CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It was the outburst heard around the world. From the halls of Congress to the millions of Americans watching their televisions, Rep. Joe Wilson’s accusation rocked the political world.Past presidents have been booed, but never has a sitting president been shouted at by members of Congress. It was a scene more common to the British House of Lords or the parliaments of Southeast Asia. With that shout, Thomas Jefferson rolled over a little in his grave, and Nancy Pelosi gave Wilson quite possibly the scariest glare I’ve ever seen.Sadly, we shouldn’t be too surprised this kind of behavior has occurred in Congress because it has been occurring all summer.At town hall after town hall, from Washington to Maine, Hawaii to Florida and right here in Louisiana, the rancor felt by mostly older white people was verbalized in a presidential address to a joint meeting of Congress.To be clear, some of this anger is about race. Many older Americans are scared of what they perceive to be the changing of the guard. They grew up in segregation, whether de jure or de facto, but the lines of race are beginning to blur in a modern America, ever so slightly.But more importantly, the anger is rooted in an unfounded fear held by many Americans that government is somehow inherently evil.President Obama has put forward the most sweeping agenda since LBJ’s Great Society.His plans include a complete overhaul of the financial industry, redefining health care, capping carbon emissions and reinvigorating the national manufacturing base.So much change at one time has made many Americans wary. Pundits and average people alike say he is moving far too fast.But after eight years in the wrong direction, the faster this nation performs a 180, the better.The fears of many Americans manifested last week during the 9/12 tea party protest on Washington.Some of these protesters were honestly against many of Obama’s policies, and they should be applauded for voicing their concerns.
The same cannot be said for the entirety of the 80,000 or so people protesting. Those individuals who displayed signs saying “The zoo has an African lion and the White House has a lyin’ African” or “Cap Congress and trade Obama back to Kenya” make themselves look terribly foolish and terribly ignorant.These signs do nothing to further honest debate and compromise — rather they make those protesting look like a bunch of old white people angry because a black man is president.Rep. Wilson’s temper tantrum had the same effect. It turned a decent speech (in Obama standards) into a far better one. These signs and that outburst remind independent Americans why they voted 52-44 for Obama. They also reminded the people who the adults are. Standing at the podium, Obama appeared to be the baby sitter over an unruly Congress and American public.The rancor in this debate is not one-sided. For years, some on the extreme left have been too belligerent in their argument, but we have not seen such rancor as we have this year by conservative grassroots activists.A lot of the differences are also regional. Clearly, the most rancorous detractors hail from the South. From the South Carolina trio of Sen. Jim DeMint, Gov. Mark Sanford and Rep. Wilson to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, much of the old, Southern, white male electorate is in a fervor.Maureen Dowd hit the nail on the head in The New York Times last week when she said “For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.”Stephen Schmitz is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, TX. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_sschmitz.—-Contact Stephen Schmitz at [email protected]