Quote of the Day: The Real Election

Matt Taibbi on the hidden election this year:

In the wake of the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, and a dozen or more episodes of real rebellion on the streets, in the legislatures of cities and towns, and in state and federal courthouses, this presidential race now feels like a banal bureaucratic sideshow to the real event – the real event being a looming confrontation between huge masses of disaffected citizens on both sides of the aisle, and a corrupt and increasingly ideologically bankrupt political establishment, represented in large part by the two parties dominating this race.

I still think it is worth lining up behind Obama – the alternatives are just too dangerous. But Taibbi has a point. In the wake of one of the greatest financial disasters in history, the Obama adminstration has yet to prosecute a single banker successfully. That says it all really – while the Democrats might offer a few more social programs and slightly more intelligent war, the end result is pretty much the same: Huge wealth disparity, an antagonistic foreign policy, and a crumbling economy.

I guess it's a matter of degree, and I'd rather have an administration that values the role of government over one that doesn't, but it certainly feels like the public has had enough. Problem is, there aren't any serious alternatives.

Not yet, at least.