What is to be done with Big Bird?

I noted, when Ryan was raised to the ticket, that the question of socialism would be central to the campaign (Lessons to be Learned). How, then, does this momentous topic find itself boiled down to the figure of Big Bird?

In selling himself to the mass voter, as during the debate, the Republican candidate is tasked with dissembling. While avoiding discussion of the disassembly of the social insurance network he is permitted, for the purpose of demonstrating his reactionary bona fides, to attack some isolated target or other. PBS has long been a favorite of the Republicans because of the intersection of ideology and public funding. It is, moreover, well outside the front lines of the current political-economic crisis where the real money is at stake.

Meanwhile, the President is left out of our little puppet show. As the Republican candidate observed, “High-income people are doing just fine in this economy. They’ll do fine whether you’re president or I am.” The citizens of Sesame Street, like their comrades around the world, need to come up with their own strategy for the days ahead.