Will Economic Recovery Trump Political Extremism in 2012?

Will economic recovery trump political extremism in 2012?

Mississippi voters on Tuesday, Nov. 8, rejected the so-called “Personhood Amendment” that would have declared that life in the Magnolia State begins at conception, while Ohio voters repealed a law that Republican Gov. John Kasich signed in March that severely curtailed collective bargaining rights for the state’s public workers by a 2-1 margin. Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, who spearheaded the passage of the state’s controversial Senate Bill 1070, is poised to lose his seat in a recall election.

The answer to the fore mentioned question is obviously in the eyes of the beholder—a social conservative could make the argument that President Barack Obama is an extremist because his administration no longer defends the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court, while a liberal feminist may conclude that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is an opportunistic misogynist because four women have accused him of sexual harassment while he headed the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. A Rasmussen poll last month showed that 84 percent of likely voters rank the economy as their top issue going into the 2012 election cycle, compared with only 52 percent who described immigration as a very important issue. The country’s unemployment rate remains at nine percent.

It’s the economy, stupid!

Has anything changed since the Gulf oil spill?

What, if anything, has actually changed since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and caused the country’s largest oil spill?

Watching the burning oil rig on television from Bushwick was surreal. The images of oil-coated wildlife, contaminated marshes and barrier islands and tar balls on beaches from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle were horrifying. The partisan back-and-forth over the response to the disaster was infuriating.

There was some concern that oil from the Deepwater Horizon could potentially reach Fire Island if it were to enter oceanic currents. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy stressed to the Fire Island News last June that his administration was preparing for the “worst-case scenario.” This “worst-case scenario” thankfully did not come to pass on the beach. The Gulf Coast was obviously not so lucky.

One can certainly make the case that the disaster proved the need for this country to further invest in renewable energy sources—although the Japanese earthquake and tsunami clearly demonstrate the calamitous potential of nuclear power. It is crucially important to acknowledge, however, that the Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 people. The subsequent oil spill also dramatically disrupted a way of life along the Gulf Coast. This legacy could last far longer than a country’s collective memory.