Attack of the couch potatoes is a wholly appropriate way to describe the upcoming election in the USA. Elections don’t count that much anymore. Going into the 2008 election, more than one poll showed figures of 60% or better of potential voters saying the whole enterprise to be a waste of time. Hence, the full-court press by the Mainstream Media to artificially create excitement cum hysteria about Obama.
It’s still amusing to think of all the erstwhile liberals falling for an old-time minstrel show. Where have all the liberals gone? Over the cliff with Obama.
Since the time of Reagan especially, US elections have become a subsidiary of the television & advertising business. Just a collection of paid images floating by; very little thought involved and hardly any memory.
If it doesn’t happen on television, it doesn’t happen. Thus the effort by the Neo-Con news outlet, Fox News, to exclude Ron Paul from a Republican candidate debate on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary. They substituted Fred Thompson who was further down in the polls. A real-life Manchurian Candidate, he once played a conservative on TV.
Egged on by Fox News, Republican couch potatoes will turn out in force for the election while many demoralized Democrats will stay home and lick their self-inflicted wounds. My advice to Democrats: Go on a good drunk if you can still afford it.
And don’t think the Democratic Establishment doesn’t secretly desire a Republican romp; they do. Neither major party really wants total control because you might be required to do something constructive for their rank & file.
Remember the Republicans entering 2005? They held the White House, both Houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Federal Reserve, the regulatory agencies, a majority of the governorships, and had the support of 70% of the media. What did they have to show for it? A no-win War in Iraq started under false pretenses, the biggest national debt in our history–82% of the national debt thus far has been spent by Republicans–a simmering sub rosa race war and lots of undocumented immigrants adding to business profits. Having nominal total control, they set themselves up to lose.
No sweat for Obama. If his campaign was Jimmy Carter made over as a rock star, his mode of governing is pure Bill Clinton. Clinton didn’t give a shit for the Democrats who elected him; he was purely for Clinton. Remember triangulation? Under Clinton, the Democratic Party sunk to it lowest ebb since before the New Deal. But Clinton served two terms. And because he toed the Oligarchy’s Party Line, he emerged from the White House in shape to become a multi-millionaire. Not bad for a law professor with a zipper problem.
Now it’s Obama’s turn. He’s on a fast track to become a one-term wonder. But after a Democratic rout in November, he’ll tell his supporters that it’s the GOP’s fault that he can’t accomplish all the wonderful things he promised. The 2012 campaign will be off and running.
