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On Timing in Political Strategy

"Never allow a crisis to go to waste" said White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to the reporters, as so said many an administration official in constructing a theme to frame their policy initiatives. These Democrats are choosing to spin their actions as emergency responses to crisis situations, and grand crises demand grand responses; they are firemen, doing whatever it takes to put out the fire.

This is the language used to convince the skeptical. And who would object to bold action, in these turbulent days? Who denies the house is burning?

But the administration is surely not alone in recognizing the unique openings in the current political landscape. What must the country's social activists be thinking right about now?

With unemployment high, retirement funds failing, whole sectors of industry lurching, wars ongoing, with so many urgent situations demanding people's attention, when has there been a better time to push hot-button "culture war" issues? When have the old labels and morality debates seemed as feckless? Beyond just a personal feeling, the numbers are beginning to support this idea.

Among its many polls, Gallup tracks the open-ended question "What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?"

In the April 6th-9th 2009 tracking, of all the classic American social issues only the vaguely general  "Ethics/Moral/Religious/Family Decline; Dishonesty" response registered much at all, with 4%. "Drugs" came in at 1%, while "Abortion", "Judicial System/Courts/Law", "Guns/Gun Control", and yes, "Gay Rights Issues" all came in at less than 0.5%.

(http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/Most-Important-Problem.aspx)

If I'm a proponent of gay marriage, or medical marijuana, or universally legal abortion, or the reinstatement of the assault rifle ban, or gays in the military, I'm looking at those numbers and thinking "Now's my time."

There is more political cover to pursue cultural issues right now than at any other moment in my lifetime. Opposition will always exist, but it's currently as distracted as it's ever likely to be. Who cares if gays in Vermont want to marry while I'm getting laid off in Louisiana? 

As always, there are obstacles: the political will to start such culture-war fights will be extremely low. Any politician championing these causes risks being caricatured by conservative spin as "fiddling while Rome burns" by loosing concentration on economic priorities, or as finally displaying a long-secret liberal agenda.

Still, this country is in cultural shell-shock. There has been a severe undermining of faith in the infallibility of the elites, a heightened sense of camaraderie amongst the working class, and a swelling disorientation about our own conceptions of the social fabric.

If that doesn't describe a window of opportunity for changing attitudes and challenging prejudices, then I don't know what does.