That the mood in this country is sour seems beyond debate. Ronald Brownstein sums up the sentiment nicely in this week’s National Journal: “If polls existed just before the French Revolution, they might have returned results such as these.” One pollster has (appropriately, I think) called this the “JetBlue Election” – a reference to our newest rebel folk hero, Steven Slater.
No doubt, campaign consultants across the country are at this very moment scheming on the ways that challenger candidates can tap into same great ur-fantasy that Steven Slater embodied: that each of us has the courage to lash out at the forces of oppression stifling our creativity and genius and, in so doing, be rewarded as heroes. (Get government off our backs! Stop the corruption in Washington!).
Still, these candidates ought to be careful: they are playing with fire.
No doubt many voters out there, feeling great personal frustration for any number of reasons, are increasingly receptive to the too-good-to-be-true secret that lashing out in anger may actually be the best way to solve things. Hence, the great success of the Tea Party. It offers the same seductive solution as Steven Slater: salvation through anger. (Never mind that under normal circumstances, Mr. Slater would now be facing a the rather unpleasant reality of being unemployed and unemployable, as opposed to reality of a possible reality show.)
The temptation for challenger candidates, of course, will be to stoke such sentiment in hopes that they will be the ones to profit from it. But such challengers ought to be careful what they stir up and what they promise. Those who come to Washington on the bold premise that they will be the ones to shake the place out of its alleged abominations are likely to face a sorely disappointed electorate when things don’t, in fact, change immediately (see Obama, Barack).
After all, when the challenger becomes the incumbent, the blame Washington meme isn’t so helpful anymore. (And remember, even if Republicans do manage to regain some control in Congress, it’s not like they are much beloved either. The latest WSJ/NBC poll finds positive feelings about the Republican Party at a new 21-year low: just 24 percent.)
So then, a word to candidates, especially challengers: Be careful. Take succor from the sour mood at your own peril. Teaching voters that lashing out in anger is the best way to solve problems is a lesson they will not forget as easily as you might wish.
Photo Credit: Spackletoe’s photostream
