The Young Turks

Cenk’s Hamas rant on Friday eloquently repeats a familiar theme of his which he shouts Cassandra-like to an unhearing mainstream political culture.  We’re meekly accepting a conservative framing that’s pathologically inverted.  The only successful way to counter this delusional talk is to turn in on its head, as Cenk points out.

How can democratic politicians do this rhetorically?  What tropes could Obama use to accomplish this reversal of the frame?  He said once that this is silly season--That’s too weak a version of Cenk’s point, but it’s closer to Obamma’s idiom.  He needs something that will stick in people’s minds to help them reframe the political situation. 

There used to be an “opposites” sketch on the Canadian comedy kids show You Can’t Do That on Television on Nickolodeon which made the absurdist point that things are sometimes the opposite of what they appear.  Obama should go directly at the Hamas issue, the defense issue, the tax issue, etc. by saying that it’s topsey turvey time in Washington.  That’s a trope that audience’s can hear, and it might help us reorganize our thinking, and shake us out of our dogmatic slumbers.