Matthew Yglesias » Election Day BHTV

Nov 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm

Election Day BHTV

Dave Weigel and I recorded an election edition of BlogggingHeads TV yesterday. In this clip below I make the point that the tea party agenda, whether it works or not as an electoral strategy, can’t possibly work as a governing agenda:

I think this is a really critical point. There’s sort of a convention that electoral politics should be covered like a basketball game, as just an effort to win. But the point of elections is to set yourself up for governing. Given the objective conditions in the country, it seems unlikely to me that even Barack Obama’s “no taxes for anyone earning under $250,000″ pledge can be made workable, and it’s definitely not possible to govern on the basis of a tea party tax cut agenda.

Comments
12

12 Responses to “Election Day BHTV”

Ryan Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Barack Obama’s “no taxes for anyone earning under $250,000″ pledge

Whaaaaah?

Do you mean (or did he mean) no NEW taxes for such people? Or have I completely missed something important?
fostert Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Revolutionaries rarely make good politicians. Mao Tse Tung was a great military leader. But once he got in power, he was a disaster. It’s two different skill sets. But with the tea baggers, it’s just like the hippies. Neither ever expected to get power. So they can be pure by not having the rule.
Campesino Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
fostert Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Revolutionaries rarely make good politicians. Mao Tse Tung was a great military leader. But once he got in power, he was a disaster. It’s two different skill sets
=========================================================

Don’t tell Anita Dunn – she’ll be horrified
Njorl Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
What if you don’t want the country to be governed?
Henry Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Today’s teabaggers are yesterdays hippies that ?

a) Got mugged by reality
b) Found Jesus
c) Got fat and ugly
d) ???
raylward Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I’m of the view that the swing voters aren’t the ignorant (of public policy) voters at the lower end of the economic strata but rather are those in or near the upper middle, who most would describe as successful (economically) but who see themselves as both strapped and trapped. I am referring to those who earn in the $100,000 per year range. They make too much to qualify for most government or quasi-government programs but too little to attain economic security. And they are subject to the highest effective tax rates of any income group, federal marginal tax rates approaching 50% (both income and employment taxes) and extremely high (relative to income) state and local taxes, especially local property taxes imposed on the expensive homes those in this group favor. And they don’t see much benefit coming from the Obama Administration. I believe the Democrats will lose big in 2010 because they will lose this pivotal group. Matt may be right that the Palin wing can’t govern, but unless Obama pays more attention to this pivotal group, it won’t matter.
Kropotkin Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Matt,

Your point about Dems being ashamed of their econ policies is right on the money. Republicans could go out there and propose the most insane economic policy and be taken seriously, while Dems feel they have to sneak Keynesian solutions through under words like “stimulus”
LaFollette Progressive Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
#5: I’d guess that most of today’s teabaggers are the morally upstanding types who supported the War and bashed hippies, but unfortunately suffered from mysterious back ailments that kept them from serving in Vietnam.
yoyo Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Its quite possible to run the country in a status quo or a scandanavian way w/o raising taxes on anyone making 200k or so a year. It just requires taxes on rich people, which isn’t something that Harvard elites consider ‘workable’, which is pretty much the domestic policy equivalent of Serious in FP dialogue.
Colatina Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
If there’s one party that can take crazy extreme views and channel them into a winning electoral coalition it’s the GOP. They took the rage against Clinton from the 1990s and harnessed it for the victory of a Republican who called himself a compassionate conservative. Someone like Romney will take his hits in the primary for not living up to all of Glenn Beck’s aspirations, but hatred of Obama will give him plenty of conservative support in the end. The key is massive paranoia and resentment of liberals–it’s the salve that heals all wounds in the GOP.
Honest Question Says:
November 4th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Y’all are reeeeal smart, so answer me this: why are so many modern urban leftist American men so goshdarn effeminate?
The State Of Your Post-Election Media Memes | Obama Biden White House Says:
November 4th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
[...] the Tea Partiers have something of an electoral strategy, mining the paranoid style of politics doesn’t translate into coherent policies or a strategy for governance. Sooner or later, someone should maybe point out that you cannot ameliorate actual problems by [...]

Matt Yglesias

Election Day BHTV

12 Responses to “Election Day BHTV”

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