The Bewitching Hour

In a sense, this is a bewitching hour of sorts; the time between raising hell over the Department of Homeland Security's latest report (I mean: damn!)and simultaneously promoting and scaring people over the "Tea Parties." The time when those who oppose "Big Government" (read: either President Obama, the Democratic Party, liberals/progressives, a combination of the three or all of the above) are preparing for what they promise to be an event bigger than the Million Man March, the 2006 LA protests, the anti-war movement and the current protests against the banks combined.

The biggest link between the two events is the sense that "right wing extremism" and "conservatism" has somehow come to mean the same thing (at least, judging by the various reactions) despite President Obama's statements to the contrary. Obama has been careful not to accuse his critics of being anti-American (unlike his predecessor), but at the same time he's questioned their alternatives (assuming they had any). The DHS report has little to do with Rush Limbaugh or Michelle Malkin; if anything it's about the people who listen to them/read them and think that the best way they can "help" is through violent means.

As far as the Tea Parties go: you have FoxNews hyping this event; which is crossing the line between peaceful protesting and aggressive rioting. They may deny this, but they can't deny the fervor of those last few days in the November 2008 election: Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain going to rallies, trying to ignore the cries of "He's [Obama] a terrorist!" or "Traitor!" as they themselves threw out phrases like "his associations" and "spread the wealth around." Clearly the goal was to paint then-Sen. Obama as a terrorist-sympathizing socialist (a meme that hasn't stopped, BTW). History is repeating itself with the Tea Parties, and only those who haven't paid attention fail to see it.

The reality is this:

1. America voiced her opinion on November 4th, 2008. People protested the results of the 2000 Election, but I don't remember that activism making President Bush rush to sign resignation papers. That's because when all was said and done the election (with a little help from the Supreme Court) was the final indicator. And to show the how much those "Bush wasn't legitimate" uprising mattered, the guy won re-election. Bottom line: if you want real change, vote (in local, state and federal elections). Or even better: participate by running your own campaign.
2. Financially and Economically-speaking, the protests are ass-backwards. Middle-class folk are supposedly angry because Obama wants to roll back the Bush tax cuts that affected the upper class (or should I say the upper class of the upper class). Assuming Obama sticks to his campaign promise, the middle class will receive a tax credit. Adding to this crazy salad: rich people actually voted for Obama in the 2008 Election. So really: where is the outrage coming from? What exactly has Obama "done" to "generate" such "ire?"
3. Politically-speaking, the protesters are a day late and a dollar short. The economic climate originated under the Bush Administration; how they are framing this as something Obama is responsible for is extremely dubious. For example, here's a quote from one of the young protesters: "I'm tired of playing party politics and I want people to start caring about the issues. I would to see some real debate and dialogue." Again, were people like him asleep last summer? Doesn't anyone remember the numerous Democratic Debates on top of the Obama vs McCain standoffs? Taxes were debated repeatedly and Obama won the battle. But I seriously can't point to the event where our current President "galvanized" people against "big government spending."

By contrast, there were plenty of last straws during the Bush Administration: "Mission Accomplished;" Terri Schiavo; "saving" Social Security; response to Hurricane Katrina; "Bring 'em on" and the Let's-Put-In-A-Constitutional-Amendment-Banning-Gay-Marriage. But the common thread here was that none of these things occurred during his first 100 days. What's going on now is the equivalent of protesting George W. Bush over his stance on stem cell research (which was the topic of his first public statement).