Always insightful commentary from the gents at Power Line, this time on today's Rally to Reassure the Desperate:
Stewart called on the nation to move forward 'concession by concession,' the way cars yield to one another when they merge from two lanes into one. I don't watch Stewart's show, so I don't know whether he applied this model when President Obama was ramming legislation like health care reform through Congress without making any real concessions to Republicans (not even Olympia Snowe). I do know that Stewart is now criticizing Obama not for insufficient willingness to compromise, but for failing to be even more transformative than he has been.
Stewart also pressed his theory that the 24 hour pundit cycle is making it harder to solve 'our problems.' He offered no analysis to support the implausible notion that cable news and talk shows -- of mostly poor quality to be sure, but also lightly watched for the most part -- are having such an effect.
Stewart seems to be obsessed with punditry. But I believe it washes over the body politic as a whole either unconsumed or taken (as Stewart's performances are) mostly for its entertainment value. The causes, and the most interesting symptoms, of our polarization (if that's what Stewart is complaining about) lie elsewhere.
JOHN adds: 'Polarization' consists of us conservatives and other non-liberals--80 percent of the population--resisting Obama's and Stewart's left-wing agenda.