Considering Scapegoats

It has been fascinating to watch the transference of anger going from Wall Street and investors to corporations in 2007 or so, which Barack Obama blocked, told the banks I'm the guy standing between you and the pitch forks…

Without a villain, without Barack Obama letting people have the villain they want, the Republican Party stepped in and said you know, it is government and public employee unions that are the cause of your problems.

–  Ezra Klein, The Last Word, MSNBC, February 21, 2011 (at the 00:22:30 mark)

Last night I was listening to Lawrence O'Donnell and Ezra Klein discuss the situation brewing in Wisconsin.  It was a pretty generic progressive conversation about the politics of our national and state economic and budget issues – until Klein raised the issue of "blame."  He got my full attention when he talked briefly (above) about the anger people feel and how they needed to channel it toward something.

It reminded me that President Obama has not chosen to scapegoat any particular groups or organizations for our current difficulties.  In response, I can hear someone say, "Well he did say the Bush Administration's lack of regulatory enforcement was a cause" or "Obama said the greed of the financial institutions contributed to the bad deals," etc.  At which point I need to remind myself that laying blame per se is not the same as scapegoating.  To create a scapegoat, one must attempt to place the blame on a party who bears no actual responsibility for a problem – that is, try to frame an innocent for the transgressions of others.  No one who understands our current economic crisis can say the Bush Administration and the bankers are entirely without culpability in this situation. Frankly, there is plenty of blame to go around as we try to conduct a root-cause-analysis to unearth the decades-long processes that led to this point in time.

While the Left blames bankers and lobbyists and Republicans, the Right blames government employees and taxes and Democrats.  To me, Obama seems to rise above all this as he talks about the forces at work that we must accept (such as the global economy and the speed of technological changes) and those we can control (especially how government and business respond to these forces.) Earlier this month, he spoke to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about both innovation and economic accountability: "the mutual responsibilities we have – to secure the future that we all share."

In a world where short-term political advantage is everything – and governance is illusory – Obama makes many mistakes.  This is the world of Dualism, the childish belief that good things will happen if you find the right people to blame.

However, if one accepts the Complexity of our world and truly wants to govern in a manner that creates win-win progress for all parties, then scapegoating is a waste of time. It alienates many of those with whom one must partner if one is to truly create a new conversation in this country.   To work toward this end, one must "put an end to childish ways" – stop speaking as a child, thinking as a child, reasoning as a child – and become an adult.

Maybe that's why Obama often feels like the only grown-up in the room.

Photo Information:

President Barack Obama listens during a briefing on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans, La., Sunday, May 2, 2010.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)