Those were the days

More snarling from Congress — this time, the GOP is outraged by the president’s lack of policy in Bosnia, while barely suggesting one of its own. Meanwhile, the White House is shrilly defending its budget priorities, though even Democrats remain unconvinced. The stakes in Washington are serious, but very often the arguments are funny or outrageous or pitiable. Such reactions are overlooked these days in favor of political brow-knitting. A small reason: Archie Bunker has been forgotten.

“All in the Family,” the popular situation-comedy of the 1970s, featured Archie furiously battling a changing society through his occasionally vapid and always left-leaning meathead son-in-law, Michael Stivic. It may not have been high art, but it served a purpose, as a mirror, of the nation’s sometimes ridiculous self.

Archie’s patriotic zeal would have made Oliver North proud; and Archie, instead of Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, could almost be heard referring earlier this spring to Rep. Barney Frank as “Barney Fag.” He would have shared Rep. Dana Rohrabacher intrepid thoughts that a House foreign policy bill “is not about isolationism. This is about America-comes-first policies.” And he would have stood up and sang “God Bless America” when Sen. Jesse Helms explained the origins of the AIDS virus.

All the while, his eternal college student son-in-law would have been issuing endless social diatribes fresh from the campus and painfully meaningless when it came to paying the mortgage. The conflict between the two nicely magnified the division in Washington, exposing the foibles of both sides.

It was harder for politicians to take themselves so seriously then, when only slight exaggerations of their positions drew laughter from TV viewers each week. Some people may still be snickering, but Congress has a lamentably short memory.