Over at AlterNet, Mark Ames reports on his forays into the right-wing mediasphere, commenting on the curiously conciliatory tone coming from neoconservatives who defamed Obama in the most nasty way during the election, people who called liberals traitors, etc. The Bill Kristols and Brit Humes and Karl Roves and John McCains of the world who spent months whipping up a frenzy among certain segments of the American public have called for reconciliation and even civility in the wake of Obama’s victory. But foot soldiers of the right are confused about this new koombaya attitude on the part of their cynical leaders:
Like the much more numerous Freepers, the mob at Pajamas Media is outraged because they have been betrayed. It’s not just that the liberals betrayed them, but that the leaders they’d followed — Fox News, right-wing bloggers, and the Republican elite who have been mobilizing their pitchfork fury — now find their savagery a liability, and they’re abandoning them. It’s the fury of having been played for a sucker — and the “real American” mob has been played for the biggest sucker in American history, as is clear from their sense of abandonment.
It is an incredible spectacle to behold: the Republican elite abandoning a 20-year narrative at the snap of a finger just to make sure that it is positioned well in the new Obama dynamic. The Republican elite has clearly decided that the “Real America” mob it had exploited had become a liability, but still it’s amazing how seamlessly and quickly it can throw its own audience overboard.
Ames is far too sanguine about this state of affairs, as are people like Olbermann, whose post-election show was dedicated to gleefully calling O’Reilly, Kristol, and Limbaugh losers. Fair enough. One can’t blame people who hated the Bush years for taking a day or two to celebrate, but by calling the extreme right in the country a bunch of “losers” who are “insignificant,” they perfectly feed into the narrative of resentment and fury and isolation and despair people like Limbaugh cultivate among their listeners. The true believers, the ditto-heads, who were booing at McCain’s attempt at a civil concession speech, are running to buy up guns, afraid that Obama is going to make owning guns illegal, occasionally (as Ames mentions) talking in their online forums about the need to prepare for the inevitable conversion of America into a totalitarian socialist state.
There were a lot of people out there who believed the vile propaganda places like Fox News and the National Review were spewing during the election (and over the last eight years). Now that these cynical conservative establishment sycophants turn around, and put on a friendly face, celebrating America’s final victory over racism, declaring (as Bill Bennett did on CNN) that no black person can ever claim to be afflicted by racism ever again, kowtowing before the new establishment power like sniveling cowards, they will find that their followers — who I suspect are often sincere, if misguided people — are not going to turn on a dime at their command. More likely, they’ll feel more isolated, resentful, and furious than ever.
Those of us who are on the left need to reach out to these people, I think. I don’t know how, but their fears need to be addressed and assuaged. We may think their beliefs are wrong, but we need to take them seriously. If we don’t, when a true-believing demagogue next arises to stoke their rage, they will be much better armed than they were even just a week ago.
I totally agree with the sentiment that now is the time to be inclusive in our politics and reach out to people who might be open to the sort of changes Obama and the Dems have in mind were it not for the stupid right-wing propoganda they’ve faced from the crazy right wing pundits.
The reality is that Obama isn’t going to pursue some sort of radical left-wing agenda — and, perhaps more importantly, I’m optimistic that Obama will be effective at explaining his proposals to the public in ways that appeal to non-partisan common sense. Whether we’re talking about the economic benefits of investing in infrastructure, education and health care — or the economic benefits of smarter regulation — Obama’s agenda seems far more centrist now than it might have a decade ago. In any event, a lot of people who have relied exlusively on right-wing media for their news are expecting their taxes to go up — so they may be more open to the Dems when their taxes actually go down.
The worst thing Dems could do would be to adopt a partisan tone that leaves ordinary right-wing Americans feeling excluded — as people like me felt excluded when Karl Rove and Tom Delay seemed to pursue a national agenda that relied upon not needing my support ever again. Barack Obama told people who didn’t support him that he hears their voices, needs them, and will be their president too — smart politics, good for the country.
Comment by Ian — November 10, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
Agreed. At the same time, I think Obama has to do what he was elected to do: massively invest in infrastructure, roll back parts of the Bush tax cuts and War on Terror regime (torture, etc.), create some version of universal healthcare, withdraw from Iraq in a timely and responsible manner, deal with global warming. Doing these (overwhelmingly popular objectives) may require his administration — and the Democratic congress — to fight against those who would stand in the way of achieving these aims. So respect and conciliance in tone should come hand in hand with a passionate defense of an unapologetically center-left agenda.
Comment by Lee — November 11, 2008 @ 2:23 am
Absolutely.
Comment by Ian — November 11, 2008 @ 2:12 pm