This is a really great article. A while back I wrote a post about how blatantly ludicrous (it’s always seemed to me) but wildly effective (nobody can deny) tactic Republicans have of painting Democrats as “elitists.” I figured out (I figured it out right then–I suspect many other people already had it figured out–I can be slow on the uptake when it comes to things that appear to defy logic and reason sometimes) that “elitism” is at least in part the code word for “really smart.” The article that so impressed me today, “Will ‘intellectual’ label hurt Obama?” really clued me in on how Obama is managing to pull past all that. The writer, Julian E. Zelizer, says (in paraphrase):
1. Bill Clinton. Rhodes scholar that he was, somehow he neatly evaded ever seriously being characterized as a braniac–how? (a) Acted cool (b) spoke with a country accent using country syntax and (c) had great personal charisma as a speaker. Obama is able to capitalize on this because he also has great personal charisma as a speaker, which the last few Democratic candidates did not, and like the sax-playing Bill has the cool persona. (Apparently we psychologically never quite do leave high school; some part of our brains is still basing who we vote for as politicians on who we used to vote for as Homecoming King.) See, that’s part of what I didn’t catch the last time I wrote about this–I forgot that nerds are not feared in high school, but sneered at…the fear comes later, when the nerds sometimes suddenly shoot up the socioeconomic scale, leaving the salt of the earth behind.
Zelizer doesn’t tie Clinton’s country-style speech to anything Obama does, but I think I can. Obama sounds in no way like a good ol’ country boy, but he manages to compensate for this by simultaneously being black (as Americans subconsciously associate a folksy speaker with somebody who understands strugglin’ to make a dime, they also associate a black person with this mindset) and by speaking with the canned regionless American accent exemplified by newscasters and actors (a black face cues Americans in that they’re looking at a person who knows what it is to struggle, but a stereotypical patois subconsciously cues them towards either inner-city gang members or inner-city welfare recipients.)
2. George W. Bush. I’m quite happy to see that people have now been forced out of their state of making mindless decisions based upon their own subconscious comfort level in terms of domination and superiority with various others, but it still wasn’t worth what’s happened to America, both domestically and abroad, in the last eight years. We had to nearly destroy ourselves to get to this point..? Jesus. But what’s happened, happened–you can’t change the past. So, as Zelizer says:
For many Americans, including a number of Republicans, Bush has lived up to…his [lack of] intelligence, as well as competence. He has not managed to handle the policy challenges that confronted him and in many cases, such as his address to the nation on the financial crisis, seems unable to master the key facts.
3. George W. Bush. Well, that really is the substance of Zelizer’s third point–our economy’s Dive of Death (hat tip: The Daily Show) and the apparent responses of the candidates, only one of whom reminded us of Mr. Substanceless Sound and Fury (or maybe “Shock and Awe” would be a more pertinent phrase…sigh).
More enlightenment for me! I’m always looking for it.
I read a great article about this recently that noted that the Right’s disdain for smart people is actually pretty selective – quote:
He pointed out that the right-wing culture war against pointy-headed intellectuals does not extend to the judiciary. On the contrary, he said, it’s as if they’re willing to run a cephalopod and a bag of hammers for the executive branch (I don’t think these were his exact words), but they actually recruit and train all their intellectual firepower for the courts (those were pretty much his exact words). And, of course, he’s right: Scalia, Alito, Roberts—these are all graduates from Pointyheaded Liberal Elite Law School, Evil Genius Division, and the glaring exception, Clarence Thomas, was a Palinesque conservative-affirmative-action fuck-you payback for the rejection of Elitist Evil Genius Robert Bork.
And the right-wing noise machine got the memo, too: witness the fact that everyone on the right, even down to bottom-feeding shriekers like Michelle Malkin, duly took up their torches and pitchforks when Bush nominated Harriet Miers. I was wrong, I realize now, to have called Palin Harriet Miers 2.0. Because Harriet Miers was ridden out of town on a rail, in a matter of days, by many of the same people who are now digging in, doubling down, and rooting hard for Palin against the mocking liberal elites. When it comes to the highest court in the land, these right-wing hacks don’t put up with no second- and third-stringers.
I don’t think even the kindest, most conservative-leaning Historian will ever look back on Dubya’s tenure as anything other than a disaster.
I sincerely hope that the last 8 years have been enough of a warning to the electorate that a demagogic coward, with the IQ of a retarded Stallion, who’s been kept insulated from reality by his family’s wealth and political influence is not the ideal choice to lead them.
Call me a cynic though (and hey – I wouldn’t argue the definition) if I say that I’m not 100% convinced that the message has got through to quite significant chunks of the population.
I’m pretty sure that if old GW was able to run for another term (has anyone run a poll on that?), or if the Rep’s had gone for a ‘real’ right-winger in his mould (or is that mold?!) then it’d probably be a much tighter race than the one we’re seeing at the moment.
*shudders* Did you really have to give us the nightmarish image of W: The Third Term? That’s it; I’m off to find the brain bleach…
Thene–that is also an awesome article…more food for thought for me..
And also, you’re all elitist.
