A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.
A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters' confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that "they are all crooks," and that "government is no good," further leading them to think, "a plague on both your houses" and "the parties are like two kids in a school yard." This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s - a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn ("Government is the problem," declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).
The media are also complicit in this phenomenon. Ever since the bifurcation of electronic media into a more or less respectable "hard news" segment and a rabidly ideological talk radio and cable TV political propaganda arm, the "respectable" media have been terrified of any criticism for perceived bias. Hence, they hew to the practice of false evenhandedness...
This constant drizzle of "there the two parties go again!" stories out of the news bureaus, combined with the hazy confusion of low-information voters, means that the long-term Republican strategy of undermining confidence in our democratic institutions has reaped electoral dividends.
He laid out the two-pronged process very well. First of all, Republicans make legislating impossible. And secondly, when they do so, the media creates a narrative of false equivalency about who is to blame. Of course, the specific poutrage contribution to all of this is their incessant screaming about President Obama being a "weak capitulator." It rounds out the narrative quite nicely in crafting the idea that both sides are to blame.
But given this GOP strategy, the question becomes, "What should President Obama do to promote the idea of good government?" The reality is that if he took the poutragers "advice," he would draw lines in the sand and promote policies that have no way of getting the support of even a majority of Democrats (ie, single payer health care). That would not only ensure that nothing would get done, it would cement inertia and feed the idea that both parties do it.
When you can get the poutragers to admit that this would certainly not sway Republican votes our way, they usually fall back on the idea that it would clarify the policy options. But as Lofgren points out, Republicans know the electorate better than that or they wouldn't have employed this strategy in the first place. What they know that the poutragers don't is that it would simply "undermine confidence in our democratic institutions" and therefore reap political gains for the Republicans.
Anyone who reads here regularly is probably tired of hearing me use this 2005 quote from Obama. But it makes this point so clearly and shows that, rather than being naive about Republican obstruction, he came into office fully aware of the phenomena and determined to do something about it.
I firmly believe that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, or oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. A polarized electorate that is turned off of politics, and easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government because, in the end, a cynical electorate is a selfish electorate...
Our goal should be to stick to our guns on those core values that make this country great, show a spirit of flexibility and sustained attention that can achieve those goals, and try to create the sort of serious, adult, consensus around our problems that can admit Democrats, Republicans and Independents of good will. This is more than just a matter of "framing," although clarity of language, thought, and heart are required. It's a matter of actually having faith in the American people's ability to hear a real and authentic debate about the issues that matter.
As has been the case from day one of his Presidency, Obama is offering the people an alternative. It's up to us as voters to decide if we deserve it.
I’m often amused that liberals criticize Obama for being “weak”. They’re unrelenting in spreading the narrative that he has “caved” or “capitulated” to Republicans. Of course, any objective observer of politics is aware that Obama frequently fights; but with little – or no support – from Democrats.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the media paraded Paul Ryan around in April as championing a “bold” and “courageous” plan to address the nation’s budget woes. The president was accused for “failing” to deliver his own budget plan; despite acknowledging that he had already delivered a budget proposal to Congress in February. But true to form, Obama quickly turned the narrative around on Republicans.
After he gave a budget speech – or perhaps a budget rebuttal – to Paul Ryan’s plan, the Republicans and their media-lapdogs accused the president of “partisan politics” and for being “mean” to Ryan. Yes, that’s right – they said he was mean to Ryan. Just go Google or Bing it. The headlines and political commentary from April will make your head spin.
But where were the liberals and progressives to defend the president? After all, he spoke out strongly for liberal principles in the speech. He fiercely advocated for their ideals.
When the president fights – and the media and Republicans attack him from all sides – the liberals and progressives shamelessly sit in their network studio armchairs and whine incessantly about something he hasn’t done yet.
That’s their shtick; predictably cheap and full of crap.
I've thought of that April speech by Obama a lot lately. Even some of his critics on the left called it the best defense of liberal values in decades. Oh my, how quickly they forget! Maybe that's why they harp on the idea of the bully pulpit so often. In a week or two, they've completely forgotten what he said.
ReplyDelete@Smartypants - Thanks for your reply. You're so right about that. Or it's a severe case of selective-amnesia.
ReplyDelete"How quickly they forget" is what I was thinking, too. That speech was in April, nd wasn't it in May that President Obama took down Bin Laden and Trump, on the same weekend? We had folks shouting about its "illegality" on the left, and folks saying, "Well, it's bc Bush tortured" on the right, but at least people shut up about Obama's "weakness" for about 6 weeks.
ReplyDeleteThen came the debt ceiling conflict, and it seems like both emo-left and right have doubled-down on their disrespect of this president. It almost seems like a concerted plan between the two groups to destroy the gains Obama made in taking down Bin Laden. And it's scary, bc it seems to be having an impact on public perceptions.
"It's a matter of actually having faith in the American people's ability to hear a real and authentic debate about the issues that matter."
ReplyDeleteWhenever the President's message penetrates to the American people, they prove over and over that they are adult enough to hear and understand what he says. Americans appreciate being spoken to as adults and it drives the GOP and Far Left crazy when he succeeds in being heard. He is, little by little, changing the debate in this country. He is succeeding in 'framing' things like taxing the rich (a concept that is taking hold in the electorate). He's forcing the GOP to start talking about jobs, which they have been trying to avoid for almost a year now. Everything he does that brings the discourse back around to jobs is a plus.
With regard to the GOP's strategy to undermine people's faith in government, the last thing in the world they wanted to see was an efficient and effective FEMA getting good press.