Are all Americans Mad as Hell at Everything in Washington?
The ability to generalize, to see commonality in different things is often a key to greater understanding. It is also very often the mistake of logic that prevents us from uncovering the truth. Most men are bullies, women are too emotional to be good leaders, politicians are thieves. Maybe it’s true of some, but is it more true of the named group then the general population? Maybe that is why these generalizations are so popular, they relieve us from the burden of analyzing the issue more closely.
In 2016 the most common generalization is that everyone is mad as hell with Washington and the whole political establishment. In proof of this theory we are told to consider the success of Trump, the success of Bernie and the polls that say a vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in Washington. We hear this “truism” repeated over and over again without any suggestion that there might be evidence to the contrary.
BUT there is such evidence and it is on front page display. President Obama and Michelle are the most popular surrogates for Hillary Clinton. He has the highest end of term approval rating of any President in modern times and you can bet Hillary’s use of him in this way is based on much more detailed research than that. The majority of voters that she needs to win, enthusiastically like and believe Barack Obama. And this in a time when almost all institutions are held in low public esteem. Clearly, the public hates em all theory is NOT true. So what in the devil is going on here?
Let’s go back and look at the supporting evidence. First, Trump. He got the nomination running against everything: his opponents, the President, the Republican leaders, the Democratic leaders, Hillary, Bill, Generals. In Trump world the only good thing in Washington is the new Trump Hotel. This won him the nomination and he has pretty much stuck with it. Let’s be clear, a non-incumbent Republican getting primary points for attacking a Democratic President isn’t proof of much, but scoring with Republicans by attacking Republican leaders in Congress is powerful evidence of Republican voter dissatisfaction. It is also worth noting he didn’t just base this on personalities, he went after major planks of the Post-Reagan Republicanism: immigration reform, free trade, cutting social security, Medicare,and distrust of Russia. So Trump proves that the Republican half of the anger equation is true.
So why doesn’t Bernie prove the same thing on the Democratic side? First, Hillary won by making herself the keeper of the Obama legacy. Second Bernie went to great lengths to identify with Obama. In almost every speech he bragged about his support of Obama in 2008 and 2012. He made a highly publicized visit to Obama during the race. His message was crafted to be “Thank you Obama, now we are going to build on what you’ve done by going even further.” This approach might be compared to a loving child taking over the family business, appreciative of all that has been done, but anxious to modernize, not an angry critic.
So we are left with that poll about dissatisfaction with Washington. That is an age old measurement tool and it should be scrapped because it often does more to confuse than enlighten. I was asked this very question in a poll 3 weeks ago. I said I was very dissatisfied. I am dissatisfied with a Congress which does nothing but block progress, block infrastructure improvements, block efforts to keep guns out of the hands of homegrown terrorists, block the supreme court… Did my highly dissatisfied answer give any idea they were talking to a voter who went door to door in New Hampshire, contributed generously, caucused and voted twice for Barack Obama. A former instructor of American History who believes President Obama ranks with the near greats of the American Presidency, with Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy, just below FDR, Lincoln and Washington. No a casual reader of the poll would put me in the same bag as Trump
Q.E.D. when it comes to madness, voters are not united, they are sharply divided. More than half (55%?) are pleased with Obama’s efforts. Many are dissatisfied just with Republicans in Congress (45%), and many are mad at everybody in Washington (35%).
Mad is not the word to describe how my friends feel. Sadness is the right word. Sadness from a sense of loss from the not long ago days when both parties competed by trying to take credit for the good things they did together, as well the battles they fought with each other. Muskie and Nixon both took credit for the EPA, Dirksen and Johnson for the Civil Rights Act, Senators Mitchell and Dole for prompt consideration of Supreme Court Appointments. It’s hard to see the road back, but it certainly must begin by rejecting the least civil Presidential candidate in our lifetime and anyone of his fellow party members who haven’t cleanly rejected him.
In 2016 the most common generalization is that everyone is mad as hell with Washington and the whole political establishment. In proof of this theory we are told to consider the success of Trump, the success of Bernie and the polls that say a vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in Washington. We hear this “truism” repeated over and over again without any suggestion that there might be evidence to the contrary.
BUT there is such evidence and it is on front page display. President Obama and Michelle are the most popular surrogates for Hillary Clinton. He has the highest end of term approval rating of any President in modern times and you can bet Hillary’s use of him in this way is based on much more detailed research than that. The majority of voters that she needs to win, enthusiastically like and believe Barack Obama. And this in a time when almost all institutions are held in low public esteem. Clearly, the public hates em all theory is NOT true. So what in the devil is going on here?
Let’s go back and look at the supporting evidence. First, Trump. He got the nomination running against everything: his opponents, the President, the Republican leaders, the Democratic leaders, Hillary, Bill, Generals. In Trump world the only good thing in Washington is the new Trump Hotel. This won him the nomination and he has pretty much stuck with it. Let’s be clear, a non-incumbent Republican getting primary points for attacking a Democratic President isn’t proof of much, but scoring with Republicans by attacking Republican leaders in Congress is powerful evidence of Republican voter dissatisfaction. It is also worth noting he didn’t just base this on personalities, he went after major planks of the Post-Reagan Republicanism: immigration reform, free trade, cutting social security, Medicare,and distrust of Russia. So Trump proves that the Republican half of the anger equation is true.
So why doesn’t Bernie prove the same thing on the Democratic side? First, Hillary won by making herself the keeper of the Obama legacy. Second Bernie went to great lengths to identify with Obama. In almost every speech he bragged about his support of Obama in 2008 and 2012. He made a highly publicized visit to Obama during the race. His message was crafted to be “Thank you Obama, now we are going to build on what you’ve done by going even further.” This approach might be compared to a loving child taking over the family business, appreciative of all that has been done, but anxious to modernize, not an angry critic.
So we are left with that poll about dissatisfaction with Washington. That is an age old measurement tool and it should be scrapped because it often does more to confuse than enlighten. I was asked this very question in a poll 3 weeks ago. I said I was very dissatisfied. I am dissatisfied with a Congress which does nothing but block progress, block infrastructure improvements, block efforts to keep guns out of the hands of homegrown terrorists, block the supreme court… Did my highly dissatisfied answer give any idea they were talking to a voter who went door to door in New Hampshire, contributed generously, caucused and voted twice for Barack Obama. A former instructor of American History who believes President Obama ranks with the near greats of the American Presidency, with Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy, just below FDR, Lincoln and Washington. No a casual reader of the poll would put me in the same bag as Trump
Q.E.D. when it comes to madness, voters are not united, they are sharply divided. More than half (55%?) are pleased with Obama’s efforts. Many are dissatisfied just with Republicans in Congress (45%), and many are mad at everybody in Washington (35%).
Mad is not the word to describe how my friends feel. Sadness is the right word. Sadness from a sense of loss from the not long ago days when both parties competed by trying to take credit for the good things they did together, as well the battles they fought with each other. Muskie and Nixon both took credit for the EPA, Dirksen and Johnson for the Civil Rights Act, Senators Mitchell and Dole for prompt consideration of Supreme Court Appointments. It’s hard to see the road back, but it certainly must begin by rejecting the least civil Presidential candidate in our lifetime and anyone of his fellow party members who haven’t cleanly rejected him.