A Democratic Awakening
What we'll remember about 2008 is that it was the year the backlash finally broke. For decades, American conservatism has presented itself as a class-based rebellion against a condescending "liberal élite." The argument has laid liberals low from George McGovern to John Kerry; it has sent the mainstream media scurrying in terror; it has fueled fights over such unlikely subjects as the theory of evolution; and it furnished the political cover for the most élitist economic policies since the 1920s. For years Democrats had been incapable of responding in kind. But the enormous economic unpleasantness of 2008 forced them back onto their own, almost forgotten working-class instincts. In response, conservatives escalated the assault on the "liberal élite." John McCain chose as his running mate a woman whose main selling point was her acute sense of cultural victimhood. His campaign marched a platoon of propaganda figures across the stage, like the cartoonishly named Joe the Plumber, to affirm the working man's love for the policies that were killing him. It was grotesque, and soon it will be over. Hopefully, for good.
Frank, journalist and author of The Wrecking Crew, writes about American culture and politics