Battle of the Dueling Narratives
By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

The Democrats are in a lot of trouble, depending on whom you talk to. The Republicans will sweep the midterm election, no question about it. The President is a one-term failure, an enemy of the business community. Anger with the establishment has hit a crescendo, and the Tea Baggers have seized the zeitgeist, running the board of primaries and positioning themselves to take over the Congress. Obama's big-spending government is targeted by those who will stop the hemorrhage of money in unrestrained entitlements, turn back the clock on wasteful programs, and bring back "America's honor" as Glenn Beck would have it. The Baggers are the wave of the future.

Really? Is all of this true? Is any of it true? Are we destined to be a nation led by those who want a repeal of the 14th amendment and absolute adherence to the Ten Commandments, who believe communal bike paths and community gardens lead to socialism and that Girl Scouts are fledgling feministas preparing themselves for abortions? Does the rise of the Tea Party signal the advent of a social order reminiscent of the John Birch Society, or is it just a typical backlash against Democratic politics? In short, is this as bad as it looks?

Backlash yes, but typical, no. We've discussed the astrology often enough that you know how critical is this period in history. It's true that the Tea Baggers are leaving traditional Republicans in the dust at their primaries, which reflects growing disdain of both the establishment and incumbents, considered political insiders. The GOP, who funded the movement to start with, has had to embrace these radicals as their own, leaving their moderates behind. Having fostered the Bagger anger, Republican old-timers are scratching their heads at having lost control of the narrative. They've been forced to jump on board this moving train and, as Bill Clinton said recently, this new group of candidates makes George Bush look liberal.

It's also true that Wall Street has issued an energetic "you're dead to me" memo to Obama, despite his relatively gentle handling of their corrupt dealings. When progressives curl their lips at the weakness of Obama's reforms, they should read between the lines of that memo. Obama has pissed off Wall Street. The joyous news that he will appoint middle-class advocate Elizabeth Warren as presidential advisor to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should make big bankers tremble as well. Installing Warren in an advisory position allows Obama to bypass a congressional stonewall of her appointment, putting her to work immediately. If that doesn't encourage you, my progressive friend, nothing will!

With unemployment growing, the President's getting no love for his initial stimulus spending, called by the right an unnecessary giveaway and by the left, too small a fix for a gigantic problem. But let's be fair. I heard an economist say that if you put the recessions of the 1970s, 80s and 90s all together, they wouldn't come close to touching the depth of this one. Although the stimulus did slow the bleeding of public service jobs and stabilize the economic downturn, it was not calculated for this level of financial turmoil. The systemic collapse of the national infrastructure, both literal and figurative, took most of us by surprise and remains a great sucking hole of need, continually politicized. For instance, new census numbers will confirm a sizeable growth in poverty in the next few days, the result of years of neglect by former administrations. Also in the news, Obama has been able to reduce the deficit by 8 percent this year, while keeping taxes at a minimum. Which do you think we'll hear most about?

If we listen to the right on the matter of this election season, it's all over but the shouting. GOP lightweight and bagman, John Boehner, will replace Nancy Pelosi and lead his happy House majority into a frenzy of repeals, investigations and a likely presidential impeachment. Newt Gingrich foresees the government brought to a standstill, a shut-down much as he orchestrated in the 1990s. All spending except military will simply stop as big government is reigned in. States will have to shift for themselves. Big entitlement programs will have to be dismantled as unsustainable. With banks and corporations bearing no financial burden in this experiment, lest their wellbeing be harmed, the average citizen will have to shoulder the difficulties ahead. None of this, I hear you thinking, is acceptable in a rational world, yet this is the very choice we face in just a few weeks.

Thanks to the Baggers, our choices are evident, at least. Those seeking election make even the Republican base nervous. Karl Rove earned the ire of his fellow conservatives by insisting that homophobic, anti-masturbation, pro-creationist senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell of Delaware has no hope to win in November due to her crazy talk. Palin snapped a tweet his way and the rightwing bloggers went after him, fangs bared, which proves Bill Clinton's comment accurate. Think of that! Bush's Brain -- the mastermind of the Bushie governmental takeover -- is passé in the eyes of this new Republican radicalism. Dubya looks positively moderate compared to this extreme collection of Grand Old Party candidates and the core group that supports it.

There seems to be no opinion too absurd or allegation too mean-spirited to stop this new breed of GOPer's. When Gingrich calls Obama a con man, after 'whitey's money,' no one on the right corrects him. When Sarah Palin urges her Mama Grizzlies onward, I think Tupperware Party, but a lot of women across the country think Tea Party and growl in unison. Just about anything rightwing candidate Sharron Angle of Nevada says is flabbergasting. Me, I think there's such a thing as being too damned crazy, and the Republican party has already wandered into that territory, turning its back on serious concerns to embrace the lunatic fringe.

It's possible that we will see the right implode, failing under the weight of its divisions and infighting. I think their extremism will keep them from taking majority in the House and it appears that the Senate is safe. I'd rather see the GOP fade away due to the poverty of its ideology, but the corporations will never let their own party go quietly. The young, the ethnic, the gay, the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free?" The Republican tent has no corner for them. Ultimately, Republicans become more anachronistic by the day. But there's not much Obama can do in the next few weeks to push back against the rightwing rhetoric, especially with unemployment numbers so dire. He's stuck with trying to sell us the message that things could get a lot worse.

The obvious need of the moment is to get out the vote, but the kids and independents that put Obama over the top last time won't be with him this time. There's a lot of energy being produced by the disenchanted on the right, and not much showing but discouragement on the left. I understand that feeling. But if we don't do all that we can to support viable candidates, we may find ourselves with two years of this and this and this. Perhaps that would be the kind of cause/effect that would put the final nail in our old paradigm politics, but it sounds like the kind of painful exercise we all want to avoid. So encourage everyone you know to examine the issues and get out the vote. Tell them things could be a LOT worse, that they could be looking back on George Bush with affectionate longing. And tell them you'll drive them and their friends to the polls.