Office Politics

In honor of this year’s recently-aired Christmas episode, I’m proposing a radical new theory regarding the direction The Office is taking this season:

Much to the delight of TV audiences across America, the employees at declining paper distributor Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch have suffered under their incompetent, sophomoric boss, Michael Scott, for over five years now. During that time, Scott served as a fitting parody of America’s own incompetent, sophomoric boss, former President George W. Bush, right down to their mutual penchant for malapropism. All the while, Dunder-Mifflin’s exasperated staff yearned for a more mature, practical and intelligent commander-in-chief, as did a significant percentage of the American public.

Then came 2009, a year that saw both the inauguration of Barack Obama and the promotion of Jim Halpert to Co-Regional Manager (in my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d be equating those two events). Both newly-minted leaders enjoyed brief periods of popularity out of the gates (based largely on the collective relief that their bumbling predecessors were no longer in charge). Neither of these honeymoon periods lasted very long, however.

Much like Republican obstructionists in Congress, Jim’s nemesis, Dwight K. Schrute, engages in a Nixonian campaign of dirty tricks and disinformation to undermine and discredit Jim’s leadership. Using fellow salesman Andy Bernard as a proxy, Dwight indirectly proposes that Jim boost morale by implementing an Employee of the Month program. Jim agrees but balks at the idea of a cash prize, saying only that “in an ideal world” the company would offer such an incentive. Dwight proceeds to hang Jim with his own words by soliciting twenty dollars from each of his co-workers, claiming that, “Jim thought it would be ideal if we all pitched in.”

Next, Dwight devises a scoring system for the award that ensures Jim and his wife, former secretary and current salesperson Pam, will finish at the top of the list. Finally, he accuses Jim of gross malfeasance by imitating several of his co-workers in a series of voicemails, each one as hilarious as it is fraudulent, left for beleaguered Dunder-Mifflin CFO David Wallace.

Eventually, Dwight’s rabble-rousing pays off, culminating in a scene where Jim must awkwardly explain to his staff how he ended up with the money that they all contributed, a sum that amounts to $250 (or, as dowdy accountant Angela puts it, “a tidy quarter of a thousand dollars”). Before he even knows what hit him, Jim is back on his heels being mocked and derided as he frantically attempts to reassure the office that, “this isn’t some elaborate scam.”

As anyone who’s followed the debates on health care, global climate change and/or the economy can attest to, the most vocal elements of the radical-right (Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, I’m looking in your directions) stubbornly insist that the Obama Administration’s policies on all of these vital issues amount to an “elaborate scam.” And lately, the President, like Jim, has been backpedaling, forced to defend his agenda against a wave of accusations as ridiculous as they are baseless (“death panels,” anyone?).

Even usually mild-mannered salesperson Phyllis gets in on the action, claiming to Jim that, "in your perfect world, only you get money.” This accusation sounds strikingly similar to the kind of fuzzy-logic charges leveled at Obama during the right-wing "Tea Party" protests and Sarah Palin rallies promoted by Fox News.

Thus, by whipping his co-workers into a frenzy of misguided “populist rage,” Dwight successfully spins Jim’s well-intentioned effort to boost morale into a full-blown office scandal in much the same way that Republicans stoke the anger of their lunatic fringe by making dubious (and erroneous) claims about Obama and his policies while offering no evidence or feasible alternatives, respectively. In other words, Dwight isn't concerned with “boosting morale” any more than his conservative counterparts care about sound policy-making, he just wants Jim to fail so he can seize power (sound familiar?).

Maybe I’m reading too much into all this, or maybe I just watch too much TV (or, most likely, both). But maybe, just maybe, the writers of TV’s best network comedy are more politically savvy than I've previously given them credit for.