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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Politics The Real Problem

Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 11:34 AM

Near the end of this rather quick essay (chop, chop), which is in the Telegraph and concerns white America's rather rocky relationship with its black president, the writer, Toby Harnden, offers something of a warning:

...Mr Obama is the leader of a Democratic party that is now coming dangerously close to proclaiming that any fervent opposition to him must spring from a racist impulse.

In targeting Mr Wilson, they appear to have the wrong man. A previously anonymous congressman, all of whose four sons have served in the US military — two in Iraq — he comes across more as an ordinary American who let his mouth run away with him than as a venomous racist.

His shout, moreover, reflected a manifestation of genuine anger felt by many ordinary Americans about the wholesale state intervention of the Obama administration that amounts to an ambitious and radical transformation of the country. Crying racism can be a cheap way of shutting down debate.

What Harden and many others do not understand is Wilson and many others like him are not making any fucking sense. These tea people refuse to deal with facts and simply make a lot of noise and work hard to disturb any effort to make meaning and connect ideas with facts. Because the tea people's arguments and grievance make little sense, intelligent people like Jimmy Carter are forced to conclude the root of all their noise and disturbances is racism and not anything substantial or political.

Toby, read this from WSJ:

Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously.

The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.

“These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote. “These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”

You see! They are not making any fucking sense. What are we to think of them? What is at the root of all this nonsense about socialism this and communism that? Are these real issues? No! What has Obama really done to these people? He has pulled their economy out of what many economists thought was going to be the mother of all depressions? True, we are not out of the woods yet but the situation was supposed to be much, much worse than it is today:

Americans are $2 trillion wealthier
Soaring stock market boosts household net worth for the first time since the fall of 2007. Real estate holdings rise in value too.

After nearly two years of declines, the net worth of Americans rose by $2 trillion to an estimated $53.1 trillion in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year.

The soaring stock market accounted for much of the gain. Stock holdings rose by 22% to $6.3 trillion, while mutual funds' value jumped 15% to $3.7 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released Thursday.

If the economy fully stabilizes, that will be the end of the Republican party, which has retreated to the noises and nonsense of its base and will be drowned in that noise and nonsense.

Comments (20) RSS

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Americans are not $2 trillion wealthier.
They are back to where they were 2 years ago.

Posted by RollerCoaster on September 17, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Because the tea people's arguments and grievance make little sense, intelligent people like Jimmy Carter are forced to conclude the root of all their noise and disturbances is racism and not anything substantial or political.

.

Yes to this. But there are other explanations too:
(1) These people are actually incapable of logical thought (works for some of the teabaggers we saw at the protests, but not for the "leadership", such as it is)
(2) Their root goal is simply to oppose meaningful health care reform. At this point, it is clear to all but those in the first category that reform is an absolute necessity. So, since they cannot argue on substance, they must "make a lot of noise" to derail the conversation. It doesn't really matter whether Obama was lying or not, the conversation has been shifted away from the substantive.

I guess a shorter version of what I'm saying is that the tea party-type "leaders" have their own motivations for attacking reform efforts (money from insurance lobbyists, wanting to make the Dems seem weak). They can't argue against reform on its merits, so they whip up the crowd of non-thinkers into a frenzy, based on all their non-facts and noise. For the some of the non-thinkers, it's about racism, but for others, it's just that they are idiots.

Posted by Julie in Eugene on September 17, 2009 at 11:49 AM

As someone who grew up in DC, I'm reasonably sure people's taxes from "Southeast Texas" don't regularly contribute to the operatng budget of the District' public transportation. At least no more than the taxes also help support Disneyland. So they're not making any sense in all kind of multi-layered spectacular ways, Charles.

Posted by gmdclark on September 17, 2009 at 11:52 AM

When people opposed the previous administration, they were accused of treason, regardless of motivation or reason.

Now they're accused of racism. Some say it's an accusation that also disregards motivation or reason.

Part of me just wants to say "turnabout is fair play."
The rest of me just sighs loudly. I shake my head in weary disgust.

Posted by Ackham on September 17, 2009 at 11:56 AM

It's not confusing: racism is a feature, not a bug.

And anyone with a doubt, should click on the below:

http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/its-n…

Posted by judybrowni on September 17, 2009 at 11:57 AM

Have we no recourse but to return their scorn?

Posted by gloomy gus on September 17, 2009 at 12:12 PM

This will not be the end of the republican party, no matter what.

If things go the way we want them to, and the democrats pass all sorts of useful legislation despite the republicans protests, the republican party will simply wave their magic wand at their base (their magic wand is a rifle, btw) and say, "click your heels together three times and say 'the republicans fixed things,' 'the republicans fixed things,' 'the republicans fixed things'." And that's all you'll hear the republicans say for years afterwards... "the republicans fixed things." All contrary to reality.

