After weeks of television screens full of screaming crowds, charges (and counter-charges) of racism, a Southern congressman shouting “You lie!” and talk of an imploding civic culture, here’s something that may surprise you.<\/p>\n
President Barack Obama is still broadly popular. <\/p>\n
According to the latest Bloomberg poll, 56% of Americans approve of Mr. Obama’s performance on the job.<\/p>\n
That’s more than the percentage of Americans who voted for him. Even more — 61% — like the President personally.<\/p>\n
An ABC\/Washington Post survey this week found that 51% of Americans are comfortable with his handling of the economy.<\/p>\n
When asked whether they thought Mr. Obama or the Republicans in Congress would do a better job handling the economy, Americans favored the President by an 11% margin.<\/p>\n
The same polls show that Americans are broadly and legitimitely concerned about the growing budget deficit. They want Mr. Obama to do something about it.<\/p>\n
But they don’t believe he’s evil, or a Muslim, or the mastermind of a socialist conspiracy. <\/p>\n
Those are the preoccupations of a passingly small group of fringe-activists who, unfortunately, enjoy enormous influence within the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
More sadly, the Birthers and Death Panelists and Obama-is-a-Muslimists have been given a massive megaphone by the 24\/7 cable shows and talk radio.<\/p>\n
This disconnect between broad national sentiment and an enraged and increasingly volatile fringe movement is nothing new in our society.<\/p>\n
And historically these movements do the most damage to the parties that are allied with them.<\/p>\n
So long as the Republican Party is a movement defined by Joe Wilson, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh, it’s hard to imagine many soccer moms (or Hispanics) signing up.<\/p>\n
My point is only that all the talk of crisis and the fraying of our civic dialogue is hooey. Yes, Joe Wilson’s shout-out was thuggish. <\/p>\n
But Americans as a whole still share a big, comfortable centrist consensus — one with plenty of debates and problems, but no Republic-shattering divides.<\/p>\n
If radicals on the right (or the left) want to convince themselves that they represent a silent majority, and that Mr. Obama is ushering in a national apocalypse, fine.<\/p>\n
Paranoia and rage are defended forms of free speech, so long as they are voiced peacefully. <\/p>\n
The challenge for the rest of us will be turning down the volume, changing the channel, and remembering the real issues at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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