Don’t Count Out The Crazies: In Politics, Anger Makes Things Happen

By Charles Ellison

President Obama’s long game approach wants the good-guy-always-wins ending once the film credits start rolling.  But, “charm offensive” or none, it doesn’t quite work out that way.  Just like he won his historic 2008 election on anger and frustration with nearly a full decade of Bush status-quo, he managed to pull off a 2012 upset based on the assumption of his authenticity versus that other guy’s lack thereof.  Notions of authenticity are also based on anger, drawn from a hint of fear.  The world has been such an uncertain place to live in since the recession that the public chooses what it knows over what it can’t touch.

Between November and last week, the president appears to have either forgotten that or made a choice to opt for runway swagger.  Either way, the miscalculation is clear.  When the sequester hit, the assignment of blame didn’t matter because it was still a product of Washington.  And, everything and everyone in Washington is as radioactive as a dirty bomb set off in a crowded mall.  It wasn’t so much the sequester as it was the dysfunction it arose from; buck stops with the brother at the top, the microscope of constantly looping media micromanagement hanging over his graying head.

Maybe the onus of getting little done should fall on Republicans, by simple virtue of legislative process.  That’s how it works. But, there were two instances in consecutive months where the president blew his own spot up and acknowledged executive complicity.  There was what one expert claimed was the “defeatist” State of the Union beg for a gun control vote that, in reality, is an admission that none will pass anytime soon.   The other moment was a few days of cool pose stroll through Capitol Hill hallways, including the countless stops and profile pics while waving at cameras.  Each moment corresponds with noticeable dips in polling currency for the president, from a of 54 percent approval after Christmas to a low of 48 percent post-“charm offensive.”

As patronizing and that’s-all-you-got insulting as that might seem, it speaks to the tendency of this president to sometimes underestimate or dismiss the extent of general dissatisfaction.  True: he can afford that luxury given that governance is more important than constantly poking for public acceptance.  But, this White House will have to do more than hope its overtures of bi-partisanship will crowd out the noisy media cycle of conservative wolf packs snapping for a future electoral kill all last week.   Cute is out.  The public hungers for a little grunge and candor in their politics, as much as we gasp at the latest gaffe.

Closer attention should be paid to the anger boiling every time a tight wallet drives by $4/gallon gas prices.  Debates in Washington seem happily preoccupied with questions on the debt and the deficit.  Wonks talk till their red and blue in the face about how much government spends and how much we should be making.  Yet, no one wants to talk about how high shit really is – over 30 percent of Americans, according to a recent YouGov poll, worry about paying their mortgage.  From the rent to the grocery bill to five-minute parking and the $100 movie night, we seem to pay a fee for everything except air.  But, keep it up and we’ll see that coming to a plastic bottle near you.

The bottom line is that angry is still in.  The end of the political equation is which candidate learns how to best harness that angry energy.  Republicans continue besting Democrats with this, and they are already considering new tactical shifts in that direction. A recent poll commissioned by the conservative YG Network urged the GOP to talk less about the debt, deficit and spending cuts and dwell more on kitchen table issues like gas prices and education.

The White House, therefore, shouldn’t count out the crazies and will have to, perhaps, take on a little crazy face to counter any assault. For months, country club Republicans and Ivy League Democrats ridiculed the rise of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a brief visceral blip on the crazy screen.  But, Paul’s persistence – while uncomfortably reminiscent of a clumsy comic book villain – paid off when the White House had no choice but to formally respond to his 13-hour long filibuster outburst on the Senate floor.

While Paul could very well end up just as much a flavor of the next month as his curmudgeon Hobbit of a father Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), we can’t discount the fact that he’s a step ahead of the elder.  There’s an unscripted and unpredictable nature that will appeal to the angry and cynical masses, the appearance of a politician unafraid of having nothing to lose.  Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) gives off that scent, as well, and 2016 could see the rise of insurgent voters and rebel candidates who piss on manicured candidates who look good in straw polls, get six figure book deals or are smooth when they reach for bottled water during a televised fast-talk. Republicans should keep an eye on it as their party threatens to fracture into a third way spin-off; Democrats may want to keep track of younger idealists who want strong, no-nuance positions on domestic drones and legalized marijuana.  People of color will want to watch it all cautiously so they don’t end up getting trapped in the middle.