George Santayana was the famous historian-philosopher who said one thing that everyone immediately recognizes as profoundly true: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
And so it goes with the new White House Communications Director, Dan Pfeiffer, who picked up from Anita Dunn. The headline in The Hill says it all: "Pfeiffer repeats WH concern with Fox News."
And then Pfeiffer hauls out all the old Dunn arguments. It's all Santayana-esque. One might think that the Obamans, learning from the failures of their first year, would have learned not to repeat those failures in their second year. But it doesn't look that way. At a time when the economy is terrible, when healthcare is a mess, when things are going badly in Afghanistan, you might think that the White House would be focusing on solving problems, not making them worse by picking new fights. You might think that, but for reasons that Santayana could better explain if he were around--alas, he died in 1952--the White House, and Pfeiffer, seem determined to make all the same mistakes all over again.
At least Pfeiffer has been smart enough not to quote Chairman Mao. But give him time.
And so above, we see a composite of Santayana and Pfeiffer. TCG can just imagine the wise old man saying to himself, "Kid, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into."
UPDATE: Commentary's Jennifer Rubin jumps in, mocking Pfeiffer.
