The conservatives are going nuts about Obama's new Supreme Court appointment. They're accusing the president of a return to "Identity Politics" (whatever that means), or "racial politics" and scolding and pointing and hyperventilating and generally complaining balefully to whoever will listen.
The thing that gets forgotten in all the coverage-- the thing the media seem reluctant to bring up or point out-- is that the President is exercising "democratic politics," and he's doing that because the voters have spoken and said that's what they want.
In the last two major national elections the conservatives and the Republicans were not just defeated, they were put to rout! The American electorate expressed their complete rejection of the right everywhere-- unseating entrenched veterans, and electing unabashedly liberal newcomers. By the time of the stock market collapse and the real estate implosion the fat cats were practically leaving town of their own accord. Having a Bush or Cheney stumping for a candidate was tantamount to political suicide.
The Republicans had been outed as a corrupt, venal, and altogether unappealing organization, with no clue how to deal with (or tools to work on) the very real problems facing the American people. All they knew how to do was stoke the status quo-- less financial regulation, and more oil drilling!
A week or two before Paulsen told Congress to cough up 900 billion dollars to Wall Street or else, John McCain was mouthing the words of his old friend Phil Gramm, and telling everyone there wasn't a financial crisis, it was just cry-babies. Bush lied to Congress about the war, Rumsfeld lied about torture, Cheney lied about everything while he holed up in the secret government bunker, hoping everyone else would blow up, so he could take over, and oh, also enriched his former company, Halliburton, with no-bid, cost plus contracts beyond the size of even capitalist fantasies. That's when Sarah Palin climbed out onto her roof to watch for the Russians, and the American people said, "whew, let's get out of here," and elected Obama and filled Congress with a Democratic majority in the House, and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
The voters said NO in 2006, and they said NO even louder in 2008. Now the Republicans are a shattered party, their members scattered and confused, snarling and snapping and fighting among themselves. Rush is attacking Colin, Arlen defects, and Steele throws up his hands.
So let's stop talking about (or listening to others complain about) how unfair it is for Obama to be exercising "identity politics," and let's call it what it is. Obama is doing what the American people asked loud and clear-- get rid of the failed conservative policies and their corrupt, cronyist, greed driven, fear-mongering supporters-- and get on with addressing the real problems that plague our society. We have a financial crisis, a health care crisis, a real estate crisis, an unemployment crisis, a shadowy, paranoid police state, and a huge budget crisis, as well as two wars in Asia and huge image and trust problems among our allies-- and these aren't the result of Obama's actions, he inherited them. But they've got to be fixed.
Who knows, given some luck and a little support, he might just make some progress.
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