By Arturo Mora, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist
Liberty Memorial tea-baggersIt's not really clear to me that it was either. One estimate (click here) says over 100,000 attended 750 parties nationally. I wouldn't call that a watershed moment in American politics exactly, but it's definitely not something any intelligent politician can ignore.
By one standard it didn't generate the publicity its organizers might have hoped for. A very unscientific survey of the 10 major newspapers (just online editions) this morning shows the tea bag rallies did not get play as a major story, or at all visible on the front page, in these: Chicago Tribune, NY Times, LA Times, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, SD Union-Tribune (secondary headline), Miami Herald, Arizona Republic.
Some of these are traditionally conservative newspapers. No major play on CNN.com, and surprisingly considering yesterday's coverage, Foxnews.com. (This is all as of 8-03am). (A level of coverage questioned even by Politico, a right-leaning online mag (click here).)
The only newspaper I surveyed with a major headline online: Kansas City Star.
By another standard, did they change our politics in any way? I'd say they just put a bigger focus on an issue that's been brewing since the first (Bush) finance bailout took place last Fall.
I don't agree with them entirely, but there is a strong contingent of Americans out there who feel none of this should have been done: the finance bailout, the stimulus, the Obama budget, the auto bailout, etc.
I get where they're coming from. This is all huge, it even scares some progressives. In their case, it's an issue of be careful what you ask for. Just putting aside for a second the recession items in this list (the bailouts and elements of the stimulus), a lot of this is from a long-held Democratic/progressive wish list: energy reform, education reform, healthcare reform.
This part, to me, is more debatable than the recession items. I absolutely think they're necessary, and I for one think the time to do them was now.
First the necessary part: We need to fight climate change and work towards energy independence. We need to make healthcare affordable not just to all citizens, but to businesses big and small. We need to prepare our kids for the economy of the future. Without any of these reforms, if we continue to twiddle our thumbs, this country will fall behind in the global economy.
Do you like our standard living? Do you? Try going to real Mexico for example (not Cancun) and see how they live and then complain about our standard of living. It ain't gonna stay
as good as it is without these kinds of aggressive modernizations.
But did he need to do it now, in the middle of all this recession spending? I say he absolutely did. The reason is political strategy. You may not like hearing that, but it's a reality for any president to consider. When does he have the political capital to put his agenda in place? You strike when the iron is hot. You DO when you can Do.
With the votes in Congress, with the political capital of a new presidency, he did what was needed to reframe the debate and put his agenda in place.
I might have done it a little differently. I might have gotten it all passed now, but back-ended a lot of the costs to come after the Bush tax cuts expired next year.
But it was needed, it was done, and Obama knows the political risks, as perhaps witnessed to by these rallies.
As for the bailouts and stimulus, I believe they were necessary. But I'm not an economist. This is one of those issues, like taking your car to a mechanic, where there's some level of trust involved. You complain but pay the bill because you're told your car's going to breakdown otherwise. And you just hope and pray you're not getting screwed over.
The mess surrounding executive bonuses didn't help, and it stoked a lot of the anger you saw out there.
One thing I don't see from any critics of any of this is real alternatives. Ideas to modernize our economy, and to ease us out of recession.I mean realistic alternatives besides the old ideas that didn't work.
So Obama and the Democrats had better, at the least, take heed. The majority of the people, at least according to polls, seem to be still behind him. He's the mechanic getting a lot of trust right now, but everyone hopes he knows what he's doing.
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I would have to suggest
I would have to suggest anyone using the term "teabagging" to describe these protests must be trying to out themselves. Since most references are from our personal experiences the use of that vile term must be from personal experience. Keep hoping for gay marriage so you can stop living a lie.
coverage
I didn't check "all news services" but you mentioned not even foxnews.com was covering the rallys. It took me all of five seconds to find this story (with an April 15th dateline).
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/15/anti-tax-tea-party-protests-expected/
sboxberg, read what I said....
"I didn't check "all news services" but you mentioned not even foxnews.com was covering the rallys. It took me all of five seconds to find this story (with an April 15th dateline)."
...I said that as of 8-03am, this story was not on anyone's online front page as a main story (either the lead story or at the same level). I'm talking about the day after coverage, not April 15. If all the media had main stories because this was such a huge event, that would have helped make it clear it was a complete success. As it is, I think it's unclear.
....what's so funny about peace love and understanding? E.Costello
FairTax
You asked for real alternatives? Check into the FairTax. www.fairtax.org
There's ~$13 Trillion US dollars offshore to escape our burdensome tax system. Implement the FairTax and watch the money come back to work in our country. Watch businesses scramble to bring their business here. Watch the economy explode with growth.
Using the government to try to stimulate the economy is the most inefficient and wasteful way to go. Just try to think of any government operation that's efficient (DMV, Post Office, etc.). Let the private sector drive our growth.
The fact your headline calls
The fact your headline calls them "tea bag rallies" tells anyone reading you are a liberal who is automatically dismissing the event and/or trying to make fun of them.
Calling the "TEA PARTIES" teagbagging or teabag parties are the liberals new way of trying to make fun of the rallies that scare them to death. Do a google on tea bagging and you will find the homosexual references to tea bagging.
Liberals appaarently are the only ones allowed to protest and have marches. Anyone who disagrees or protests their horrid policies are immediately dismissed as teabaggers or right-wing, nutbags.
rockslide.....it's funny how meaning gets read into things....
