The defanging of New Deal lion Dingell

There is a lot of talk about Barack Obama following the lead of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and putting together a "New New Deal." But there is some irony in Washington. Perhaps the last remaining New Deal Democrat in the House of Representatives, John Dingell of Michigan has been ousted from his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Henry Waxman has replaced him.

And that may not be a good thing for business--or consumers. In an op-ed, the Wall Street Journal explains:

John Dingell's fall from power yesterday is an important inflection point in the history of the modern Democratic Party. The House purge marks the final triumph of the Congressional generation that came of political age during the 1970s over the last lion of New Deal liberalism, and it is symbolic of the party's change in culture and policy priorities in the Barack Obama era.

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Mr. Waxman, speaking for the upscale precincts of Beverly Hills, wants to phase out coal and cars that use gasoline. The coastal elites who now dominate Democratic politics will happily trade the blue collar for the green collar.

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