Laid off? It's OK, Obama's working on a narrative

More PR-obsessed "politics" in the Guardian:

"The absence of an effective narrative on the Democratic side has allowed Republicans to fill the vacuum."

Right. Narratives, narratives, it's all narratives. Makes me feel great, I have to tell you. I guess nothing matters outside of how effectively Democrats and Republicans "spin" their "message". That's probably what the millions of unemployed people in the US are wondering right now: "where's that good narrative anyway?". Yes, that's what we all need- that's what will pay my bills and assuage the social misery being visited upon millions: a good narrative.

I'm pleased to know it's that easy. That's funny because I would have thought things like this mattered. I was under the impression that it might do well to consider addressing our woefully unmaintained infrastructure, ending the costly imperial ventures abroad, taxing the rich to stop our schools from collapsing, fighting to expand public transportation at a time when cities across the country are cutting jobs and service, addressing the still unsolved health care crisis, etc. etc.

Evidently those things are beside the point: what we need now is an effective "message", a good narrative. But is that what we need? Or is that simply what a self-serving set of enablers for the existing order, i.e. the Democrats, need in order to maintain their place in the system?

Here it's necessary to quote Peter Camejo: "every major gain in our history, even pre-Civil War struggles such as the battles for the Bill of Rights, to end slavery, and to establish free public education -as well as those after the Civil War, have been the product of direct action by movements independent of the two major parties and in opposition to them".