Thursday, July 15, 2010

What is the Problem?

Gail Collins puts her finger on what's wrong with the current politics of grievance:
Palin been on a political roll — raising money, making some prescient picks in the Republican primaries. She’s got a hot “mama grizzlies” video out, in which she touts a new wave of conservative women, rising up to protest ... the bad thing. Palin is really, really vague about exactly what the threat is. (The closest she gets is “the fundamental transformation of America.”) But there’s really no need to be specific because, as she says in the video, “Moms kinda just know when something’s wrong.”
What is the complaint? What has Obama done that makes him like Hitler? Bailed out the banks? That was Bush. Threatened to take people's guns away? Um, no, he hasn't said one word about gun control during either his campaign or his administration. Health care? Lots of people oppose it in the abstract, but if you ask them about the particular provisions, most support them. Wall Street regulation? Who doesn't think that something should be done to prevent a repeat of the last crisis?

It makes no sense. People are upset about the recession, but Tea Partiers are enraged that Obama has tried to do anything about it (e.g., the stimulus bill). People are suddenly outraged about the budget deficit, after 8 years of soaring deficits under Bush; and the people most outraged about the deficit angry about the most important deficit reduction bill in decades, health care reform.

If people would only think -- but then they never do, do they?

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