"The fact your headline calls them "tea bag rallies" tells anyone reading you are a liberal who is automatically dismissing the event and/or trying to make fun of them."
Geez, people read so much into things.....So I changed the title, if that'll make you happy. (I'm sure demnomore will pounce on that as a sign of weakness, lol!)
If you read my whole post, I hope you'll see I honor what they are protesting, I just don't happen to agree what they're saying.
....what's so funny about peace love and understanding? E.Costello
um...
you know, they were throwing tea bags at these parties, Rocky.
and
they throw squid at hockey games that mean they are at a Squidding Party? :)
were they playing hockey yesterday, Rocky?
Missed that game! ;-) Just saw a lot of nuts and mouths when I drove by Liberty Memorial.
Since you don't live in KC
...I'm not sure how you could see what was going on at the Liberty Memorial. Please tell us what street you were driving on in order to actually see those nuts and mouths. Careful, now, it could be a trick question.
Not that I expect you to answer...you never do when pressed...but I do expect some kind of crafty insult, as is your style.
stars leaning
i've noticed the star's (relatively) new owner seems to have a more conservative bend than the previous bunch. this "tea party" was nothing more than a rupert murdoch propaganda party...
"First the necessary part:
"First the necessary part: We need to fight climate change and work towards energy independence."
Energy independence is a worthy goal, however the idea that you're going to affect the climate is laughable and arrogant. A growing number of scientists realize that the global warming arguments are flawed. Global warming is an attempt to extend political control over economies and advance political agendas.
"We need to make healthcare affordable not just to all citizens, but to businesses big and small."
Injecting government into healthcare is not going to make it less expensive. If that were the case, then health care would be not be getting more expensive because government is the biggest payer of healthcare in this country already. Reduce malpractice payouts and litigation. Lawmakers are mostly lawyers though and they don't want to kill the golden goose.
"We need to prepare our kids for the economy of the future."
Prepare them how...by spending their future for them and saddling them with crushing debt that will make them the first generation to live a poorer lifestyle than their parents?
"Without any of these reforms, if we continue to twiddle our thumbs, this country will fall behind in the global economy.
Do you like our standard living? Do you? Try going to real Mexico for example (not Cancun) and see how they live and then complain about our standard of living. It ain't gonna stay
as good as it is without these kinds of aggressive modernizations."
You can't spend your way to prosperity. The government can't simply continue spending and spending. At some point the bill will come due and that is when all your children's money will go to pay taxes on the huge federal debt instead of paying for their own health care, education, ammenities.
kcn, the climate change debate is soooo over....
"however the idea that you're going to affect the climate is laughable and arrogant."
I can't believe anyone's still using that meme, that's pretty pathetic. Most of the world has already moved on to doing something about it instead of being in denial. It's not arrogant considering we've affected the climate (negatively) already.
This denial thing is sooooo 1990s.
....what's so funny about peace love and understanding? E.Costello
gee...
the third-party for-profit insurance system seems to be raking in an awful lot of our healthcare dollars, and at the same time leaving an awful lot of Americans out in the cold, unable to afford premium payments.
Seems to me that having an affordable alternative to the for-profit insurance system that will enable millions of currently uninsured Americans to defray potentially catastrophic health costs makes a whole lotta sense.
Of course, "making sense" doesn't seem to be a relevant criterion to most right-wingers out there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/travisfox/3443301209/sizes/l/
Great cartoon interface
And so very true.
[rolling eyes]
ah, the conspiracy theorists are coming out again. Such ridiculousness.
Protest
Long years of silence have passed since protesters took to the streets over the Vietnam War.
Then Obama declares during his campaign that to speak out against your Government when you disagree, may be patriotic. The connection with tea parties is uncanny.
Finally, the conservative right gets "the message".
I hope we all remember two things:
1. Decisive action is good policy.
2. The whole world is watching.
The problem
At least you honestly admitted Obama's move was motived by politics ("The reason is political strategy") rather than what is right for the state of our country. It is actually rather dispecible the politician's moral compass points to political strategy and getting re-elected. Disgusting actually. It used to be a majority of men, women, and children did what was right because it was the right thing to do. Putting our country further into debt like every president since Reagan has done is not the right thing to do. Paying for the bailout of companies who made wrong decisions is not the right thing to do. As many have proclaimed during all of this debacle, it is the average American who gets up every day completes their duties at a job they likely would rather not be doing who need the bailout, since we are so inclined to bail out something. The problem with our society, and we have all contributed to this, is that we believe it is our Constitutional RIGHT to have someone else take care of us rather than taking care of ourselves.
jpaul, government and politics are...
"At least you honestly admitted Obama's move was motived by politics ("The reason is political strategy") rather than what is right for the state of our country. It is actually rather dispecible the politician's moral compass points to political strategy and getting re-elected."
...are irretrievably intertwined. As I stated later, I believe everything in the stimulus and budget WERE the right things to do for the country. So if you believe something's right, obviously, in our system you have to use politics to get them done.
Since we're a democracy, you HAVE TO govern through the political process, you HAVE to win Congressional votes. That doesn't mean there's no "moral compass" behind that strategy. That may or may not be true--that's more the moral judgment you have of the policy--it's not a logical certainty.
So I honor your disagreeing with the policies, I just think you're wrong that using skillfull political strategy to get the votes for what you think is good for the country is somehow "despicable".
....what's so funny about peace love and understanding? E.Costello