The indispensable Michael Barone, for Democrats who have ears to hear, explains why Obama's poll numbers are sinking like a meat thermometer reading in a dead polar bear. Barone writes:
The Gulf oil spill is part of it, but it's more than that. I've been voting since Nixon/McGovern, and reading William Buckley since 8th grade, and I've never seen a crop of Democrats this politically tone-deaf before. And I think I know why. They let the power go to their heads. They allowed Bush's unpopularity to be interpreted as their agenda's popularity. They think they won power on their own merits, and they think it's theirs for keeps.
And it doesn't help that they live in the Washington media echo chamber and probably don't even know anyone who isn't a liberal. There never is heard a discouraging word.
In short, they've adopted the psychology of royalty. Let them eat cake, and all that.
But this is a country that (still) holds elections. They haven't been thinking in terms that we (the little people) have the power to throw them out. They're confident in their ability (through the compliant media) to present chicken crap as a chicken salad sandwich. They think there will be enough liberal talking-heads who brace themselves before the cameras, take a bite, and force a yummy smile.
Only it isn't 1933 anymore. Or even 1980. Big media is dying, businessmen are having to choose whether to sell their souls to the corporate-fascist state, doctors and nurses are looking at a career of being DMV clerks, lawyers are nervous about Congress' designs on their 401Ks, and the soon-to-be former middle class are watching horrified as Washington's mad power grabs and borrowing are turning us into West Zimbabwe.
Only three things can happen:
I'm going with number two, which coincidentally is the same number that the Democrats have been doing on the country.
"It reminds me of the old story about the advertising agency and the dog food. The best ads in the world failed to increase sales of the dog food. So they sent a market researcher in and found the reason: The dogs didn’t like the dog food. The Democrats’ problem is similar. The American people don’t like the dog food ('legislation that seems both necessary and proper to them') produced by the Obama Democrats."
The Gulf oil spill is part of it, but it's more than that. I've been voting since Nixon/McGovern, and reading William Buckley since 8th grade, and I've never seen a crop of Democrats this politically tone-deaf before. And I think I know why. They let the power go to their heads. They allowed Bush's unpopularity to be interpreted as their agenda's popularity. They think they won power on their own merits, and they think it's theirs for keeps.
And it doesn't help that they live in the Washington media echo chamber and probably don't even know anyone who isn't a liberal. There never is heard a discouraging word.
In short, they've adopted the psychology of royalty. Let them eat cake, and all that.
But this is a country that (still) holds elections. They haven't been thinking in terms that we (the little people) have the power to throw them out. They're confident in their ability (through the compliant media) to present chicken crap as a chicken salad sandwich. They think there will be enough liberal talking-heads who brace themselves before the cameras, take a bite, and force a yummy smile.
Only it isn't 1933 anymore. Or even 1980. Big media is dying, businessmen are having to choose whether to sell their souls to the corporate-fascist state, doctors and nurses are looking at a career of being DMV clerks, lawyers are nervous about Congress' designs on their 401Ks, and the soon-to-be former middle class are watching horrified as Washington's mad power grabs and borrowing are turning us into West Zimbabwe.
Only three things can happen:
- American voters will drink the Kool-Aid and go gentle into that good night.
- Or, this fall and beyond, there is going to be an electoral rout the magnitude of which has never been seen before.
- Or, there will be a coup.
I'm going with number two, which coincidentally is the same number that the Democrats have been doing on the country.
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3 comments:
Hi Lee
I vascillate between sorrow and hope when I consider the American electorate. When I see the actions taken by some states to claim their rights in the face of a increasingly oppressive federal government, along with grassroots efforts of individuals like the Tea Party, I have some hope.
The rest of the time, I don't hear much to encourage me. See you in November...
Mike
Tell me I'm wrong, but I think the steam ran out of the TEA party movement after the big loss on health care. Now we're heading toward a very similar 2000 page Financial take over with nary a peep. The DISCLOSE act is designed to curb Democrat losses in 2010 before it can be declared unconstitutional and also appears unstoppable. Unlike Rocky Balboa, the American electorate can't go 15 rounds absorbing this kind of punishment. The great multitudes that showed up last summer and fall have simply gone back into duck and cover mode. It's summer and they've got better things to do with their time than fight a losing battle.
Lee,
I have never been so anxious to vote and see a vote taken in all of my life. This may be the most important elections that most of us have seen in our lives. I hope that we as a country have been relearning the meaning of, "We the people...". These guys work for us and when someone who works for you doesn't do things the way you want them done, you fire them.
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