Taking a cue from the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, a new Tea Party movement that mocks at President Barack Obama’s “hopey-changey stuff” is pitching conservatives like Indian American Nikki “Randhawa” Haley, who is poised to become South Carolina governor, at the forefront of American politics.
If American colonists dumped tea into Boston harbour to protest against British-imposed taxes, their present-day imitators mailed tea bags to Congress in 2009 to create a “buzz and pop” against the corporate bailout and the stimulus bill signed by Mr Obama to beat the recession.
Evoking images, slogans and themes from the American Revolution, such as tri-corner hats and yellow Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and “Taxed Enough Already” (T-E-A) acronym, the movement a year later has emerged as a force to reckon with in US politics. With Ms Haley, 38, and many other candidates backed by the movement prevailing in several Republican primaries, poll watchers have started gauging its potential impact on the November elections with the Democrats facing the mid-term blues.
With the backing of tea party activists and Sarah Palin, Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa, born in a Sikh family, brushed aside allegations of marital infidelity and an ethnic slur to win the Republican nomination to run for governor in South Carolina. And by most accounts she is poised to win. Ms Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate, herself has emerged as the top horse in PoliticalDerby.com’s 2012 Power Rankings of horses that will vie for the Republican nomination to challenge Mr Obama in 2012.