Speaking as an outsider, I find it quite amazing how much you Americans seem to hate your own country. Well, that and anyone who disagrees with you…
Honestly, as I see it (via the Detroit media most of my life, thank God for satellite), Democrats tend to be gov’t employees, NGO employees, SIG employees, Union members, and Academics (both student and staff). I’m not sure if it’s just the three stations from Detroit or not, but I also find your media is just slightly less obviously “shilling” for Obama than our own media is “pulling” for Stephane Dion (Liberal candidate).
We get to find out who wins earlier though…today is election day.
Republicans seem to be non-unionized employees and…well, pretty much everybody else really. Er, as the media presents it anyway….
And while I find the the Republicans assume people are idiots with no attention span, Democrats seem to assume the public lacks the mental capacity to understand them.
Weird behaviour for political parties, if you ask me.
We don’t hate our country any more than a master chef hates his most difficult-to-prepare dish–we complain a lot and slave madly away at improving it, but only ’cause we know the end result is worth it.
We have a Republican-shilling media outlet, it’s called “Faux News.” or “Fox News,” I can never remember which…
I’d express an opinion on Canadian political parties (you are Canadian, right?) except that Canadian internal politics have so little effect on anybody outside Canada that I, like the rest of the world, have no idea what your political schedule is or who your major statespersons even are.
oops.
Yeah, I guess the fact that we are your largest trading partner by like – a factor of two or three I believe – and Free Trade meaning many things made here (think GM, Ford, and Chrysler alongside the Honda, Toyota, and heretofore ONLY Lexus plant outside Japan (RX driver? The Canadian Economy thanks you…:)
We sold you 58 billion worth of goods, China (in second place) sold you 38.4 Billion…this month.
Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t think Canadian politics have any effect on your life.
Well, they really don’t.
But I know Canadians hate that so I’ll stop tweaking your nose about it. I won’t even tease you about how most Americans aren’t even fully aware that Canada isn’t just a reeeeallly big northern territory of the US. I used to have a Canadian coworker that would turn green every time somebody would go, “You need a passport to visit Canada?”
Note to any other Canadian posters, including fellow bloggers who are Canadian–I think Canada is awesome. I am merely harrassing Factory.
No, that passport thing is legitimate. Years and years of not needing one, then all of a sudden post 9-11 and people go crazy.
Oh, I don’t get all huffy about that stuff too much. I do like bringing up Cliff Claven-ish factoids to appear smart though.
S M R T
That’s me!
In point of fact though, there are several issues like softwood lumber, fresh water (currently illegal to sell in Canada), the fact that the worlds richest (in fact, nearly “weapons grade” Uranium (I thought it had to be “Plutonium”, but the press assures me othwerwise) deposits are about 4 hours north of where I sit…Second largest oil deposit either straddles the border or exists entirely in Canada, depending on viewpoint. Uniquely entertwined military structures. World’s longest undefended border.
See where I’m going with this?
How about if I told you the greatest sources of “Western” funding for “terrorist” activities come from Canada?
I count National Security, the security of ample sources of freshwater (which I understand will become premium in the SW), economic ties unrivaled by a country with approximately 40 times the population, secure (and ample) oil deposits outside the US (Gee, can’t imagine why they’d want that hey?), along with the only source of Uranium richer and bigger than the one in the former USSR.
So really, only those who have no grasp on larger issues discount the Canadian influence.
If you’se guys didn’t have all those guns I mean.
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Ergo, the aforementioned “nose tweaking”.
Jefferson was critical of the U.S. and its people, but I doubt he is thought of as hating his country. Maybe if you guys would have “hated your own country” a little more you could have had independence before 1982. Maybe you wouldn’t still have a Queen on your money. Blah. See when you have to fight for your freedom you tend to hold on to those guns and want more. Comparing a country that fought for it’s independence to a country where the masters just got tired of running it and is part of the Commonwealth is a joke. It would be cool to live there though. I mean all the joys of democracy without the messy defense spending.
China called they want to know how Canada is in the G-8 and they aren’t. Spain too!
Factory – plutonium isn’t a naturally occurring element. It’s produced by using uranium in a reactor. This is how civilian nuclear energy projects are used as trojan horses to acquire nuclear arms.
But yes, it amazes me how Americans can simultaneously love their country and fervently degrade half that country’s inhabitants. I still blame the fact that they never actually talk to each other about their belief differences.
Synikal, I’ll take the Queen on my currency and my health care supported by taxes over a buncha dead white dudes and fear of sickness or unemployment, any day of the week.
And I do love my country. I also love yours. I’m not especially fond of the actions of either of our governments, of late.
Well, we did burn down the White House….and we repelled American “invaders” as well as hegemony (ever hear the phrase 54 – 40 or bust? That is a reference to a line of latitude, and American invasion of Canada).
Incidentally, we never seceded from the British Empire. We still belong, only now it’s called the Commonwealth.
Yet, we have freer trade with the US and Mexico than we do with the Commonwealth OR La Francophonie.
Meh, yeah, we Canadians are a weird lot. Hell, just look at the RCMP uniform sometime….