If the Obama administration was hoping to see hints of bipartisanship from the Hill, it might want to skip over the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Joe L. Barton (Tex.), has a slide presentation that he's e-mailing to colleagues, pledging to do for the administration what Gen. George Patton and company did for Germany. The first slides are standard campaign material, with Barton asking to be elected by the new House Republican majority to be chairman of the committee.
He naturally touts his conservative credentials, saying, "I know the ropes and can hit the ground running immediately." He especially appeals to the newly elected members, saying he would make sure they are represented on the powerful committee.
Then comes the money slide, titled: "What's in Store for the Obama Administration," with photos of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Generals Omar Bradley and George Patton in uniform.
A storied US agency, one that began under President Kennedy in 1961 with the aim of...
