The Washington Post’s resident liberal sourpuss wrote a column today. Did you read it? I did, then I called my analyst and requested some couch time. E.J. Dionne, you see, is driving me crazy:
Democrats face problems not from right-wingers who have never voted for them but from a lack of energy among their own supporters and from dispirited independents and moderates who look to government to solve problems but have little confidence in its ability to deliver.
A Pew Research Center study released Sunday is thus a better guide than the Tea Party’s rants to the real nature of this nation’s discontent. It found that only 22 percent of Americans say they can trust the government almost always or most of the time, “among the lowest measures in more than half a century.” This mistrust extends beyond government to banks, financial institutions and large corporations.
So, yes, there is authentic populist anger out there. But you won’t find much of it at the tea parties.
To make these paragraphs less crazy (but to say nothing of the many hundred words that precede them–I just can’t, folks), I would amend Dionne’s closing grafs to read:
Democrats face problems both from conservatives, who–with messages about the massive deficit, the infringement of government on every day life, unsound fiscal practices, and the general sense that everything is going to pot–are winning over disenchanted moderates, AND from far-left Obama voters who did not get the unicorns and refurbished Brooklyn lofts they were promised.
A Pew Research Center study released Sunday, coupled with the Tea Party’s rants, is thus a fair guide to the real nature of this nation’s discontent. It found that only 22 percent of Americans say they can trust the government almost always or most of the time, “among the lowest measures in more than half a century.” This mistrust extends beyond government to banks, financial institutions and large corporations, and hack columnists like myself.
So, yes, there is authentic populist anger out there. And you can find some of it at the tea parties.
Thank me later, E.J.!