USA - 2012 instructed on the dangers of illusions and saw the triumph of cold reality over pie-in-the-sky dreams.

The year when dreams died

By Victor Davis Hanson

....................

Mr. Obama once mused that he wished to be the mirror image of Ronald Reagan — successfully coaxing America to the left as the folksy Reagan had to the right. Instead, 2012 taught us that a calculating Mr. Obama is more a canny Richard Nixon, who likewise used any means necessary to be re-elected on the premise that his rival would be even worse. We know what eventually happened to the triumphant, pre-Watergate Nixon after November 1972. What will be the second-term wages of Mr. Obama’s winning ugly?

The so-called “fiscal cliff” offers more examples of 2012 dreams giving way to reality. Mr. Obama appears to be getting his long-promised taxes on the rich. So what? There are not enough caricatured “millionaires and billionaires” even to make a dent in his administration’s fifth consecutive $1 trillion-plus deficit.

.............

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com