Archives for 2009

How to govern a bowl of jello? Obama manifestly believes it can be done by rationality, small ‘p’ politics (and its hobbled cousin, expediency), and when convenient, various elements of the progressive canon. He knowingly does so facing a semi-literate, largely irrational and a-technological demos via decayed/ing intermediary political institutions at the federal, state and local levels.

Mixed in with the goo, he must stir trillions in bailouts, funds which we don’t have now or any foreseeable means of acquiring. Pragmatism demands it. A domestic counter-revolution was closer than many comprehend. And the trillions may even add to the flavor along the way, or so he believes.

The malignant Movement conversely believes jello demands to be treated like jello. In fact, will only respect those who treat it as such. In this, the Movement is not too far apart from some of the Left who also seek to impose their heightened sensibilities on the quivering mass and can’t fathom Obama’s refusal to slam the jello into their preferred kitty-shaped molds. (But these molds are the ones with little stars in the corners!).

What’s really fascinating is that Obama really doesn’t have a natural constituency. He’s got a patch quilt of quiescent (or heretofore quiescent) globular interests, coagulating into lumpen cysts in the mix. Wall Street? Throw money at them. Manufacturing? Throw a lot less. Rule of Law naive types? Just a few c notes. It’s all so complicated. Even the talking heads can’t be bothered to learn the talking points. Besides, everyone still hates lawyers more than Cheney. Oh, and do something on credit cards.

The larger, more important ‘infrastructure’ work to be done – rebuilding American liberal democracy doesn’t have a PAC. No Bill Donohue screaming on television that the Catholic Church has always been pro science. Is there a constituency that believes in small ‘r’ republicanism? That believes restoring intermediary political and social bodies between the citizen and the State are essential for small ‘l’ and small ‘d’ liberal democracy? None that we can find. What’s a zip code for the targeted mailing?

It’s not as if Obama isn’t trying to cajole the ooze to seep in another direction. At Notre Dame’s commencement he said:

Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice.

Nice words. But little real action so far. Obama will stand or fall on how he gratifies the goo’s materialism by 2011. Recall that Reagan was very down in the polls when 1983 started. But by 2012, he must come up with the equivalent of new SUVs in the driveways once more (with some sort of green sticker in the window), summers on the Hamptons again, some rickety scheme that can be called ‘health care’ reform that will grossly engorge AARP’s coffers (which bought off AARP on the Warlord’s plan), a jobless rate below 8% and a Dow (yes, we know, an irrelevant barometer but a potent political totem) around 8,800-9,000. The red, white and blue goo will rise up as one gelatinous mass and crown him once more. USA ! USA!

All transitory. All based on artificial fiscal stimulus. Axlerod et al. know that no one ever fed a family on green slogans with enthusiasm for dessert. New Homo Americanus can be and will be a fickle infant indeed.

Newt, Cheney and the brighter Wing Nuts mock Obama’s conceit that he can converse with goo. They learned and still believe that one can scare goo, bash goo, mislead goo, yell at goo, tread on goo, but never ever forget it is just goo. The internal ‘Republican’ (note not Movement) polls show the catastrophic state of the Republican Party in every conceivable demographic. Now Newt et al. do read polls. But there’s a cold calculation behind dismissing the calls for ‘change’, ‘moderation’, etc. They also know that goo is lead, prodded, pushed, shoved and shoveled. But it’s a fool’s errand to chase goo. A 20% something highly energized base is far more valuable to them now.

The Movement also knows that if a lie is repeated loudly and long enough the goo will absorb it as true. For example, waterboarding by all historical, legal, moral and operational precedent is torture. That’s a debate they’ve done fairly well in clouding. Moreover, in short time this will be Obama’s recession. Obama’s bankruptcy. Obama’s foreign policy retreat. A goo fleeing back to pre-literate visual and symbolic infotainment above all lacks capacity for conceptual manipulation and memory reconstruction. In this sense, the Movement’s flailing about does itself little *medium term* harm. 2010 is probably too early for reconstitution in any event. It’s not an unwise strategy to stoke the goo’s darker impulses and hope for a George H.W. Bush 1992 recession/recovery replay for 2011/2012.

Ceteris paribus as the economists say, we prefer to be governed by someone attempting to engage the American demos with cognitive discourse. We enjoy coherent logic that demands attention. But can discourse really effect *qualitative* change in goo? Obama apparently thinks so. His unequaled visibility in micro infotainment channels such as The Tonight Show, etc. are calculated to take his discourse strategy to, well, where the goo is. And the Stiftung is actually encouraged by his apparent success to date.

But let’s not mistake things for what they are. Obama’s re-election hinges not on words but things on the ground: (a) the unemployment rate; and (b) satiating the goo’s material impulses. Gitmo and all that are in the end ephemera, Turley and Olbermann’s stomping of feet and gnashing of teeth aside. Discourse will not get shoppers stampeding into Walmart for $19.95 DVD players.

Any grander political science project to restore America to even a shade of her liberal democratic past — even if begun now — will last well beyond his potential eight years. Truly a neat trick, that. And let’s not forget that Obama himself emerged from the goo and is partly informed by it.