Political opposition: The good, the bad, and the downright scary
I don’t want to inadvertently suggest that I think everybody who disagrees with me is crazy and irrational. I am frequently glad for a different perspective. Other times, I think arguments are petty or stupid—but I too have posted petty and stupid things. But there are things that I think everybody, regardless of political stance, should speak against.
Much political opposition is healthy. When Obama proposes a healthcare bill, it’s healthy to have some people stand up and ask whether it will fork or whether it costs too much. When Bush proposed invading Iraq, many people properly objected that war was unnecessary and that the anticipated price tag and duration were wildly optimistic. However passionately we may disagree, this sort of dissent is necessary for robust political debate.
There is also bad opposition, which simply attempts to score political points while avoiding anything of substance. Criticizing Obama for saying a police officer’s actions were stupid when that officer did something stupid isn’t particularly valuable. It’s calculated to make law-and-order Republicans feel indignant and waste another hour of the news cycle. When Bush went to Iraq in 2003 to serve a Thanksgiving turkey to the soldiers, a number of democrats jockeying for their party’s nomination called it a wasteful political stunt. It looked petty. Then there was the time MoveOn ran that “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” ad, accusing the general of altering facts to suit the Bush Whitehouse’s political goals before Petraeus had even given his report to congress. It’s stupid and counter productive. But whatever—it’s politics. That’s how the game works. Cheer for your guy—and laugh when one of your talking heads says something witty, even if it’s all sort of stupid.
But there’s been a recent rise in stuff we should all consider extremely worrisome. Parents threatening to keep their children home from school because Obama might talk to them should disturb all of us. This isn’t simply a matter of parents thinking this is an inappropriate use of school resources or a waste of time. This is parents who think that having Obama say something to their children about staying in school and being the best they can be is so harmful that it would be better to skip school entirely. These parents believe that listening to Obama speak, even on the most benign topics, will hurt their child. What could motivate that kind of response? Is it racism? Is it an irrational reaction to economic anxiety? Either way, it’s ugly. We should be worried.
