A Political Perfect Storm

"Suetonius, in holding up a mirror to those Caesars of diverting legend, reflects not only them but ourselves: half-tempted creatures, whose great moral task is to hold in balance the angel and the monster within."

We are officially into the 2006 Hurricane season. Very rarely do we get a perfect storm when all of the weather conditions line up to create the mother monster of all storms like the horrific 1991 Halloween Nor’easter that ravaged the eastern seaboard and took the lives of several Massachusetts area fisherman off Cape Cod. In fact, the movie “The Perfect Storm” was based on this real life event. In order for a perfect storm to occur there must be a simultaneous lining up of events which, if taken individually, would be far less powerful. According to a meteorological synopsis of the Perfect Storm of 1991, what we saw was the merging of two low-pressure areas, a large flow of warm air from the south, cold air from the north, and moisture feeding into the storm from the warm ocean current (the Gulf stream) all conflated with exceptionally strong northwesterly winds (cold air), and strong Northeasterly winds (warm air that moved up from the south spinning counter clockwise in typical low pressure behavior) to create an exceptionally strong storm across a very large area. Needless to say, the occurrence of perfect storms is rare but when they do occur, the fallout can often be catastrophic.

According to multiple political polls conducted by CNN, Cook Political Report and Fox News/Opinion Dynamics and a few others, there is a political storm brewing in America. I argued in 2004 that the only way to slow down “Dubya” was for there to be creation of multiple storms forming around him.  The intentional CIA leaking of an agent, I. Scooter Libby’s indictment, Karl Rove’s heavy hand, Vice President Cheney’s shenanigans, the Guantanamo fiasco, ridiculous gas prices this summer, and illegally spying on innocent Americans were the low pressure that the perfect storm would need. The inability of the cowboy from Texas to corral Osama Bin Laden, a war gone wrong in Iraq, the almost daily loss of the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rantings and rumblings of Secretary of Defense Rumsfield have provided the warm current or the Gulf Stream for this perfect storm around the President. So where are the Northeasterly winds to make this the perfect storm? THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

A new poll conducted for CNN by the Opinion Research Corporation shows that voters are unhappy and outright angry about the way that things are going in the country today. According to the poll they were asked: "Would you say you are generally content with the way things are going in the country today, or is there something you would say you are angry about?"

More than three-quarters (76 percent) of the sample (1,004 adults) said they were "angry about something." A staggering 54 percent said that things are going badly. Want more numbers? Twenty-five percent said things were going “very badly” and only nine percent said things were going “very well.” The Cook poll revealed that only 28 percent of 801 registered voters felt that America was headed in the right direction with a whopping 64 percent saying that this train is definitely on the wrong track!

Want some more low pressure for this perfect storm? According to CNN only 27 percent of voters said they were more likely to vote for the person with the “I” by their name while 55 said they would most likely support the challenger. Incumbents be aware of this perfect storm! Even the Fox Poll confirms the perfect storm. Only 21 percent of those polled approved of the job Congress is doing with 61 percent disapproving.

Want some counter clockwise low pressure behavior? The Republicans who rode into power in 1994 on the coattails of the Christian Coalition using a combination of religion and fear control the Presidency, the United State Senate and the United States House of Representatives. So guess who America is mad at? THE REPUBLICANS! The Ides of November 7, 2006 does not bode well for the Republican Party.

For so long the Republican Party has played the “holier than thou” role and ignored Gore Vidal’s powerful line when referring to Robert Graves’ translation of Suetonius’ “The Twelve Caesars”, in reference to Suetonius’ reflections: “Suetonius, in holding up a mirror to those Caesars of diverting legend, reflects not only them but ourselves: half-tempted creatures, whose great moral task is to hold in balance the angel and the monster within.” Somehow that monster is now caught up in a perfect storm and the Democrats have the chance to be angels–if we get our act and message together!