Among the chatterati these days the favorite topic of conjecture is what the catastrophic Gulf oil spill means for President Obama. Pundits argue hotly over the correct historical comparison: Will the spill prove to be his Hurricane Katrina? His Three Mile Island? Or maybe his Iranian Hostage Crisis?

Meanwhile, a strange reticence has taken hold of Mr. Obama's ideological opponents. Where are the livid patriots who enthralled us for months with their fevered dreams of a socialist-minded, power-hungry federal government?

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