They have learned nothing, and they have forgotten nothing.

It is said that the French statesman Talleyrand thus summed up the stubbornness of the monarchs of the Bourbon dynasty in France. Maybe that's why they seem to have all had the same name - Louis XIII-XVIII, sandwiched between Henry IV and Charles X.

I was reminded of this famous phrase about a half-hour ago when Jim Miklaszewski was interviewing Karl Rove on Fox News. Rove, when asked a question about how President Bush's new mandate will be used to advance legislation, whether it would be a reaching across the aisle (compromise was implied) or (and here I can't recall quite the way it was phrased) something like the train is leaving the station and it's time to get on board. Rove immediately brought forward the example of the No Child Left Behind Act as an example of how the president would proceed with his second term legislative agenda. AAAGH!

NCLB (Nationalize Children for Liberal Benefit) is the model of what is wrong with this administration. A president re-elected with a substantial popular vote majority and making significant gains in both the House and Senate ought to be in a stronger position than to invite Ted Kennedy (the champion swimmer from Chappaquiddick) to shape his domestic legislation.