The Great Right Hope

We’ve come to the end of Act I, Scene I of Mr. Sununu Goes to Washington. Like Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu has come to Washington and, in a capital ritual, has been busily shedding himself of provincial habits while learning about the way things are done in the halls of power. We all knew Sununu was a quick study—a whiz of an engineer with as many degrees as u’s in his name, who triumphed in the rough-and-tumble of New England politics, racking up three consecutive two-year terms as governor of New Hampshire. What we didn’t know was what kind of person he’d turn out to be once he’d figured out Washington.

The pundits expected Sununu to be the Great Right Hope, a conservative’s conservative, strategically positioned to influence the direction of a Presidency that showed signs of ideological acedia from its first moments of existence.

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Peter Osterlund

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We’ve come to the end of Act I, Scene I of Mr. Sununu Goes to Washington. Like Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu has come to Washington and, in a capital ritual, has been busily shedding himself of provincial habits while learning about the way things are done in the halls of power. We all knew Sununu was a quick study—a whiz of an engineer with as many degrees as u’s in his name, who triumphed in the rough-and-tumble of New England politics, racking up three consecutive two-year terms as governor of New Hampshire. What we didn’t know was what kind of person he’d turn out to be once he’d figured out Washington.

The pundits expected Sununu to be the Great Right Hope, a conservative’s conservative, strategically positioned to influence the direction of a Presidency that showed signs of ideological acedia from its first moments of existence.