WASHINGTON --Thank you, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, for being the gift that keeps on giving.
The gatecrashers who upstaged President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the administration's first White House state dinner turned out not to be mere garden-variety poseurs. They are world-class poseurs, apparently -- dedicated and energetic limelight-seekers who spent the past several years tracing an incandescent arc through high society, leaving a richly marked trail of litigation behind them.
According to the Washington Post, the Salahis have been sued by caterers, chauffeurs, contractors, a fancy hair salon and more than a dozen other parties. Their story seems to be a Gatsbyesque tale of personal reinvention. Tareq imagined himself as a polo-playing aristocrat who hung around with Prince Charles. Michaele attended a reunion of Washington Redskins cheerleaders, although there is no record of her being on the squad.
The Christmas gift that I so treasure is being able to think about something so unimportant as the antics of the Salahis. Last Christmas, it was not so.
Then, we were staring into the economic abyss. The global financial system had come close to utter collapse, and at year's end it was far from certain that the federal government would succeed in turning things around. Real estate prices seemed to have no floor. Credit, a necessary lubricant of the economy, had ceased to flow. There was the very real possibility that a second Great Depression could take hold.
ADVERTISEMENT
Today, with unemployment at 10 percent, hardly anyone is thrilled with the state of the economy. But all the depression talk has ended, and the economy is growing again -- slowly, yes, but perceptibly. There is widespread consensus that the worst is over.
This turnaround has come at great cost. At least 7 million jobs have been lost, and unemployment may not have peaked. There are whole cities that were left utterly bereft by the bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors. A messy, pork-filled stimulus package has helped balloon the federal budget deficit to record levels. The government and the Federal Reserve have shoveled money into the financial system with a bulldozer.
Since last Christmas, our government has begun to tackle huge, structural problems that had long gone unaddressed: health care, climate change and education. Not everyone agrees with Obama's solutions. But it's promising that the nation is so engaged in debate about wonkish policy initiatives. This nation is at its best when it's going somewhere and doing something.
On Christmas Day 2008, U.S. foreign policy was seen as bellicose and dangerous by much of the rest of the world. Today, the United States is celebrated for having rejoined the community of nations.
The difference a year makes isn't all about Obama, though. It has become trendy to say that Congress is hopelessly dysfunctional, but the House and Senate did step up to grapple with these big issues. Congressional leaders saw that the safe course -- do nothing -- was not an option.
Last Christmas our troops were mired in two faraway wars, and this is still true. Obama's withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq should be a comfort, especially to military families. His escalation of the war in Afghanistan has the potential to cast a pall over Christmas 2010. When a story like the Salahis comes around next year, I hope we're able to smile.
Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post Writers Group.
