Eugene Robinson: The spoiled-brat American electorate

[SeattleGirl]

According to polls, Americans are in a mood to hold their breath until they turn blue. Voters appear to be so fed up with the Democrats that they're ready to toss them out in favor of the Republicans -- for whom, according to those same polls, the nation has even greater contempt. This isn't an "electoral wave," it's a temper tantrum.

It's bad enough that the Democratic Party's "favorable" rating has fallen to an abysmal 33 percent, according to a recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. It's worse that the Republican Party's favorability has plunged to just 24 percent. But incredibly, according to Gallup, registered voters say they intend to vote for Republicans over Democrats by an astounding 10-point margin. Respected analysts reckon that the GOP has a chance of gaining 45 to 60 seats in the House, which would bring Minority Leader John Boehner into the speaker's office.

My guess is that with a decided advantage in campaign funds, along with the other advantages of incumbency, Democrats will be able to mitigate these prospective losses -- perhaps even relieving Nancy Pelosi of the hassles of moving. But there's no mistaking the public mood, and the truth is that it makes no sense.

<snip>

The nation demands the impossible: quick, painless solutions to long-term, structural problems. While they're running for office, politicians of both parties encourage this kind of magical thinking. When they get into office, they're forced to try to explain that things aren't quite so simple -- that restructuring our economy, renewing the nation's increasingly rickety infrastructure, reforming an unsustainable system of entitlements, redefining America's position in the world and all the other massive challenges that face the country are going to require years of effort. But the American people don't want to hear any of this. They want somebody to make it all better. Now.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090203992.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[Frustratedlady]

1. "Quick, painless solutions" equals fast food, drive-thru mentality.

We're spoiled brats on steroids with an attention span of a gnat. Pretty pathetic, aren't we?

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. Was FDR's New Deal a compendium of quick painless solutions?

I don't think the bankers and their 1% super-rich catchment thought so. A radical restoration of your country's fortunes was performed. There is a template.

Problem is, the only solutions being provided now, apart from some tinkering at the margins, are raising the pain level of the general public, the remaining 99%, and exhilarating to the 1%.

[RandomThoughts]

2. LOL

Or their is a different class that is spoiled.

[depakid]

3. Sorry Eugene- you got it wrong

Parties that aren't perceived as standing up and fighting for what they believe in get no confidence votes- and that's especially in this environment.

The electorate loses confidence when they see party A pander to the corporate right- just like party B.

Indeed, party A is looked at as even worse, because purportedly they weren't associated with banskters, health insuruers and PhARMA- but stood more firmly in the camp of Main Street.

[daleanime]

11. Hell yea...

and the problem is compounded by a media that insists on misreading the situation.:grr:

[Jade Fox]

27. You're talking about voters who bother to educate themselves....

Robinson is clearly talking about the majority of voters who do not.

[sallyseven]

33. Spoiled brat is what you are.

You put up with the lying bunch of weirdos and now when you can't get exactly what you want you go to the sewer for candidates. You never voted for Obama.

[chill_wind]

4. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x429245

[Kerrytravelers]

6. Two seperate forums, so this is fine.

:hi:

[Kerrytravelers]

5. President Carter told the honest, hard truth and we got Reagan.

And then, things went straight downhill from there.

And now, we have a childish electorate who wants magic, regardless of the reality of the situation.

:eyes:

[Bluenorthwest]

16. No offense, but the 'magic' I hear in policy has to do with

invisible beings who according to the Predident insist that some people have less rights than others. The President says that some people are 'Sanctified by God' and others are not. Magical jibberish, being directed at families simply to score political points. Surrogates of the President have used the following terms about gay folks, note the 'magic' nature of the language: cursed, demonically influenced, like vampires.
So, all respect and all, the 'magic' thinking is promoted from the top, used as a bludgeon, and those who call for reason and equality are told that God is on the side of the prejudiced set.

[Kerrytravelers]

30. That is not at all who I was refering to.

I probably responded in too general a manner. I had no specifics in mind.

I was referring, in general, to the infrastructure Robinson was referencing in his short op-ed. Unless I missed something (and that is quite possible), his focus was more on the financial and general infrastructure, not social and civil rights issues. And that was what I was referencing, which is why I pointed back to the Carter responsibility that lost out to the Reagan sunshine and fuzzy kitties facade.

[griffi94]

7. not sure it's a tantrum

i think a lot of people who supported the democrats in 2008 weren't democrats but indies who recognized that the gop had no solutions. unfortunately they weren't in the mood for the slow pace.
i'm sure some voters were turned off by the final HCR bill, and the economy doesn't favor the democrats this year.

[JDPriestly]

8. We don't demand "quick, painless solutions." We just demand

common sense and can't get it.

