New Snow

On Tony Snow's ascension to White House press secretary, it's worth noting that the Fox News anchor won't just be a public face, but has been promised an active role in the administration's internal policy debates (they have those?). Brit Hume, while trying to keep his face from drooping right off, mused that Snow seems "excited by the idea of being on the inside. He believes he will be at the table when decisions are made. For someone of his bent, that's too good to pass up."

According to reports, Snow is big on economics and immigration. He thought Bush's abandonment of Social Security privatization was a "surrender" and he's regularly condemned the White House's "lack of spending discipline" and inability to bring down a veto. Which means, basically, that he's a true believer, insistent that the White House's low poll numbers stem from an unwillingness to enact vastly unpopular, regressive economic policies, as if it's some mere oversight that they've not halted growth and rewritten the budget. There's a reason conservatives keep that face in front of the cameras but out of the legislation -- cuts sound good in theory, but Americans don't much like them in practice (ask Newt Gingrich how his attempt to slow the growth of Medicare worked out). It's the old axiom: Americans are ideologically conservative and operationally liberal. If Snow really does get to wield some policy authority, I look forward to seeing him prove it right once again.