The 'Rightwing Backlash' That Never Was
The consensus is that angry voters are moving rightward. But it's nothing Democrats couldn't fix with a dose of economic populism
by Mark Weisbrot
Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), in Washington, DC.September 22, 2010
Is America in the grip of a rightwing backlash that will hit the November elections like a hurricane?
This narrative is gathering steam. It is fed not only by the minority partisan rightwing media, but also its majority "liberal" counterpart, which loves a horse race and is fascinated with the Tea Party, even if it isn't so eager for the Republicans to take congress.
Regardless of the outcome, 90%-plus of the pundits and press will cheese up the same tired old cliché in their post-election analysis: the Democrats were punished (they will inevitably lose at least some seats in congress) because they tried to go too far, too fast and too left for the inherently conservative American masses. And this junk will be consumed for years, adding another layer of fat to the lazy couch potato that is American journalism's "conventional wisdom".
How about another narrative that makes more sense?
Read the another narrative and the rest of this article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/22/midterm-elections-economy-obama