I never met a real cowboy who went to Yale
I caught some of some of Dubbya's press conference last night. I have a few things to say about it, but first I want to explain something. I don't really intend for this to be a political blog--God knows there's enough of those out there, perpetually engaging in slap-fights with each other. That being said, politics is bound to come up from time to time. It's just part of who I am.
Pretty clearly, the motive behind that press conference was the dive Dubbya has taken in the polls that he supposedly doesn't pay attention to. Basically he's lost or is losing public support on everything that's come up since the election--Social Security, Terri Schiavo, the Bolton nomination, Tom Delay, increased violence in Iraq, etc.--and someone somewhere figured it's time for a healthy dose of the ol' Dubbya "guy you want at your barbeque" charm. I don't want to get bogged down in the details of his talking points, but what I can't help but wonder is why so many of my fellow Americans won't see this charade for what it is. I think there's a sizeable number of people out there who trust the guy simply because he's a moderately convincing fake cowboy.
More frightening still is the machine that the Republicans have built which supports this fake cowboy. The Republican machine sort of reminds me of a brilliant offensive system in football. The quarterback may rack up unbelievable numbers, but those in the know will tell you "it's really the system." In much the same way, the Republicans have built a ground-up political system based in churches and ex-urban America, supported by a super-disciplined message machine (talk radio, Fox News, pundits, etc.) that creates a ideological support system--really more an Identity than an ideology--for local and national politicians, leading all the way up to the President. In a sense, Dubbya is like that quarterback in the brilliantly-devised system. He's the "face" of the team and gets much of the credit, but in reality you could plug just about anyone into the system and so long as he knows the basic playbook he'll be just as successful. Meanwhile, as Howard Dean pointed out a few weeks ago, Democrats flounder around, waiting for the next John Kennedy or Bill Clinton to come and rescue them. Rather than building an effective system like the Republicans have, they muddle along, hoping that a star player will emerge to take them to the promised land. The result of all this is fairly predictable: De facto one-party rule. Democrats may be enjoying a few successes lately, but so much of the country has come to so personally associate themselves with the Republican "Identity" that it will probably take at least a generation to bring about a meaningful shift.
Pretty clearly, the motive behind that press conference was the dive Dubbya has taken in the polls that he supposedly doesn't pay attention to. Basically he's lost or is losing public support on everything that's come up since the election--Social Security, Terri Schiavo, the Bolton nomination, Tom Delay, increased violence in Iraq, etc.--and someone somewhere figured it's time for a healthy dose of the ol' Dubbya "guy you want at your barbeque" charm. I don't want to get bogged down in the details of his talking points, but what I can't help but wonder is why so many of my fellow Americans won't see this charade for what it is. I think there's a sizeable number of people out there who trust the guy simply because he's a moderately convincing fake cowboy.
More frightening still is the machine that the Republicans have built which supports this fake cowboy. The Republican machine sort of reminds me of a brilliant offensive system in football. The quarterback may rack up unbelievable numbers, but those in the know will tell you "it's really the system." In much the same way, the Republicans have built a ground-up political system based in churches and ex-urban America, supported by a super-disciplined message machine (talk radio, Fox News, pundits, etc.) that creates a ideological support system--really more an Identity than an ideology--for local and national politicians, leading all the way up to the President. In a sense, Dubbya is like that quarterback in the brilliantly-devised system. He's the "face" of the team and gets much of the credit, but in reality you could plug just about anyone into the system and so long as he knows the basic playbook he'll be just as successful. Meanwhile, as Howard Dean pointed out a few weeks ago, Democrats flounder around, waiting for the next John Kennedy or Bill Clinton to come and rescue them. Rather than building an effective system like the Republicans have, they muddle along, hoping that a star player will emerge to take them to the promised land. The result of all this is fairly predictable: De facto one-party rule. Democrats may be enjoying a few successes lately, but so much of the country has come to so personally associate themselves with the Republican "Identity" that it will probably take at least a generation to bring about a meaningful shift.
posted by Yukon Sully | 8:09 AM
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