Election 2012: ‘You think the Arab Spring can’t happen here? Think again. You push people far enough and they’ll revolt’
By almost every electoral scenario, the road to the White House in 2012 will run directly through Colorado and a handful of other Rocky Mountain states. Right now, neither President Obama, who will visit here early this week, nor the Republicans who debated in Las Vegas last week should feel confident about their prospects in this pivotal region.
That conclusion comes from a recent day spent interviewing voters and some non-voters in suburban Arapahoe County just east of Denver. Those conversations highlighted three current realities ahead of the coming presidential race.
First, voters of all stripes are more disgusted with what they see and hear from Washington than they have been in a long time. Second, the president’s performance has been a disappointment even to many of his 2008 supporters, and some doubt that he will be reelected. Third, no one in the Republican field has captured anyone’s imagination. Republicans are far from making a sale.
Anger with politics in Washington is palpable, erupting with great force when people are asked about the state of the nation or recent efforts to deal with the country’s problems. People see and feel an economy that is still inflicting pain on them or their families or their friends three years after the collapse in 2008. In the face of those problems, they see only bickering and gridlock in Washington, not leadership.
“The Democrats go down one road and the Republicans go down another, and those roads don’t meet,” said John Elam, a retired pharmacist. Without missing a beat, his wife, Evelyn, a retired teacher, jumped in to say, “And if there’s a bridge between them, they’ll burn it.”
“The situation in Washington is so bad because they won’t do anything to fix it,” said Mike Albi, a retired electrician, referring to the politicians. “They won’t get away from politics and do their job. People are angry and frustrated and have no focal point. . . . You think the Arab Spring can’t happen here? Think again. You push people far enough and they’ll revolt….”