And if that meant he would tick off nearly everyone and make it impossible to win a new term, well, he'd just go play with his young son.

...The offenses that result have real consequences, be they increased taxes needed to pay hacks or the death of six children because of driver's license bribery. Mayor Daley has almost totally remade his government as a result of Mr. Fitzgerald's probes. History will show that was good for him and us.

...In Washington, "politics as usual" — in other words, by leak — have helped entrench an administration that committed arguably the worst offense any administration can commit:

It misled the nation into a war that, so far, has led to the deaths of 2,000 Americans and countless Iraqis. Mr. Fitzgerald's probes have led to a renewed national debate on how and why we got where we are.

That, too, is good.

Through it all, from greedy people like Nick Hurtgen, to uber-smart people like Scooter Libby, Greg Hinz captures the truth about what us political operatives euphemistically call the Game.

The game is, challengers vs. incumbents. The game is, appearing to be the same person when one serves in public office as when one won public office. The game is, staying in public office.

If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times; once we helped them achieve their ambition, and they won, they no longer fight for the people once mentioned in campaign stump speeches.

If Republicans are unable to turn the klieg lights upon ourselveses, then we should prepare for the day when voters turn their backs on us.