Jon Stewart once again hits the nail on the head. Most importantly he got to the core of the government dysfunction and the genesis of this iteration that started just before President Obama’s inauguration.
A few weeks ago President Obama gave a speech where he stated that while he was not on the ballot, his policies were. The snippet got a lot of attention and was placed in the ads of many Republicans. Because of the lack of spine and fortitude of Democrats, that statement while true turned a reality into a liability when taken out of context.
The snippet from Jon Stewart’s skit above illustrates this perfectly. It is the timidity of Democrats, a failed traditional media, and a Republican Party that has no fear of being called out for lies, misinformation, and policies that materially hurt the middle class that is at fault.
Jon Stewart shows McConnell being asked about Kynect in his debate with Alison Lundergan Grimes. Kynect is the very successful implementation of Obamacare in Kentucky. It is well liked. Many in Kentucky do not realize that Kynect is Obamacare. The failure of the media making that clear and the failure of Democrats in general to sell the real benefits without fear allowed Mitch McConnell to get away with said hypocrisy. If that groundwork was already established as it should have, Alison Lundergan Grimes would be comfortably in the lead in that race. Mitch McConnell would have been penalized for creating a dysfunctional government.
Jon Stewart illustrates that the current iteration of our current government dysfunction had its genesis with a well-thought-out but simple-minded plan by Mitch McConnell and the GOP to paralyze government as long as Barack Obama was president. While they were partially successful, enough got done in the first two years of the Obama administration. During those two years Democrats controlled both the executive and legislative branch of government. They accomplished much for the working poor and working middle class. Paul Krugman expresses this reality best.
Jon Stewart’s conclusion is apropos. A Democratic Party fearful of running on its unexplained accomplishments and a Republican Party fearful of running on its obstructionist policies have only one choice in the 2014 election. They must run on the most carnal of human emotions, fear of the unknown.
