The troubled belly of the populist beast

[natrat]

pmcarpenter on Wed, 12/16/2009

"...Many viewers see this sort of presidential fulmination -- this gripping of the populist brick bat -- as inspiring. I don't. I see it as a failure of rational democracy.

It's true that I have, on occasion, exhorted the White House to be more boisterous in its corralling and mostly gentle guidance of Congress -- but only in the briefest, tactical ways. I never wanted to see outrage employed as a permanent strategy; because outrage is a concession to impotence.

When the "fat cats" began resisting sensible reform, Obama, in easy concert with Congress, should have been capable of instantly cutting them off not at the knees, but a bit higher and betwixt. No outrage. No volume. No hand-wringing. No populist fury. Just a clean, surgical intervention, as any calm, rational governance would logically dictate.

But the White House is beginning to see that calm, rational governance -- in necessary concert with Congress -- is systemically crippled. What so vividly needs to be done simply won't get done, not on Capitol Hill.

Obama's only political option: Go populist. But in that, there's always far more sound and fury than actual progress. Again, presidential rage is a concession to, an admission of, a sense of powerlessness. Real progress is quiet.

On the surface, presidential populism is, unquestionably, a thrill. It merely masks, however, the troubled underside of representative democracy and disciplined governance.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/carpenter/564

[fasttense]

1. I'm not so sure presidential populism is such a bad thing.

As long as it is followed through with action. FDR managed to reign in and use populism. But it must be based on action, not merely words.

[Laelth]

2. The populist rhetoric is only a shield.

It's red meat for the base, while the Democratic Party sells us all to corporate interests. I see it as not a sign of impotence, but a sign that Obama knows he's alienating the base. Not that he's going to change his policies, of course, only that he doesn't want to lose us. In other words, it's all talk and no progressive action.

:dem:

-Laelth

[natrat]

3. probably won't help much as his base is a bit more savy than the other side

[Laelth]

4. Correct. As you can see here on DU, it's not helping much at all. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Dr.Phool]

5. Representative Democracy is dead.

I hate to say it, but until we have election reform and campaign finance reform, it's only going ro get worse.

And the worst part is, we have to depend on the very scoundrels in there now to fix it. It ain't gonna happen.