Among those opposed to the Bush administration, there are two dominant strains of thought as to the inner workings of our commander in chief. The first is that he's an incompetent, immoral, hypocritical, religious fanatic with only the interests of his base at heart.
The second is that he's a decent, albeit misguided, man who has genuinely been doing what he sees as best for his country.
As the great poet and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once said, "As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."-á
Although for many people, the issue of "the real Bush" is a known known, in reality it's an unknown unknown that we need to recognize as such and turn into a known unknown.
Follow that? Rumsfeldisms are even more fun than Bushisms.
Translation: Although people might think they understand the president, the truth is they are so far removed from him that the idea of Bush in their heads may or may not be who he really is.
This applies to just about everyone with whom you have not spent extensive face-to-face time. (And even many people you have. A co-worker of mine who was recently fired for stealing money from the company comes to mind.)
Compelling cases for either Demon Bush or Angel Bush can be made. You won't find either here. When I asked a smart professor what he thought of someone, he told me, "I judge actions, I don't judge people." That really makes a whole lot of sense intellectually, emotionally and morally.
Which is why, of course, in the harsh machinations of partisan politics, it's an idealistic, ineffective, minority idea. Taking the opposition and painting them as a monster, an idiot, a pervert, a puppet or a lunatic is infinitely more effective in motivating the masses than respecting them as a fellow human being.
And until the public revolts and proclaims "Enough!" that's the way it has to be. To rally the people, you need to give them a beast that wants to destroy life as they know it. The Republicans did a great job of it in the '90s with the Clintons. They changed the nature of the debate so it was not primarily about policies and ideas but fictional characters.
It's real easy to create a distorted, caricatured image of a politician and then reinforce it repeatedly. Because then you're dealing in the unknown unknowns. A politician's plans and beliefs, on the other hand, are known knowns, not as easily up for misrepresentation.
Machiavelli is alive and well, and oh how I loath it. If you have to do something terrible for your side to triumph -- say by spraying your opponent with mud or spreading rumors and lies -- is that OK? No, it's not.
There's been plenty of empty rhetoric about "values" lately and which candidate holds them. Well one thing's for sure, the radicalism of real politik and "the ends justify the means" of today's personal slime politics is not compatible with the shared values that run across the political spectrum in our country.
Sources:
"The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld" [http://slate.msn.com/id/2081042]
,,2( <-+~zo_swindle_7.19DNEditorial,,2SORT+â-ª+â-ä2AUDT
+â-ä^?|
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
