It has become fashionable on the Left to feign a world-weary cynicism. The “Audacity of Hope” is often considered a utopian conceit, and a New Fatalism has descended upon the Left. We must not be afraid of the inspiration that we got from the Audacity of Hope, even if our prophet seems to have feet of clay.

On where the rubber meets the road concerning progressivism

Two nights ago (September 14), Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC, during coverage of the DC tea baggers demonstration against health insurance reform, played a satirical clip called “Billionaires for Wealthcare,” in an attempt to give the alternative point of view to the demonstration. Just after the clip she made the point that Billionaires for Wealthcare had found the “antidote to the fact-free scream-and-holler syndrome that has disabled the debate about what to do to fix health care.” And that when people talk about a plan for putting Republicans in concentration camps, creating death panels for old people, and using mysterious interpretations of the Tenth Amendment to declare health care unconstitutional, “maybe singing satirical songs to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic is the most appropriate way to counter that.”

Well, I, and I’m sure many others found the clip and Rachel’s point very amusing. But I also found myself thinking that such satire wasn’t going to persuade tea baggers or discredit their fables among those who find them plausible. They’ll just look at “Billionaires for Wealthcare” as another attempt by smart-ass, over-educated “liberals” to discredit their legitimate concerns by marginalizing them, and by insulting the tea baggers themselves. So, I guess I don’t think satire is the best way to answer the tea baggers’ increasingly ridiculous claims about pending health insurance reform legislation. I think a much better way to counter that is for the Administration and its supporters to stop promoting legislation that is so complex and difficult to read and understand that any silly story can be circulated about it, and also for them to explain the reasons why the health care legislation they are backing will solve the problems it is supposed to solve. Yes, I am saying that a more “rational,” though not unemotional, and also simpler approach to communication of health care reform, is the way to counter the tea baggers’ “screaming and hollering.”

An open letter to the President about using his dying mother’s story to get elected.

Senator Lindsey Graham says different things about torture at different times. Why?