WASHINGTON — The Democrats are about to be beaten by something
that they do not in their heart of hearts think exists, a huge
national majority. At this late hour, with the storm clouds
gathering and the livestock getting restless, they see only
sunshine. Yes, there is “foreign money” out there. Yes, the media
has bungled broadcasting the purity of the Democratic message. And
naturally angry voices can be heard. Yet surely there is no
majority gathering to unseat the party of decency and good deeds.
Well, there is, and it is nothing like the Democrats describe
it.
That majority is amiable, sensible, and believes in
limited government. It is convinced that we face a catastrophic
budget crisis, and that measures must be taken against the spending
and on behalf of growth. Furthermore, many of these friendly
Americans would be delighted to give our President a ride home if
they found him on a street corner, though they would be a lot
happier if he did not live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They doubt
he would ask them in for a drink. After all, to him they do not
exist.
Many of these people are Tea Partiers. Now they certainly
do exist. Yet they are nothing like the Democrats believe them to
be. They are not angry and warlike. They are concerned about what
the Democrats have done these past months, but they will retire
them the old fashioned way, through the ballot box.
Our President has a difficult time conceiving of this
growing majority who oppose him. Apparently in May, President Obama
asked a group of presidential historians over to the White House to
discuss history and to inform him of any historic movements
comparable to the Tea Party Movement in all of American history.
The historians told him what he wanted to hear. As Peter Baker
wrote in the New York Times Magazine, the President wanted
to know whether there were “precedents for this sort of backlash
against the establishment? What sparked them and how did they shape
American politics.” Reportedly the historians spoke of the
“Know-Nothings” of the 1850s, the Populists of the 1890s, and the
Coughlinites of the 1930s. Thus our President was reassured. They
were racists and fruitcakes. He heard nothing to challenge his smug
sense of history.
Yet, once again he was misinformed by his experts. Michael
Barone speaks more accurately of the historic precursors to the Tea
Party Movement. He says voters concerned about limited government
and federal spending were forming a prodigious movement toward the
end of the 1930s. The movement in his mind might have successfully
challenged President Franklin D. Roosevelt by 1940, but the rising
threat of Nazism intervened. Doubtless there have been other
precursors to the Tea Party Movement, for instance the original Tea
Partiers back in colonial Boston. The truth is there has been a tug
between big centralized government and local government since the
founding of the Republic.
Reading the piece by Baker was an odd experience. It was
talking about a president who in less than two years has lost the
trust of the American people, especially Independents. It quoted
soaring rhetoric from Obama in June of 2008 when he said, “we will
be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment
when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the
jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to
slow and our planet [the whole planet!] began to heal; this was the
moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our
image as the last, best hope on earth.” After that there will be
nothing to do, so we can all play golf or read a good
book.
There was also this: “Obama’s team takes pride that he has
fulfilled three of the five major promises he laid out as pillars
of his ‘new foundation’… — health care, education reform, and
financial reregulation.” So what? Education reform is a nullity.
Ten years from now, test scores will still be in the drink. As for
the other monstrosities, they are a large part of the Obama
disaster. The growing majority that is about to retire Obama’s
Democratic majority in the House and possibly in the Senate knows
this. The Ruling Class, including Baker, seems to be oblivious of
it, but the rest of the nation knows it.
Socialism is another of the gods that have failed. If you
balk at my use of the word socialism, how about if I say Liberalism
is another of the gods that have failed? What is astonishing is
precisely how extreme the Liberalism practiced by Obama and the
Democrats has been. Well, it has failed. The Liberals show no hint
that they realize this, but the American majority does. Now that
majority has to deal with the mess we are in. As for the Liberals,
they have to explain why they are summarily leaving
office.
