More to come apres l’accident de voiture . . . well, if Alessandra Stanley says it, it must be so. But Stanley is this once much more perceptive than the tiresome Joan Walsh. Walsh, Olbermann and the Maddows of the world don’t seem to realize that it is no longer 2003-4. Being an Oppositionist is no longer a furtive, brave thing. No one beyond the 30% dead enders doubts the essential critique. Especially today.
Perversely, the more shrill Olbermann, Walsh or in the tank Tweety, MSNBC et al. are for Obama, the more it actually galvanizes the (until St. Paul moribund) Republican base. And one does wonder what will become of all of the above under a Boy King reign. What will they really do? Their self identity the past eight years (understandably) is one of beleaguered outrage. (or in Tweety’s case, shamelessly tacking with the wind, so let’s drop him as an outlier). What new phantoms will they need to shadow box? To retain the cognitive focus and emotional engine that sustains them. Will they belatedly discover the Boy King campaigned as all things to all people?
In Japan, they defined Imperial Rule under different ages for a given Emperor since the Meiji Restoration. Hirohito’s tumultous reign is the Showa period. The new Heisei era began in 1989 when his son Akihito took the throne. We seemingly are on the edge of our own new era: nobika na funari (serene inexperience).
One good sign. The Godzilla and Gamera movies improved noticeably in the Heisei era. So there’s always some hope here.