Storm in a Teacup
Published in Jeune Afrique
(France) on 5 May 2010
by Pascal Airault (link to original)
(France) on 5 May 2010
by Pascal Airault (link to original)
Translated from
by Robert Shaza.
Edited by Jessica Boesl.
The hardliners of the Tea Party movement invoke the founding fathers and dress up as Benjamin Franklin to denounce Barack Obama's supposed "socialism." Folklore? Hardly.
The unhappy running mate of John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, the sprightly Sarah Palin was involved in the aftermath of the debacle, dedicated to public obloquy by her own supporters, who no longer see her as a "scatterbrain." Today, thanks to her undeniable media talent and her ability to embody the aspirations and frustrations of Americans, she is still alive. Her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, written with journalist Lynn Vincent, has sold over two million copies; her Facebook page has 1.5 million "friends" and her social network on Twitter has over 400,000 fans. Above all, she is happily surfing the wave created by the Tea Party, which has made her one of its muses.
This ultraconservative nebula, vaguely defined, should play a major role in the mid-term elections in November, 2010, after which one third of Senate seats and all seats in the House of Representatives will be renewed. The Republicans are counting on Palin to win the very challenging and very fringe extremist voters who no longer believe in the traditional political class. On April 15th, 2010, Tea Party members completed a three week campaign of fierce protests across the country, during which they continued to vilify Barack Obama and his "big government." They accuse him of leading the country to the bankruptcy by excessive taxation and social spending. Some would compare the chief executive to Mao, Hitler and Stalin! From one rally to another, the former governor of Alaska, red suit and nasal voice, attacked with populism: "So, these beautiful changes, those top prospects, what it's like for you?” Guaranteed Success.
From Blog to Blog
The birth of the Tea Party was in February 2009, at the beginning of the financial crisis, when the Democrats pushed the bank bailout and the stimulus plan through Congress. A "gift" of $800 billion, offered by the Obama administration at taxpayer expense. For many ordinary Americans, this pill was hard to swallow. In rescuing the "losers," the state broke with the principle of individual responsibility, and rewarded bad behavior on Wall Street. It also combines the management of private companies by digging the deficit deeper.
"From blog to blog and cable channel to local radio, the world of conservative media began to rustle much backed critics," says the Americanologue Anne-Lorraine Bujon of Estang. "Many small militant organizations have taken over and then, on April 15th, 2009, the day when Americans make their tax returns, 750 events were held across the country."
Subsequently, the debate on the reform of the health system enhanced their mobilization, particularly in the south’s ultra-conservative strongholds, such as the Carolinas or Texas. Inspired by the methods of organizations pro-Obama camp during the last presidential campaign, these movements make extensive use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as videos on the internet. But their events have deliberately a folk character: Their fans dress up as Thomas Paine or Benjamin Franklin to protest the Obama administration's abandonment of the ideals of the founding fathers.
However, the Tea Party are, ideologically, quite heterogeneous. We find in their ranks, in addition to some Democrats and Independents, more traditional sensibilities of Republican Party supporters of big business; nationalists that are more or less militaristic, libertarians, Christian fundamentalists hostile to abortion... But all have common enemies: the "socialization" of society, tax increases and government intervention. Their slogans: "Obama's plan: White Slavery," of which the racist connotation is obvious; "Government is a problem, not a solution," the anthem of the late Ronald Reagan; or the very paranoid "No socialism, keep America free."
The Treachery of "Rino”
According to a recent Gallup poll (March 27-28, 2010), 28 percent of people of voting age support these protest movements; this makes the staffs of the traditional parties worried six months before the elections and at the dawn of undecided primaries. Approximately 49 percent of the Tea Party declares themselves Republicans (43 percent Independents and 8 percent Democrats), but many were disappointed by "Rino" (Republican In Name Only), those who have betrayed their ideals for which they serve in Congress. Apparently, the "Rino" hunting is already open...
A long-standing Conservative activist, Christina Jeffrey plans, for example, to debunk Republican Bob Inglis of South Carolina in the June primary, too moderate for her taste. "The Tea Party will move the debate towards the right," said Stu Haugen, a former representative of the Republican Party in France. "But an election is almost always won at the center." But this is not always the case. In February, the young Republican Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts, vacant after the death of Ted Kennedy, relying on the activism of Tea Parties and managing to rally the disgruntled. It has not been ruled out that other independent candidates might mingle in the triangular framework in the final battle.
What might be the long-term effects of such campaigns? "The Tea Party is a good thing if it forces us to justify every dollar we collect in taxes, and every dollar we spend," said Bill Clinton on April 16th, 2010, during a speech to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington. "But when you are angry, sometimes you end up with results that are diametrically opposed to those you pretend to search." The former president criticizes the movement, including one of its heroines, the Republican Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, for systematically portraying the "government" as a "thug" and too often reminding us of the terrible bombing in Oklahoma City. We may recall that in April 1995 a right-wing extremist blew up a truck packed with explosives outside the headquarters of the federal government, killing 168 people…
Determined to keep the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives after the primaries at all costs, Obama and his Democratic strategists are considering ways to divert and to take ownership of some themes put forward by the Tea Party. In his speech on the State of the Union in January 2010, the president did not address them directly, but joked about plans to rescue banks, saying "...It was about as popular as a root canal." According to Anne-Lorraine Bujon de l’Estang, he has recently been referring less to the Constitution and the history of the United States. Moreover, he has announced that jobs will be made a "national priority," which involves taking up the cause of "small entrepreneurs who are the engine of U.S. growth." To those who doubt his determination to follow through, he responds with this patriotic formula: "America does not quit. I do not quit."
