Polls show Americans angrier and more polarized
than at any time since the Vietnam War. That's not surprising. We have
the worst economy since the Great Recession and the worst politics in
living memory. The rise of the regressive right over the last three
decades has finally spurred a progressive reaction. Occupiers and others
have had enough.
Yet paradoxically, the presidential race that officially begins a few
months from now is likely to be as passionless as they come.
President Obama will be supported by progressives and the Democratic
base, but without enthusiasm. His notorious caves to Republicans and
Wall Street -- failing to put conditions on the Street's bailout (such as
demanding the Street help stranded home owners), or to resurrect
Glass-Steagall, or include a public option in health care, or assert his
constitutional responsibility to raise the debt limit, or protect
Medicare and Social Security, or push for cap-and-trade, or close
Guantanamo, or, in general, confront the regressive Republican
nay-sayers and do-nothings with toughness rather than begin negotiations
by giving them much of what they want -- are not the stuff that stirs a
passionate following.
Mitt Romney will surely be the Republican presidential candidate --
and Romney inspires as little enthusiasm among Republicans as Obama does
among Democrats. The GOP will support Romney because, frankly, he's the
only major Republican primary candidate who does not appear to the
broader public to be nuts.
But Republicans don't like Romney. His glib, self-serving,
say-whatever-it-takes-to-win-the-primaries approach strikes almost
everyone as contrived and cynical. Moreover, Romney is the establishment
personified -- a pump-and-dump takeover financier, for crying out loud --
at the very time the GOP (and much of the rest of the country) are
becoming more anti-establishment by the day.
At this point neither the Republican right nor the mainstream media
wants to admit the yawn-inducing truth that Mitt will be the GOP's
candidate. The right doesn't want to admit it because it will be seen as
a repudiation of the Tea Party. The media doesn't want to because
they'd prefer to sell newspapers and attract eyeballs.
The media
are keeping the story of Rick Perry's cringe-inducing implosion going
for the same reason they're keeping the story of Herman Cain's equally
painful decline going -- because the public is forever fascinated by the
gruesome sight of dying candidacies. With Bachmann, Perry, and Cain gone
or disintegrating, the right wing-nuts of the GOP have only one hope
left: Newt Gingrich. His star will rise briefly before he, too, is
pilloried for the bizarre things he's uttered in the past and for his
equally bizarre private life. His fall will be equally sudden (although I
don't think Gingrich is capable of embarrassment).
And so we'll be left with two presidential candidates who don't
inspire -- at the very time in American history when Americans crave
inspiration.
Instead of a big debate about the basics (how to truly restore jobs
and wages, financial capitalism versus product capitalism, the place and
role of America in the world, how to rescue our democracy), we're
likely to have a superficial debate over symbols (the budget deficit,
the size of government, whether we need a "businessman" at the helm).
This means political passions are likely to move elsewhere -- finding
their voices in grass-roots movements, social media, demonstrations,
boycotts, and meet-ups -- on the Main Streets and in the backwaters, and
only episodically in the mainstream media or in normal election-year
events.
In some ways this may not be such a bad thing. The regressive right
has had thirty years to build itself into a political power.
Newly-energized progressives (Occupiers and others) need enough time to
develop concrete proposals and strategies. What's the rush? If polls are
to be believed, most of the nation is progressive, not regressive
(witness last Tuesday's results in Wisconsin and elsewhere). So it is,
after all, only a matter of time.
Yet viewed another way, a passionless presidential race may be
dangerous for America. The nation's problems may not wait. They require
bold action, and soon.