Have you seen the Santelli clip? Watch it. Now. I’ll wait.
Yes, that is a CNBC reporter channeling the rage of the common volk. Raging about the “losers” getting bailed out by gubmint money. Interestingly, he neglects to mention the orders of magnitude more money getting thrown at the losers who happen to already have lots of money and political influence. Probably just an oversight; or he maybe saw that as going without saying. This short clip is just incredibly dense with political import. There’s a ton here to be talked about, but I’m just going to mention one thing.
What I wonder when I watch this clip, is what color are those “losers” he’s talking about? One should recall McCain’s (and the Republican Party’s) diagnosis of the financial crisis stemming from innocent banks being forced to extend loans to minorities. The “losers” being bailed out here are, to be specific, minority homeowners. Let’s not address the plausibility of it (not worth the breath), but rather the message, which is simple: your woes can be blamed on the minorities. It echoes Reagan’s comment of the “strapping young buck” getting T-bones with food stamps. Of course, while Reagan’s racist appeal was fairly simple and direct, this is a layer removed; it’s also less clear that it is deliberately intended as such. It might not be.
Anyway, the point is that the Republican Party’s history with race is not one that can just be fixed by naming a black chairman. Especially if he’s also an idiot.
Sidenote: Politico claims that we are “a nation of Santellis“. Actually, no; most Americans are victims of the financial collapse rather than passive enablers who’ve spent their careers convincing everyone that the free market is best regulated by itself.
