The Hazing Process

Usually, you get hazed when you enter a fraternity.

Barack Obama is getting hazed as he leaves the fraternity of the Senate.

But Obama wasn’t in the Senate long enough to really get hazed. He barely got there before he got the idea in his head to go someplace else.

And so, he is now leaving the Senate and moving to the White House.

And his pledge brothers and sisters seem to be eager to give him the hazing he never really got as he arrived in the upper chamber.

Joe Biden, his pledge brother, is almost wistful about his time in the old frat house. He is taking one last trip with his buddies as a member of the Senate before he has to trudge himself to the lonely Vice President’s Mansion on Massachusetts Avenue.

Biden’s colleagues have been pretty clear about their view of the new president. He may be beloved by a solid majority of the American people, but to them, he is just another president.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the chief hazer, made it clear that he wasn’t taking any orders from the new president. And for good measure, he kicked the new vice president out of his caucus lunches. Good riddance, he seemed to be saying to his former Senate brethren.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sounded a similar tone when she boxed the ears of the president-elect for selecting a new CIA chief without consulting her. Keep in mind, that CIA chief comes from Feinstein’s home state, shares her political philosophy and has had nothing to do with any CIA tactics (or actually, anything to do with the CIA) for close to a decade.

And now the president-elect’s economic plan is getting panned by members of his own caucus.

Former presidential pretender Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) says it won’t work. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has concerns. Some members think it is too big, while others think it is too small.

The Senate hazing seems to have migrated to the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) thinks Obama should raise taxes on rich people, NOW. Clearly she is not on message.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) is leading opposition to Obama’s pick to be surgeon general, Sanjay Gupta. Who could be against Sanjay Gupta? Well, Michael Moore, the crazy filmmaker, could be, and whatever Michael Moore wants he gets, in the world of John Conyers.

It seems that the honeymoon is over before the bride walked down the aisle.

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President-elect. About that dog …

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