A few weeks ago, I did a post suggesting that Obama go on Fox and tell truth to power. Not long after, he did just that. Now I'd like to suggest something that at first sounds even crazier. But I think it just might be shrewd.
Wave? What wave? Last night demonstrated that there never was a wave, or at least not the wave that republicans claimed to be surfing. Rather, they were trying to be like rainmakers, or wavemakers, attempting to conjure or summon waves simply by saying that they could see it coming. Sometimes this works -- if for no other reason that a lot of people (mainly conservatives) like to be told what to think and do, and if they can be part of a "wave," then great. Didn't work this time, though.
Thus, the Tea Party. Democrats might capitalize on this...here's how:
Obama should meet with the founders of the Tea Party. Not the Bachmanns and the Palins or the Pauls, or the racist types, or whoever, but the regular people who are now the spokespeople for the movement, those who have no political ambition of their own, and who distance themselves from republicans every chance they get.
What does this get us?
The truth is, as everyone knows, there's a battle happening on the conservative side of the spectrum. (This is true on the left, too, though to a lesser extent.) The libertarian-minded far right is beginning to think that they might have a shot of reversing old trends -- i.e., they don't have to be taken for granted anymore, and maybe they can assert themselves, and get the neocon and fiscal republican types to go along with them, because they're the best thing happening.
To self-edit a bit, as I go: the "spectrum" of left to right is not a continuum. In some ways, it's a cycle...and far-left anarchist types do, in fact, have a few things in common with the far-right. But that's not the reason to contact them.
The reason would be to demonstrate that the current administration is inclusive and willing to listen. If the "constitutionalists" are truly interested in talking about the Constitution, then we should be able to have a mini-summit about what, exactly, is in the Constitution. Wouldn't that be a better national dialogue that annoying piss battles about abortion, that old wedge? As well, a black president (and constitutional lawyer) meeting with the Tea Party founders would further challenge the racist part of the Tea Party -- and if the success of the movement is partly fueled by racism, then a meeting would undermine that.
But most important, if would further separate the Tea Partiers from republicans, and demonstrate that they're probably not as far from democrats as they think they are. A meeting would be a civil opportunity to point out that they don't protest all government spending. The truth is that no one wants a government that's too large, and nobody wants to spend too much money. The only way to get that message to the Tea Party is to tell it to them directly.
A risky idea? Maybe. But it's conservatives who screw things up by refusing to take risks...