Yesterday CNN indulged in an embarrassing exercise in damage control by airing "After Party", in which a Democratic and a Republican spokesperson each feigned to discuss with several panelists their opposing takes on the election. The result was a poorly scripted play in which the actors strove mightily to remember their lines. I called it damage control because it was obviously an attempt to mitigate the damage done to the national psyche by Sarah Palin's Obama baiting. The Republicans realize they've let an evil genie out of the bottle, and the wiser among them are desperate to tamp down the hate.

As if CNN weren't enough evidence of media whitewashing, on the News Hour this evening an economic expert reported that China plans to counter the effects of the global economic crisis by launching much needed health care and infrastructure projects.  The percentage of GDP devoted to the Chinese stimulus package would be equivalent to a trillion dollar stimulus in the U.S.  In another interview, two high level financial experts split hairs over how little the U.S. government should do.

I'll be curious to see if in the coming days any advisors to the present or future president suggest we should take a lesson from China - before we start taking orders from the the new economic superpower. (The interviewee's designation, not mine.)

We may have to be content with knowing that China's domestic economic package will benefit our economy too, since one of our most successful exports is infrastructure machines. 

As the Chinese president prepares to lead a hundred member delegation to the 20 nation economic summit hosted by President Bush, our governing class seems oblivious - like the 1920s flappers, or the trusting victims of the forties' Holocaust.