That's what they say now about Clinton's balancing the budget ("it was the republican congress who forced it") and about Bush's failures ("it was Pelosi and the dems who sabotaged him"). Why should they change their strategy now?

Posted by Urgutha Forka on September 17, 2009 at 12:17 PM

Sorry Charles, your well thought-out cogent argument has many merits. The problem is that the republicans only goal is to obstruct. Obstruct anything (health-care, speaking to school kids, reform of wall street regulation) and everything. They are winning. They will win unless the democratic leadership grows a fucking spine and learns how to lead.

Posted by The Amazing Jim

on September 17, 2009 at 12:24 PM

all true, but....

It would be nice if the Democrats actually spread that news across the land and said GOVERNMENT WORKS IT IS MAKING YOU WEALTHIER, we avoided the huge depression the gopsters wish you had, WE GET PROPS.
(@1 if we are a trillion wealthier than before, we are a trillion wealthier and if you compare to the depression we didn't have the differential is much bigger, too). Ditto with tarp repayments where we've already made a $4 billion PROFIT. It's so far not a bailout but a profit. Ditto with cash for clunkers, my god Obama recently said :oh I know folks are dissatisfied with the program" WTF it was a huge success people loved it and it's putting auto factories back in business.

It's our sides' near complete silence in pushing our own message that's to blame for us being so stymied, compared with the other sides' intense repeated top to bottom broad and wide message machine.

returning scorn on a few blogs doesn't cut it, it's about 2% of what we should be doing.

Posted by PC on September 17, 2009 at 12:29 PM

Some people are so naive. When the Bush administration was attacking other countries that were not a threat and spending trillions of dollars and killing thousands of Americans and Iraqis, these sainted Republicans were claiming to be pro-life and fiscally conservative. The tea baggers were nowhere to be seen. When the Republicans were rigging the financial markets with ponzi schemes and basically stealing peoples 401Ks, tea baggers were silent. When Americans were robbed blind and finally had enough of the lies they put Obama in the White House. He single handedly saves the world economy and the tea baggers scream he's Hitler. When tens of millions lose their homes and Obama tries to help them save them he's called a communist. Then, he starts a real and honest effort to reform what is clearly the most broken health care system in the western world. For this he is viciously opposed by the very thieves who have been stealing people's homes because they fall ill and what do the tea baggers call him? A socialist! Not only does this not make sense. It is clearly being run by the white racist south that the sainted Republicans have so clearly courted for the last thirty years. People like South Carolina's Joe Wilson, who are desperate to slander this president in any way they can.

Posted by Vince on September 17, 2009 at 12:38 PM

@7, actually, the revisionist history process is already in motion to remake George W. Bush a "liberal", because I guess that's the only way conservatives can criticize Obama for spending too much without their heads exploding from the weight of all that cognitive dissonance. Conservatism cannot fail; it can only be failed.

Posted by john t on September 17, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Is anyone paying attention to the nutters in the Republic Party anymore?

I mean, other than their comrades in al-Qaeda?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 17, 2009 at 12:55 PM

Charles,
An end to the recession (especially soon) will not mean an end to the Republican Party. Sure enough, some numbers as Berenake indicated are pointing to a "beginning of the end of the recession". But until America gets more manufacturing jobs, unemployment will be the real indicator as to whether we're out of the recession or not and whether the Dems can hold power or not. Americans vote their pocketbooks by and large. Currently, unemployment is 9.7%, the highest in 20+ years. People will get quite anxious if it doesn't abate by 2011/2012. In addition, there is the intangible (another war, a terrorist attack etc.) that Obama could easily mishandle.

That said, I would never discount either major party out when the other has power in both the executive and legislative branchs. This country has a definitive two-party system for better or for worse.

Posted by lark on September 17, 2009 at 1:21 PM

I love their complaints about Metro. In short, if a government service fails to directly cater to the teabaggers and provide 100 percent perfect service, the government has failed. Suck it up, whiners.

Posted by keshmeshi on September 17, 2009 at 1:23 PM

The Telegraph is a conservative rag, what do you expect?

Posted by Jizzlobber on September 17, 2009 at 1:54 PM

Charles, this is probably the first coherent thing you've ever written. Keep it up.

Posted by Root on September 17, 2009 at 2:04 PM

#12 - Yes Will, that's the problem. They shout while we stand there in stunned silence.

Posted by The Amazing Jim

on September 17, 2009 at 2:14 PM

Good point.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM

I am deeply suspicious of this new obsession with the "Democrats are playing the race card!" line. Didn't Glenn Beck say Obama had a hatred of whites long before Carter made his statement? What did Toby Harnden, and anyone else latching onto this idiotic defense of Republican hysteria, have to say about that?

And I can't fathom his belief that it's the Democrats who are looking for "a cheap way of shutting down debate". Did the news of those town hall meetings not reach the UK?

Posted by Irena on September 17, 2009 at 6:48 PM