Should Uninformed Partisan Hacks be Telling the American People What to Think and Directing Public Policy?

Did you ever notice how suddenly settled opinion can shift when “grass roots” zealots get hold of an issue? Most Americans approved of health-care reform before rabid town-hall-meeting crowds shouted down reasonable debate, after which ugly displays Republicans were quick to announce that “the American people” didn’t support what they like to call “Obama care” although even now a majority of the electorate seems to favor a “public option” and some states are developing programs that are essentially just that.

Likewise the stimulus has been declared a failure despite having saved jobs and begun projects that helped local economies and held the promise of home-grown industry. Republicans have been lobbying to use the last of the stimulus package to service the national debt although most unused funds are reserved for projects already in the works. Unfortunately Obama’s attempt to gain Republican support for the stimulus package with tax-cut provisions was unsuccessful and in fact weakened its economic impact.

It is popular now to accuse the president of being “out of touch” with middle America even though everything he has tried to do in terms of taxes, health care and financial services has been directed at improving the lot of ordinary people. Almost without fail the question about his relationship with voters is brought up on talk shows and in editorials until it is accepted as an undeniable failing and debated ad nauseum. In place of his broad outreach we are instructed to take the Palin down-home vernacular seriously, to beware of deriding her ability to charm the common folk and the possibility that with the support of Tea Partiers and the Republican right she may emerge as a viable presidential candidate in 2012 in which case she asserts she could beat Obama.

Never mind that Mother Bush says she hopes Palin stays in Alaska, Son W’s book reminds us how warped our political fortunes have become. Whether it’s a totally unqualified phenom from up North or a totally unqualified elitist from the southwest we haven’t begun to deal with the consequences of electing people who are unfit to govern and unable to speak coherently about our national condition. Bush circumnavigates his decision to invade Iraq; his vice president, Cheney, allows as how history is catching up or as he put it “coming around.” While historians may provide insights into events, history doesn’t ‘come around.’ Even if the truth is sometimes tortured into a self-serving Bush world view most knowledgeable observers think the invasion was a disaster.

Unlikely scenarios abound that excuse the former president for our inconvenient wars and economic distress. But a giant snowball was already gaining speed in a frosty descent as the new president was being sworn in. Foolishly he promised the economy would turn around quickly, but that was of course wishful thinking. And in the hymn to stupid that has become our national anthem the most inconsequential, most ill-equipped politicians have been elected promising to enact policies that are unlikely to fast-forward the economy or create a financial framework that will protect the interests of most Americans and promote a prosperous future for both workers and investors. Tom DeLay’s money laundering conviction and the checkered background of incoming House Speaker Boehner haven’t diminished the angry screeds of career politicians and the right-wing rant machine.

The new congressional majority plans hearings and calls the Obama administration corrupt. In our mindless celebrity-fashioned world of nonentities Rod Blagojevich is doing pistachio commercials - - no shame there about his tarnished record. And Tom DeLay claims his conviction was politically motivated as if he had been brought down in spite of an unblemished career. DeLay made a fool of himself on Dancing with the Stars and Bristol Palin, who came darn near winning, did the same, quite an accomplishment in her case for someone who is not a star and has no talent. Did the show’s producers chuckle behind the scene as DeLay took the stage in that ridiculous outfit and an over-painted Bristol did more bumps and grinds than her mother does winks and called it a dance routine?

Apparently there are no limits to the foolishness animating the behavior and public utterances of these people. Supporters will dismiss the importance of Mama Palin identifying North Korea as our ally. After all anyone can transpose north and south inadvertently even if the mistake isn’t rectified before the next news cycle. Others fear her appallingly deficient grasp of foreign affairs that nonetheless seems to satisfy a band of incurious, frighteningly uninformed followers ready to be told what to think.