David Brooks, "Movement on the Right": Christie's Friends Cause Movement to Stop Dead

Definition of "Coulrophobia":
"extreme or irrational fear of clowns"

- Oxford Dictionaries (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coulrophobia)

Me afraid of clowns? No way! Rather, I leave my home and shudder at the prospect of encountering a politician.

As reported by USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/09/fort-lee-traffic-jam-caused-human-debacle/4397381/)

"E-mails indicate several Christie supporters including Bridget Anne Kelly, his now fired deputy chief of staff, and David Wildstein, a Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York, schemed to close the lanes to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. The result: stopped cars snaked through the small borough, slowing emergency service units, delaying school buses and making even blocks-long errand runs a source of prolonged frustration."

Sounds almost a bit like Kramer adopting a highway in "Seinfeld," but without the humor.

Of course, Christie has apologized for the inconvenience. Well, Christie can do the "Hokey Pokey" and turn himself around, but the 2016 Republican presidential nomination has just become inaccessible.

On the subject of "movement" or the lack thereof, David Brooks, in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Movement on the Right" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/opinion/brooks-movement-on-the-right.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), concludes:

"Today’s emerging conservatives embrace that constitutional mind-set, embodied both by Madison and Hamilton. Moreover, the National Affairs authors understand that most policy programs, like most businesses, fail. Conservative programs like urban enterprise zones failed to produce measurable results. Liberal programs like Head Start scarcely produce identifiable long-term gains. Therefore, it is best to approach government in a mood of skeptical reformism: Engage in a constant process of gradual concrete reform even as you are aware that most of your efforts will not pan out."

Ah, yes, Madison, Hamilton and "skeptical reformism." I'm a big fan. Hey, stop laughing at me!

How about just finding some Republican sufficiently ethical to stand a chance against Hillary in 2016. Hillary, another paragon of political virtue, is now featured in former Defense Secretary Robert Gates's book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War”:

"Hillary told the president that her opposition to the [2007] surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary. . . . The president conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political. To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying."

Yup, just keep the politicians away from me, and I just might be able to keep my PTSD in check for the next 24 hours without medication.