A Momentary Lapse of Unreason

For quite a while I was convinced that this election season would be lightened by only one moment of reality.  Just the one instance where someone took a leap beyond the agreed-upon conventions that are the only reason why people take the circus seriously.  A small tear in the fabric of the space-time continuum that would allow someone not just to claim to be speaking the truth about this or that policy, or a specific tactic, or particular poll numbers, but where someone would address a larger, philosophical truth that spoke to the human condition.  And for the longest time there was only one such moment.  Now, however, I’m happy to report that a second burst of reality has momentarily interrupted the stuff-and-nonsense marketing that constitutes a business-as-usual election.

The first moment of reality occurred what feels like an age ago, on April 6, as Barack Obama spoke at a Democrat fundraiser in San Francisco.  His remarks were recorded by a journalist who was also a paid-up Obama supporter, Mayhill Fowler, who wrote a story about the fundraiser on April 11.  The most controversial element was this, which I quote in full because it is so often misleadingly paraphrased:

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

This remark caused a predictable firestorm, and its embers are still being fanned assiduously by Palin who has referenced it constantly, most often in her “We prefer people who don’t talk about us one way in (fill in the campaign-stop appropriate blank) and another way in (fill in the blank with place the campaign-stop loves to hate).”  Many members of the punditterati saw the remark as evidence of Obama speaking in an uncharacteristically undisciplined fashion; Fowler thought it was a bad judgement call “trying to explain working class culture to a much wealthier audience;” Obama himself backpedaled and indicated that he didn’t voice the sentiment as well as he could have.

I would argue that Obama said exactly what he intended to say here, and there is nothing wrong with the way this is phrased.  However Obama was guilty of making two mistakes in his remarks.  First of all, his remarks did end up being unfair to Pennsylvanians simply because Obama should have cast his net much more widely.  A substantial proportion of all Americans cling to guns, in idea if not also in fact; and most Americans certainly cling to the delusions of religion.  Furthermore, Pennsylvanians hardly have a monopoly on xenophobia, immigrant-bashing, and “anti-trade sentiment,” all popular past-times for US citizens–in fact they have defined US history.

But Obama’s biggest mistake was that he broke a cardinal rule of politics: never, ever, ever talk about the American People in anything other than exaggeratedly unrealistic terms.  In other words, never portray the American people as they really are.  This is what Rick Shenkman, in his book Just How Stupid Are We?  Facing the Truth about the American Voter describes as the greatest myth of US politics.  The People can’t possibly be bitter!  They wouldn’t dream of holding any of those nasty negative ideas!  The Great Merkan People are steadfast, and resilient, and hardworking, and true, and tolerant, and caring, and sharing, and neighborly, and forthright, and honest, and selfless. . .I could go on but you can probably stick your own finger down your throat.  Never mind that these things have never been true of any group of people in the aggregate, the world over.  Seriously, you may know a few individuals who embody all these qualities, but everyone?  If the mythic status of the Merkan People had any foothold in reality there would be no domestic violence, no assholes who cut you off at freeway exits, no cross-burnings, no gay bashing, no homeless on the streets (because “neighborly” Americans would take them into their own homes, right?) and so on.

I see little to suggest that substantial numbers of the heartwarmingly saintly Merkan People are anything but self-centered, willfully ignorant, vindictive, intolerant, small-minded sheep looking to blame others for their troubles.  And if you think this describes Sarah Palin, then you begin to understand some of her broad appeal.  Of course many people at a Palin rally are suffering real economic hardships and have been, as Obama pointed out, since well before this latest recession put in an appearance.  But instead of thinking that their recent woes might have a lot to do with Republican policies for the last eight years (and that they themselves might, just might, bear a tiny bit of responsibility for it themselves. . .just gotta have that huge gas-guzzling truck, right?) or that their long-term woes might have everything to do with the systematic inequalities of late-capitalism, they deliriously submit to the demagoguery of manipulators like Palin and begin blaming others: A-rabs, east coast elites, whatever it takes.

