Who needs a spanking?

Amid the often baffling details of the healthcare reform plans under ‘discussion’, I think there are now two broad, competing political narratives in the battle:

(1) Indignant Americans are rising up across the land to defend their rights/interests/pocketbooks from dastardly/bankrupting/socialistic ‘Obama-care’.

v/s

(2) Ignorant yahoos are being egged on by the Republicans to bully our democratic process into meaninglessness and undermine any chance for an adult debate on healthcare.

While the former narrative seemed to be dominant in the early weeks, I sense that the latter is now catching up, and meanwhile there is inevitably more discussion around the breakfast table about the various measures involved. There is more heat than light at present, but the fight is far from over.

I am reminded of the presidential election of recent memory and wonder if Obama’s strategists, including himself, are not consciously allowing the opposition to paint itself into a corner by acting like raging children deprived of their Ovaltine. As I am on the road and have a chance to see cable news for the first time in several weeks, I can’t help but notice that the voices against the reform are associated very consistently with images of furious, nasty-looking white people.

That may play down here in Tennessee, but it also flops big-time elsewhere. If the winning coalition from last November holds together—always a big conditional—it should be possible to roll over these loudmouths and simultaneously establish the terms of debate for future issues: adults versus the WAAAAAAAHHHHH Brigade.

The Republican/Glen Beck approach of openly calling for a disruption of the whole process might lead to a victory more apparent than real and one that comes at a high price, too. Average bipeds are not distinguishing themselves in capturing the underlying arguments—witness the demands to ‘keep the government out of Medicare!’—but overall most people don’t like strong-arm tactics and believe in respectful debate especially about issues that concern them directly.

That doesn’t mean we’ll get anything like a decent reform package given the usual backtracking and spinelessness among our alleged allies. But if something minimally defensible emerges from this catfight, Obama & Co. will be back to fight another day.

They actually might know what they’re doing. I sure hope so.