2012: The Year of Electile Dysfunction

Gerald F. Seib in the Wall Street Journal writes, "As dark as the political picture is for President Barack Obama right now, Republicans aren't exactly basking in a healthy glow either, suggesting that some wild and unpredictable political forces have been unleashed across the land."

A friend of mine named this unpredictable political force: Electile Dysfunction.

Gerald goes on to say Bill McInturff, the Republican pollster who conducts surveys for the The Wall Street Journal/NBC News, "thinks the summer's debt-ceiling wrangling may rank right up there with the Iranian hostage crisis, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of financial markets as a defining political moment."

What is causing this Electile Dysfunction?

The TEA Party and its affiliated organizations. This is clear from the likes of General President of the Teamsters Union Jimmy Hoffa, who had some profane, fightin' words for TEA Party conservatives at a labor rally in Detroit on Labor Day 2011:

"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war... President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong."

Ericka Johnson, of TownHall.com, reflecting on Hoffa's comments writes, "Get ready, people: I'd wager this is a mere preview of what we're going to see during Obama's much-heralded 'jobs' speech this week. 'I have no real solutions; I'm going to keep proposing more of the same failing Keynesian nonsense because it fits with my academic, progressive ideologies; none of this is my fault; and the GOP is blocking my every move just to spite me.' Just a guess."

On August 7, 2011 a Rasmussen national telephone survey found that just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters think the federal government today has the consent of the governed.  Sixty-nine percent (69%) believe the government does not have that consent. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.

Gerald ends his WSJ column by stating, "The point is simply that the country is in such a state of economic fear and loathing that the forces being unleashed are spinning off in every direction, with unpredictable consequences."

Gird your loins. This is going to be one heck of a ride to November 2012 the year of Electile Dysfunction.