As Shenkman also points out, it is not simply the case that a wildly unrealistic view of the capabilities of the Merkan People exists; the real problem, rather, is that no public figure will call it into question.  Why is this a problem?  Because when it comes to politics, US politicians pander to the idea that the American Public is something that it manifestly is not: smart and informed.  For the answer to the question in Shenkman’s title–Just How Stupid Are We?–turns out to be: “monumentally.”  When 80% of Americans do not know that they have 100 senators (and that is the least scary fact in Shenkman’s book) then it’s safe to say we’re dealing with a people that is manifestly ignorant about how even their own government works.  When it comes to actual policy ideas, the ignorance becomes positively interstellar in its vastness.  And it’s not just a small subset of Merkans.  Blue-staters for example love to believe that ignorance is the provenance of those benighted red-staters.  But in fact the research Shenkman cites turns up some surprising facts.  The same dickheads who tune in to the Grand Conservative Poo-Bah Rush Limbaugh to listen (or, worse, to get on the air and spew their hatred and–yes, I’m saying it!–their bitterness) actually tend to be better informed about political events than the average Merkan.

And yet, this seething mass of stupidity is routinely consulted by politicians about anything and everything and–saints preserve us–politicians actually make decisions based on those polls.  The Merkan People are treated as if they are all smart and well-informed about any issue that the pollster chooses to discuss with them, that they are insightful, have made the effort to do some research, and are offering a considered opinion based on mature reflection.  They are, however, much more likely to be like this woman.

Now, thinking logically about this, you would probably assume that were you to poll someone on, say, the wisdom of a staged troop withdrawal from Iraq, you would want to make sure that they actually knew a thing or two first.  Being able to point to Iraq on a map would be a starter (most Merkans would fail this test, according to Shenkman).  Knowing how long we had actually been in Iraq.  How much the war was costing the US each month.  What the various plans for troop withdrawal were.  But no.  Almost no pollster asks screening questions.  Why would they?  The Merkan People are, after all, singularly well-informed and knowledgeable about all things.  That what makes them Merkan.  God Bless Merka!  And of course the People just love it when politicians talk about them this way.  No one likes anyone to see them for who they really are; who wouldn’t like having sunshine blown up their arse 24/7?

But, against all odds, another moment of reality intruded briefly into the electioneering recently when John Murtha described the racism prevalent in Western Pennsylvania.  Now despite the fact that racism has been a major factor in this campaign, with news outlets routinely interviewing people who are either openly racist or use appropriate circumlocutions (I heard an interview on NPR where a woman in Virginia worried that if Obama was elected he would just “look after his own”) it is completely inappropriate to actually point out that this means that some portion of the Merkan people is racist!  (This was very similar to the dilemma Senator Clinton faced.  In a campaign that featured some pretty extraordinary levels of sexism and even outright misogyny, it was the one thing that she couldn’t talk about.  Not because–as many commentators claimed–it would make her look weak, but because it would have broken the golden rule by telling the Merkan people who and what some of them really are).

So how did John McCain respond to Murtha’s remark?  Like the seasoned political operative he is, he sensed an opening.  Unfortunately, he started off fumbling it badly, by actually agreeing with Murtha in a faux pas wonderfully reminiscent of Dubya’s glory days (you know, back when he was still pretending to be President).  I think that may well be the last moment of political honesty we’ll get out of McCain, however, even if it was only a Freudian slip.  Because then he got right down on his knees and sucked the big fat one for all he was worth:

My friends, the people of western Pennsylvania love their second amendment their amendment rights, their constitutional rights and their religion because they love their country and they love their values and they love their families and they believe in the future of this country. That’s what the people of western Pennsylvania are all about.

Oddly enough, I don’t usually find it that offensive when politicians lie to us about their policies, their intentions, who is funding their campaign, weapons of mass destruction, etc.  They are politicians.  That is what they do.  They are just being themselves.  But I feel personally insulted when they expect me to accept some idea that runs counter to the entire basis of human nature and experience.  What I find particularly ironic is that McCain should have spouted such gibberish on the same day he accused Obama of “saying anything to win.”  Wipe your chin, John.