-by Bob Cesa
There are a variety of explanations for the frustratingly backwards
outcome of yesterday's election.
Clearly Americans were dissatisfied with the objective reality that
the Obama administration and the congressional Democrats actually made
things better by cutting the deficit by an historic $122 billion;
creating upwards of three million new jobs; ending the war in Iraq;
passing the largest middle class tax cut in history; and rescuing the
economy from the brink of collapse. Not good enough, obviously.
Or did voters simply not know about these accomplishments? That's
entirely possible given the Democratic Party's uncanny penchant for
running away from its successes, while also fumbling very basic
add-water-and-serve marketing chores. (And, by the way, adding to the
party's failures to ballyhoo its accomplishments, the progressive
movement was systematically out-hustled, out-gunned and outmaneuvered
for much of the last two years.)
Of course there's also the Flailing Rage Factor, which I tend to favor
as a reason for yesterday's outcome more than ignorance or lack of
Democratic marketing chops. For two years now, Americans have been
incited by fakery and horror stories to the point of being pumped up
into a 'roid raging mob chanting shallow platitudes and bumper sticker
zingers -- incoherently attacking Speaker Pelosi's face, and bent out
of shape by the fact that there's not a doddering old white guy
stumbling through the West Wing spinning grandfatherly yarns about
American mornings and saintly cowboys.
Ultimately, what Americans voted for yesterday was divided government,
which admittedly isn't new in American politics. We typically like the
idea of two sides, Congress and the White House, locking horns and
ultimately compromising on the important matters of the day.
Unfortunately, this is a "pre-01/20/09" mindset. It's a mass delusion
based on antiquated political attitudes.
The era when Republicans would, at least reluctantly, compromise with
a Democratic president is long gone.
What voters unknowingly asked for yesterday was gridlock: immovable,
unprecedented, insufferable gridlock of the worst kind, and at the
worst time imaginable.
The Republicans have no intention of handing the president any
successes. They'll never in a million years compromise with this White
House, or the Senate Democrats for that matter, because any move in
that direction will bring down the loud, screechy tweet wrath of Sarah
Palin and the Tea Party who will neither accept nor support anyone who
appears to be leaning in the direction of the Obama agenda.
How do I know this? There's two years of precedent, naturally -- and
the Republicans weren't even the majority party in the House during
that time. They voted against anything and everything that came down
the line, regardless of how politically awful it looked (health care
for 9/11 workers, bonuses for the troops, etc.). Now imagine what
they're going to accomplishment in the name of "Hell No You Can't!"
now that they enjoy a decent majority in the House and a narrow
minority in the Senate.
Now that they're in control of appropriations and all House
legislation, they'll only take up business the president would never
in a million years sign into law, because as soon as he signs a bill,
any bill, it becomes a win for the White House. A victory, however
minor, that the president would be able to campaign on in 2012.
Consequently, the Republican Party and its Tea Party base will only
deliver far-right crap on a stick, with deceptive names and
semi-hidden, unacceptable amendments that will make the legislation
instant veto fodder.
So it's difficult to imagine a scenario whereby anything gets done
from January 2011 through, at least, January 2013.
Strike that.
Yesterday's election launched America headlong across the zero barrier
of the Darrell Issa Decade. Welcome, my friends, to the suck that
never ends. Let the cartoons begin!
Brace yourself for a wide variety of investigations designed to slowly
fester into an all out impeachment necrosis. The Republicans will
absolutely investigate ACORN, those two Black Panther guys in
Philadelphia, birth certificates, Joe Sestak's (unpaid) job offer, the
oil spill response, the tax records of anyone even remotely associated
with the White House and, for good measure, I'll go out on a McCarthy
limb and predict another congressional witch hunt for commies, with
maybe even a bonus witch hunt for Muslim evildoers, in the Obama
government.
The cable news media will enjoy this thoroughly. And by "enjoy" I mean
"inject it into its bloodstream like black tar heroin laced with
permanent orgasms." And we can all rest assured knowing that, with a
few obvious exceptions (Maddow, Olbermann), the coverage will be
framed with advantage Issa.
Oh, and did I mention the inevitable government shutdown? Just wait
until the House attempts to de-fund health-care reform in the next
budget and, predictably, the president refuses to sign it. The
government will shut down and all of those
anti-government-health-care, anti-socialism retirees stop receiving
their Social Security checks and Medicare reimbursement checks. And
why? Who knows. They'll tell you something about "freedom" and
"slavery" and trail off when they begin to slowly realize that they
can't pay the bills that month because they elected a Congress that
would rather torment the president than actually accomplish the
business of governing.
See, unlike the Democratic Party -- and the pre-Bush-era Republican
Party for that matter -- the modern Republican Party, driven by the
contradictory memes of the Tea Party movement, doesn't require or seek
legislative success to thrive as long as there's fear, inchoate rage
and a mega-funded media apparatus (Fox News and talk radio) to spread
the nonsense far and wide. So why bother digging into the ugly
business of compromise with the other side? There's no need. The total
lack of legislative accomplishment can simply be masked over with loud
noises and sloganeering aimed at blaming, you know, the black guy.
Again, how do I know? The strategy paid off bigtime yesterday.
One final thought: I wonder if this will help to ameliorate a slow
growth economy. Don't bet on it.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/angry-voters-choose-gover_b_778652.html
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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