Some people really are in a rush to show their mediocrity.
Earlier this week, Nancy Pelosi had a nationally, and even internationally, televised moment in which she mockingly applauded Donald Trump during his State of the Union address, giving an exaggeratedly enthusiastic endorsement of Trump's suggestion that compromise was needed if the government is ever going to work together to get anything done.
It was the kind of moment that many who are sickened by Trump have been dreaming of, when even he would have a difficult time trying to lie and explain that moment away as some kind of a victory for him, although I would be willing to bet that he will try his hardest.
Personally, I could not think of one single moment when a president was giving a State of the Union address, and had someone, or something, else take the limelight. Maybe when Clinton was being laughed at when he tried to explain some specifics about his healthcare plan, although he countered immediately with a stinging criticism, so as to get the last laugh. Or maybe when a Republican Congressman shouted out"liar!" to Obama during his State of the Union a few years back, although again, most people thought that this was a pathetic act, and that Congressman even apologized for it later.
But here, with Pelosi giving Trump a theatrical, and clearly sarcastic, applause, and before all of the cameras on live television, it was one of those rare moments which Trump will likely have one of his trademark temper tantrums about, regardless of how he will try to twist it into some kind of serious endorsement, or some kind of victory, for him. It was the ultimate "F-U!" moment for a man who deserves it more than anyone else.
Indeed, it felt like something that happened that was off the script, that could not have worked nearly so well if it had indeed been planned.
Which is why I am sad to do this blog entry so soon afterward.
But Pelosi and other mainstream Democrats tend to lack imagination, and rarely go off script. That was one triumphant moment, one that even progressives could get behind and enjoy.
Yet, it is, truth be told, not indicative of where Pelosi really tends to be on the issues.
Now, you might think that Pelosi might take at least a little while to bask in the glow of one of thr shining moments in the unified opposition to Trump. However, she wasted no time in getting back to her corporate Democrat ways, and casting shade on the efforts and ambition of more progressive Democrats, particularly in regard to the "New Green Deal" that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives are trying to push forth.
Look at what she said recently when asked about the proposed "New Green Deal," which was clearly meant as sounding dismissive and disparaging, to undermine the credibility and seriousness of this proposal:
"It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive. The green dream, or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they're for it, right?"
The mainstream Democrats like Pelosi really seem to embody the idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And as more mainstream Democrats enter the 2020 race, it seems more and more glaringly obvious that they did not learn the lessons of 2016, and that they are, once again, and very predictably, trying to discredit and scare off any notions of actually embracing progressive policies that would mark a true change from the same old same old that American politics has seen and been restricted to now for decades.
And if the Democrats once again go out of their way to try and nominate another candidate who is more Republican light than progressive, will anybody be really surprised if Trump wins the election, just as he did in 2016, and which progressives warned about, much like they are warning mainstream Democrats now?
Here is the news article that I used in writing this particular blog entry:
Nancy Pelosi just threw some serious shade at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 'Green New Deal' by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large, February 7, 2019:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/07/politics/pelosi-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-green-new-deal/index.html?no-st=1549575990
If you look at it from a strictly amoral point of view – and it's not as though they're going to look at it any other way, because contrary to what their carefully scripted and well rehearsed campaign catchphrases would have us believe, convictions and principles aren't exactly what drives them – that lameness actually makes sense. To use a sports metaphor, one could make the case that they have a winning record with that strategy, 2000, 2004 and 2016 notwithstanding. Clinton was a 2-term president, as was Obama. As long as people keep voting for finger-in-the-wind, milquetoast phonies trying to be all things to all people, talk about meaningful change is exactly that: talk. This is why I find myself wondering if it's even worth it to vote. The popular vote doesn't mean shit, and nobody's talking about scrapping the electoral college. Add to that people's insatiable appetite for the Nancy Pelosis of the world, and you find yourself with a demented man-child in the White House, and tepid, half-assed "resistance" on the part of the "opposition" party. The problem isn't so much that these politicians are the way they are, so much as that the voting public is the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of something Bill Maher once said: "Republicans are the party of bad ideas; Democrats are the party of no ideas."
ReplyDelete