The brilliance in Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity was that it was performed without making a plea to vote for either political side. He delivered a message that will still be relevant no matter what the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections. He does not have to rely on a political victory for his call for sanity to be answered.
However, it seems unlikely that sanity would be achieved if the T.E.A. party radicals achieve the kind of overwhelming victory that they are hoping for. And much as he claimed that his rally was not a response to Glenn Beck's Rally to Restore Honor, comparisons are inevitable. Stewart himself has said that he does not care what outcome or influence there may be from his rally, but I care. And I'll make some comparisons even though Stewart is not likely to.
I do so as a Democrat, so I am applying my own filter in interpreting Stewart's rally. So, I have to apologize to Jon because I am about to become one of those people who will tell you what I think the rally means.
The exact numbers from each rally are up for debate -- to a point -- but from every reasonable source I have seen, Stewart's rally had at least 200,000 to 250,000 people. That's a number at least double the size of Beck's rally. Those estimates on the sanity rally are probably safe guesses considering that they probably do not include the crowds that also milled about on the streets around the National Mall.
Aside from keeping score, what do those numbers mean? They mean that Jon Stewart has demonstrated more with action than with words that he is the better man. He has checked Glenn Beck from making any reasonable claim that he speaks for the majority of Americans. And even though the T.E.A. party candidates do have the momentum and the energy to win in this election, he has served notice that a large part of this country is not going to support the more radical of their plans.
His rally and his call for sanity was directed at the moderate middle. It was a call for making the kind of political compromises that allow government to work. It was a call for responsible commentary on the issues. It was a call to scorn the hot heads and not hire them as news analysts. (And maybe fire the ones that are working?)
Most of the audience that demonstrated a political viewpoint leaned to the left, and that is in part because the left has been taking more of a beating this year. In a way, Stewart is like the guy who comes upon two kids having a street fight. He runs to break up the fight and restore order, but in doing so he also saves the weaker kid who is losing the fight.
Critics of Stewart would say that his audience leans to the left because he is a tool of the liberal elite. But Jon Stewart is nobody's tool.
I respect him tremendously because he has the integrity as a comedian that many journalists today lack. He is fearless in directing his thoughtful and often biting commentary at anyone who deserves it. One of his favorite targets is Fox News, which shows the least integrity of any media organization. He attacks them so often because they spend 24-hours a day pumping their propaganda and nonsense into the political landscape. Of course they are going to draw more fire.
And I apologize if my criticism has become uncivil. I am striving to be a saner person since attending the rally.
It seems unlikely that the Rally to Restore Sanity will give the Democrats the kind of last-minute boost they have been hoping for. The pundits and pollsters seem to have concluded that it is all but certain the Democrats will at least lose the House. However, so many races are so tight and so tightly contested that now more than ever, every vote will count. Every vote will matter.
Of course, I am hoping for at least a close race in this election. If the Democrats lose the House, but just barely, or at least by only a respectable margin, perhaps that might create the atmosphere for political compromise that we need. The T.E.A. party candidates may put the Republicans in charge, but perhaps there will emerge a moderate coalition that can actually get some functional legislation passed. But that is likely be a faint hope.
To repeat my earlier blog, the key is to have both fiscal responsibility and a social conscience in government. To me, that is as obvious a solution as the two-state solution is for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the Israelis and the Palestinians do not see that as so obvious or as easy to achieve. Neither would this kind of compromise be for Democrats and Republicans.
Still Democrats and Republicans should have an easier time in finding compromise because they do not have years of actual bloodshed to overcome. They just have years of name calling and bitter rivalry to deal with.
So, it comes down to the voting on Tuesday. The results may include some surprises for us. Stewart may have energized the middle more than the pundits expect. After all, this was not just one rally of nearly a quarter of a million people. It was a series of satellite rallies held all over the country. For every person who actually stood on the National Mall on Saturday, there were who-knows-how-many others who wanted to be there but couldn't.
And how will this energized middle vote? We'll have to wait and see. But even though the Rally to Restore Sanity may come too late to have an impact on this election, its legacy may be felt on many elections to come.
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