The unhappy running mate of John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, the sprightly Sarah Palin was involved in the aftermath of the debacle, dedicated to public obloquy by her own supporters, who no longer see her as a "scatterbrain." Today, thanks to her undeniable media talent and her ability to embody the aspirations and frustrations of Americans, she is still alive. Her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, written with journalist Lynn Vincent, has sold over two million copies; her Facebook page has 1.5 million "friends" and her social network on Twitter has over 400,000 fans. Above all, she is happily surfing the wave created by the Tea Party, which has made her one of its muses.
This ultraconservative nebula, vaguely defined, should play a major role in the mid-term elections in November, 2010, after which one third of Senate seats and all seats in the House of Representatives will be renewed. The Republicans are counting on Palin to win the very challenging and very fringe extremist voters who no longer believe in the traditional political class. On April 15th, 2010, Tea Party members completed a three week campaign of fierce protests across the country, during which they continued to vilify Barack Obama and his "big government." They accuse him of leading the country to the bankruptcy by excessive taxation and social spending. Some would compare the chief executive to Mao, Hitler and Stalin! From one rally to another, the former governor of Alaska, red suit and nasal voice, attacked with populism: "So, these beautiful changes, those top prospects, what it's like for you?” Guaranteed Success.
From Blog to Blog
The birth of the Tea Party was in February 2009, at the beginning of the financial crisis, when the Democrats pushed the bank bailout and the stimulus plan through Congress. A "gift" of $800 billion, offered by the Obama administration at taxpayer expense. For many ordinary Americans, this pill was hard to swallow. In rescuing the "losers," the state broke with the principle of individual responsibility, and rewarded bad behavior on Wall Street. It also combines the management of private companies by digging the deficit deeper.
"From blog to blog and cable channel to local radio, the world of conservative media began to rustle much backed critics," says the Americanologue Anne-Lorraine Bujon of Estang. "Many small militant organizations have taken over and then, on April 15th, 2009, the day when Americans make their tax returns, 750 events were held across the country."
Subsequently, the debate on the reform of the health system enhanced their mobilization, particularly in the south’s ultra-conservative strongholds, such as the Carolinas or Texas. Inspired by the methods of organizations pro-Obama camp during the last presidential campaign, these movements make extensive use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as videos on the internet. But their events have deliberately a folk character: Their fans dress up as Thomas Paine or Benjamin Franklin to protest the Obama administration's abandonment of the ideals of the founding fathers.
However, the Tea Party are, ideologically, quite heterogeneous. We find in their ranks, in addition to some Democrats and Independents, more traditional sensibilities of Republican Party supporters of big business; nationalists that are more or less militaristic, libertarians, Christian fundamentalists hostile to abortion... But all have common enemies: the "socialization" of society, tax increases and government intervention. Their slogans: "Obama's plan: White Slavery," of which the racist connotation is obvious; "Government is a problem, not a solution," the anthem of the late Ronald Reagan; or the very paranoid "No socialism, keep America free."
The Treachery of "Rino”
According to a recent Gallup poll (March 27-28, 2010), 28 percent of people of voting age support these protest movements; this makes the staffs of the traditional parties worried six months before the elections and at the dawn of undecided primaries. Approximately 49 percent of the Tea Party declares themselves Republicans (43 percent Independents and 8 percent Democrats), but many were disappointed by "Rino" (Republican In Name Only), those who have betrayed their ideals for which they serve in Congress. Apparently, the "Rino" hunting is already open...
A long-standing Conservative activist, Christina Jeffrey plans, for example, to debunk Republican Bob Inglis of South Carolina in the June primary, too moderate for her taste. "The Tea Party will move the debate towards the right," said Stu Haugen, a former representative of the Republican Party in France. "But an election is almost always won at the center." But this is not always the case. In February, the young Republican Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts, vacant after the death of Ted Kennedy, relying on the activism of Tea Parties and managing to rally the disgruntled. It has not been ruled out that other independent candidates might mingle in the triangular framework in the final battle.
What might be the long-term effects of such campaigns? "The Tea Party is a good thing if it forces us to justify every dollar we collect in taxes, and every dollar we spend," said Bill Clinton on April 16th, 2010, during a speech to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington. "But when you are angry, sometimes you end up with results that are diametrically opposed to those you pretend to search." The former president criticizes the movement, including one of its heroines, the Republican Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, for systematically portraying the "government" as a "thug" and too often reminding us of the terrible bombing in Oklahoma City. We may recall that in April 1995 a right-wing extremist blew up a truck packed with explosives outside the headquarters of the federal government, killing 168 people…
Determined to keep the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives after the primaries at all costs, Obama and his Democratic strategists are considering ways to divert and to take ownership of some themes put forward by the Tea Party. In his speech on the State of the Union in January 2010, the president did not address them directly, but joked about plans to rescue banks, saying "...It was about as popular as a root canal." According to Anne-Lorraine Bujon de l’Estang, he has recently been referring less to the Constitution and the history of the United States. Moreover, he has announced that jobs will be made a "national priority," which involves taking up the cause of "small entrepreneurs who are the engine of U.S. growth." To those who doubt his determination to follow through, he responds with this patriotic formula: "America does not quit. I do not quit."
The stimulus plan was an attempt to create jobs at a time when we were losing jobs to the point of another “great depression”…it is temporary, and will not work, as my government refuses to address the core problems of America’s loss of industries, and thus our job losses, and that is the elimination of our import tariffs.
The Wall Street bailout was the beginning of the dissatisfaction you’re seeing that fuels the Tea-Party movement. Many of us called upon George Bush not to bail out the already overly-rich wall street brokers that had ruined their financial houses with financial instruments that amounted to nothing more than gambling, but the administration did not listen, and bailed them out anyway…the “government wealthy” stealing money from the working poor, for their friends the “banking wealthy”.
That was the last straw.