Mickey Kaus has written a post on the political conversion of Maureen “Moe” Tucker of the Velvet Underground, the band’s pioneering female drummer. As many of my left-of-center has noted with dismay, Tucker was recently spotted at a Tea Party rally. Mickey draws on Michael Appelstein’s fascinating interview with Tucker, published in the Riverfront Times news blog.

As Mickey’s excerpt makes clear, Tucker has thought deeply about the political scene, and on many issues I agree with her, e.g., the dangers of centralized power, the idea that transfers need to be reformed and that we need a better understanding of the lived experience of poor Americans. And we’ve discussed incandescent bulbs in this space, so you know what I think about that issue. As Mickey argues, Tucker is not reflexively anti-government. Rather, she favors prudential limits on the scope of regulatory authority and she expects government at all levels to take its commitment to taxpayers seriously.

I do think we need more market pricing for water, particularly in California and the Southwest, but that’s a minor quibble.

Mickey raises a more salient political question:

But my main thought while reading her rant was—why isn’t she an Obama voter?
I’m serious. Was it really necessary to piss people like her off? Tucker’s almost a perfectObama voter. She’s a single grandmom. Not rich. Famously worked at Wal-Mart (after being a rock star) and complained about it. A lifelong Democrat—until now. Was what Obama felt he had to do—save Detroit, save Wall Street, jumpstart the economy, pass health care reform—inevitably incompatible with her world view? Was a huge rebellion of people like her simply what you get when you ”impose a liberal agenda” on a “center-right country,” as Charles Krauthammer argues? Or did Obama gratuitiously fail to reassure her that her not unreasonable fears (e.g. “How the hell will this utopian dream land be paid for?”) were unfounded?

I recommend the post. I sense that there’s an opportunity for the right-of-center coalition to expand, provided conservative politicians and activists emphasize the core question of how to create a sustainable government. Whether that’ll actually happen remains an open question.