[Jim Sagle]

9. All we're demanding is actual Democratic solutions. Robinson is having a tantrum over that.

[PSPS]

10. "unsustainable system of entitlements"

Wow, I never thought I'd see Robinson go off the deep end like this. Maybe being part of the media is his problem. What he's writing about is merely a creation of the media. The "tea party" is, after all, an astroturf "movement" propelled only by the sheer force of the RW media wurlitzer and Koch's billions. Outside the media-fabricated-storyline-as-news? Nothing.

Same thing with this Beck thing last weekend. It's all over the RW media wurlitzer but nobody I know or talk to paid any attention at all.

This "movement" is nothing more than the media covering ... the media.

And note the code phrase, "unsustainable system of entitlements." You'll be seeing and hearing that a lot now that the catfood commission has been charged with funneling the trillions currently in the Social Security trust fund to their masters on Wall Street.

[alarimer]

32. What's unsustainable is the tax cuts and endless wars.

The entitlements are a small portion of the budget. It is time to cut the military budget drastically. What do we need with 12 carrier battle groups when no other country has half that?

[jaxx]

12. Instant gratification.

The definition of spoiled brats.

The now or never mindset is never satisfied, never alludes to progress without demanding it should have happened sooner or better. A temper tantrum it is.

Gene Robinson rarely gets it wrong, he didn't this time either.

[Jim Sagle]

17. Hi, Eugene.

:hi:

[DonCoquixote]

13. I will not exonerate

Obama for allowing the Clinton scum, especially Rahm, for hamstringing the left.

However, let me offer this: Do you honestly think the Blue Dogs would have allowed a Dean or Kucinich to get one inch farther? If anything, they would have painted the more up front leftist as a demon, with their complicit friends in the media, and simply luyrch even FURTHER to the right.

[fasttense]

14. Seems Eugene has jumped on the band wagon of blame the voters.

It's all the rage among Democratic leaders and media to blame it on the voters.

Maybe if Democratic leaders had not called their base f**king retards, or the professional left that needs drug testing, the common voter would feel more appreciated for voting for Democrats.

Or maybe if Obama hadn't abandon single payer and the public option and given us a choice instead of forcing us to buy overpriced insurance that will guarantee the corporate monopolies, then the voters would have confidence in the Democrats.

The voters might have had some confidence in the Democratic Leadership if: he had closed Gitmo, if he stopped kicking out gays and lesbians with an executive order to the military, if he hadn't caved on trying POW from GITMO in civilian courts, if he hadn't fired Shirley Sherrod on a rumor, if he hadn't signed that illegal law closing out ACORN, if had prosecuted or even just investigated and reported on the war crimes of the bushes, if he hadn't re-nominated Bernacke and put Giethner and Summers in charge of our failing economy, if he hadn't appointed those neocon to the Cat Food commission to destroy Social Security, If he had abandon bushes policies on torture, spying, indefinite detention and killing American citizens, if he hadn't follow through with bailouts to the banksters or at least put some stings on our tax dollars going for bonuses, if he hadn't followed bushes plans on the Iraq war and on, and on, and on......

[Tesha]

31. Hear, hear! (NT)

[Amonester]

37. "confidence in the Democratic Leadership if"

and all that painful truth that follows, but the apologists like Eugene don't want to face it, so it's the "blame the voters who did vote for them in droves, hoping they would work tirelessly at being true to their campaign promises, until they realized they have been had once again" season.

Instead of blaming the voters, maybe they should begin to really work hard FOR them (i.e., find a solution to 'how bad Washington works' and 'Change How Washington Works', as they promised)? But no, they prefer 'the easy way, hoping the voters won't notice'.

Eugene's got a bad case of projection-mirror syndrome. Unsustainable entitlements? Really? Unless he consider the bloated military spendings on un-necessary, imperial wars R "entitlements" for the already rich MIC owners, yeah. Talk about spoiled brats...

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Sorry Eugene, but the Poliltical Professionals fail on their own

Americans never, ever expected quick or painless solutions, and it is deeply offensive to hear that said. Americans wanted justice, rule of law, a correction of a foul course. It was Obama who insisted upon smooting the waters, and covering for the past crimes, he insisted on pretending there were no offenses, that none of the problems we face were the result of bad policy and illegal actions. We still do not know about Cheney's Energy meetings, now do we.
Americans wanted change. Obama pushed 'bi-partisanism' and insisted that the guilty parties were honest brokers needed at our 'table' for their brilliant ideas.
There was blame to be placed, and Obama refused to place it where it belonged, and in doing so, he made it his own. This was his choice, a stupid one, but he made it.
Robinson says the American people don't want to hear what he says, but what Robinson says is not what the administration says at all. Americans do not want to hear that the Bushies were wonderful patriots. Americans do not want to hear that a dead economy is all better now, as they keep insisting, while we are all suffering. Robinson's paycheck shouts out from his words here, I think of his spendy glasess, and the fact that every word he says is a paid word. I bet he makes more now than two years ago. So of course, he's fine and dandy.
And of course, millions of Americans want to stop hearing that we are unworthy of equality in the eyes of the President and his wife, we want them to stop announcing that God Himself agrees with them, and opposes us.
Rich straight man says all is well and the voters are to blame. Cash another check Eugene, you earned it.

