TW: This piece got into a fairly lengthy bit on how Obama employed some ropa-dope tactics during his community organizing days in order to defuse radical elements within the community. Will such an approach work with the "tea-baggers". We shall see although Sept surely seems more calm than August.
From Economist:
"...The lesson the reader takes away from this episode in Mr Obama's book is clear: hysterical, confrontational tactics may be able to drum up a short-term crowd, but in the long run, they don't actually accomplish anything. The way to handle the ravers and conspiracy theorists is to let them have their rant, wait until the rest of the room stops taking them seriously, and then step in and work with the reasonable people to move the agenda forward. Does this strategy work? Well, over the past month and a half, as the rhetoric of right-wing protestors denouncing health reform has become increasingly unhinged, the passage of a major health-reform bill has quietly become a near certainty. True, Glenn Beck's influence on the right has grown to stunning proportions, and that influence will probably continue to grow for some time. It took people in Chicago a while to realise that folks like Rafiq al-Shabazz weren't going to get much done for them, whereas Barack Obama seemed to have a knack for finding people who would."
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/09/reasonableness_is_a_political.cfm
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