Tammany Across the Potomac
"McLean is the new Georgetown," The New Republic pronounces in a tone befitting the voiceover from "The DaVinci Code." The political mag's cover story this week (itself only available to registered users) calls the Washington, D.C. suburb "home of America's ruling class"—meaning, mostly, that top Republican Senators, White House aides and lobbyists live "in a leafy suburb among landmarks that neatly represent the modern GOP era: the McClean Bible Church ... the Saudi ambassador's personal compound ... and CIA headquarters."
Despite the heavy breathing, the article amounts to a workaday skewering of the real-estate boom, complete with shocking prices, lavish architectural details and fireplaces in master baths. The magazine puts no less of a figure than Jimmy Carter's national security director, 78-year-old Zbigniew Brzezinski, to work complaining about McMansions. Another resident calls the Bible Church "the Wal-Mart of churches."
A good line, but The New Republic also wants to imply that the suburban environment is somehow especially conducive to Republican political excesses and influence peddling. McLean's rise, however, hardly seems the stuff of conspiracy, given the GOP's strong suburban base (a point the article notes only in a throwaway dependent clause). The Republican revolution began in iconically suburban Orange County, Calif., and peaked in the triumph of Newt Gingrich, who represented the suburbs north of Atlanta. Not only are the Republicans politically suburb-oriented, they tend to live there; why would they suddenly take up city living?
If the Democrats retake the House this fall—a feat they'll only pull off if they win some key suburban races—we'll be watching to see if Georgetown is re-established as the nation's power precinct.
Despite the heavy breathing, the article amounts to a workaday skewering of the real-estate boom, complete with shocking prices, lavish architectural details and fireplaces in master baths. The magazine puts no less of a figure than Jimmy Carter's national security director, 78-year-old Zbigniew Brzezinski, to work complaining about McMansions. Another resident calls the Bible Church "the Wal-Mart of churches."
A good line, but The New Republic also wants to imply that the suburban environment is somehow especially conducive to Republican political excesses and influence peddling. McLean's rise, however, hardly seems the stuff of conspiracy, given the GOP's strong suburban base (a point the article notes only in a throwaway dependent clause). The Republican revolution began in iconically suburban Orange County, Calif., and peaked in the triumph of Newt Gingrich, who represented the suburbs north of Atlanta. Not only are the Republicans politically suburb-oriented, they tend to live there; why would they suddenly take up city living?
If the Democrats retake the House this fall—a feat they'll only pull off if they win some key suburban races—we'll be watching to see if Georgetown is re-established as the nation's power precinct.
posted by burb at 5:00 PM
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