"The anger was good for winning elections, but apparently not for governing." Well, of course not!

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Outtakes—Anger Politics
By Rick Outzen, January 27, 2016

Back in 2010 when the Tea Party was fighting help the Republican Party seize control of Congress during President Barack Obama’s first mid-term election, University of Illinois at Chicago professor Lennard Davis wrote a piece for the Huffington Post titled “The Politics of Anger.”

Davis wrote, “The Tea Party is angry. America is angry. Anger is the watchword of the election season.”

He was puzzled by the reverence some political pundits had for anger.  The professor asked,  “Since when did anger ever amount to a political position? Since when did we start thinking of anger as a plank in a political platform?”

Davis pointed out that habitual anger wasn’t respected and often called for anger management counseling. In most families, when one lost his temper, an apology was expected to follow. He argued that anger should not be a permanent state of being in relationships or politics.

“Isn’t politics the art of the practical and the possible?” asked Davis. “Government involves compromise and alliance. In the old days, politicians used to make strange bedfellows — nowadays, as in a marriage gone bad, they don’t even get into bed together anymore.”

Unfortunately, anger politics won the mid-term elections. The Democratic Party suffered massive defeats. Republicans took control of 29 state governorships and 26 state legislatures. They gained 63 seats in the House, the largest turnover for any midterm election since 1938. They failed to take control of the Senate but gained six seats.

The Tea Party became a political force. Their anger over Obamacare and “out-of-control” spending won the election. So what changed? Did Congress pass a balanced budget? Was Obamacare repealed? Were other programs and entitlements cut?

No.

The anger was good for winning elections, but apparently not for governing. Congress’s approval rating has plummeted. It was 20 percent in November 2010. Today, the Republican-controlled legislative branch has an approval rating hovering around 14 percent.

Did the Republican Party and Tea Party apologize and change their strategies? No, they doubled down and blamed the White House for their ineffectiveness.

This year, anger is back on the political scene. Billionaire Donald Trump is anger about what he characterizes as losing. He will make America a winner again, and the Republican voters love his message. The polls have him outdistancing his opposition by double digits.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has also tapped into the anger and frustrations of those tired of the same tired rhetoric in the Democratic Party. His ideas aren’t politically correct but are far-reaching, and he is closing on the front-runner, Hillary Clinton.

Sorry, Professor Davis. The politics of anger are back with a vengeance.
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