[northernlights]

20. +1

I don't know a single person who thought transformation would be quick n'easy.

But we voted for transformation. Not more of the same neofascist corporatist bankster bailoutin insurancehoggin warmongering torturing spying American-assassinating bullshit. Oh, but this time is "BIPARTISAN neofascist corporatist banksterbailoutin insurancehoggin warmongering torturing spying American-assassinating bullshit." Unlike before when the democrats voted...er, never mind.

Well ain't that grand?

And where in the constitution does it say our only "choice" is republican or democrat? It's like being in hell and given a choice between the door on the right -- one million leg lifts with your right leg -- and the door on the left -- one million leg lifts with your left leg.

A million leg lifts is a million leg lifts. We didn't vote for this hell. We don't have to vote for either party.

And the crybaby, tantrum-throwing -name calling insults are getting a little old. Not gonna work.

Nice try, Eugene. Ain't gonna fly.

[Skittles]

36. CORRECT

these simplistic HEY YOU'LL TAKE IT, LIKE IT, VOTE FOR US shit is getting very old indeed

[readmoreoften]

18. Yes, they're so lazy and terrible for trying to organize outside the Party.

It's better and less "lazy" to have faith in corrupt or cowardly politicians and tap on an electronic device every 2 years--that's real engagement. :eyes:

[NJmaverick]

19. NAILED IT!

[JoeyT]

21. Meh. More complaining about how the voters demand politicians do what they were elected to do.

When the policy out and out sucks, you don't get to complain about how terrible people are for holding you accountable.

That entire article could easily be shortened to: "I'm still employed, no one that I know is dying of an illness they can't afford treatment for, and none of my immediate family is living on the street or hungry. I don't know what the hell YOU people are crying about."

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. This is all academic, anyway, as the probems caused by the downward

spiral of the planetary economy, begining with the USA, is going to present any kind of government with unparalleled problems beyond anyone's competence to remedy.

The earlier the goverments in the developed countries start facing, anticipating and preparing for the new realities, as Angela Murkel seems to have been in Germany, the less painful it will be for us all.

[eridani]

24. "Unsustainable system of entitlements"tells you whose side this asshole is on

Excuse me asshole, but one of the things that is NOT wrong with the economy is Social Security. We paid into it, and we are fucking ENTITLED to get payouts from it.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. Robinson is a paid mouthpiece for the ruling majority

He is bathed in money. Every word any of us has ever heard him speak or write has been a 'professional' word, that is, paid for.
He is typical of the 'I got mine' crowd, the arrogant, bigoted set who do not care if others are oppressed or treated to injustice and theft. To the Rich Straight Man, the world is a perfect thing, save for 'those people' who will not sit aside quietly and allow the Rich Straight Man to enjoy his status. Robinson stomps his feet and shouts that he should have a more peaceful environment in which to spend his money, in which to file jointly with his wife when other couples can not.

Rich Straight Men. How many of them have you met that had any interests but their own in mind?
Rich Straight Men, having a tantrum because they are so sick of people wanting what they have in excess. Eugene can not bear the idea that others want to be equal to him, and to his community of centrists. So he plays bully name calling games, typical of the straight male community. Childish and whining, Robinson's face, in future, means the TV gets switched to BBC.

[Jade Fox]

28. No self-righteousness here...

Good lord, you're smug.

As someone who used to display this same kind of smugness, I can tell you it only guarantees failure.

[Jade Fox]

26. Excellent. That last paragraph says it all......

How can our elected officials get anything done when we demand instant solutions? Real change takes time. It is as simple as that.

In an increasingly short-attention-span nation, I fear for our political future.

[elleng]

29. Quite right. As I've suggested here several times,

Dems (including DUers) sound like kids crying/yelling 'Gimme Gimme Gimme,' with no understanding of the difficulty of the current process AT ALL!

GROW UP, Dems.

[Skittles]

34. some people just do not fucking get it

you cannot piss on people's shoes and tell them it is raining

[Skittles]

35. uh huh

Eugene's the one who sounds like he is having a temper tantrum