Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America

[angus]

screw it.  what dazzleman and preston said.  and A18.

[angus]

As an aside, I hadn't been following any politics for a couple of weeks.  You know, out of town for the holidays most of Thanksgiving week and generally busy with end-of-sememster work, but I watched a speech on Border Security and Immigration Policy last night by President Bush on CSPAN.  I caught most of it I think.  He demonstrated a fair command of the statistics and policies, and explained his goals well enough, but it wasn't exactly a riveting, spellbinding, uplifting speech.  Bear in mind, the audience was mostly Southwestern law enforcement types, so it can't be expected.  And at least he had that prideful, grinning fratboy moment from time to time, which some find perfectly charming and others perfectly repulsive.  But something was missing.  It definitely wasn't "compassionate conservative" rhetoric.  As for the conservative part, well, no one in his right mind any longer expects this administration to be the small government type they campaigned as, and they're bigger spenders than their predecessors for sure.  But this lack of restraint has come to be expected.  So what struck me wasn't  the lack of "conservative" but the complete lack of "compassion"   Oh, sure, he explained "interior repatriation" and talked about some innovative (and somewhat expensive) plans for border security, but there wasn't even a pretense of addressing the underlying causes of illegal immigration.  No discussion of economics.  No subjectivity whatsoever.  It smacked of the elitism of his father, albeit well-disguised with that Westerner's cowboy bravado at times.  Certainly not the sort of speech that's going to take him out of the dumps.  At best, four in ten americans lately approve of the job he's doing.  At it may get worse or it may get better.  I still contend that a president's approval ratings are a decent barometer of the national mood, since everyone blames everything from the price of a loaf of bread to the severity of their latest orgasm on the president.  Fairly or unfairly.  And I like to see my president's numbers higher.  I say that without regard to whether my president is Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Libertarian, or Green.  So I hope it gets better for this President.

Tomorrow, he has a chance to try to rally the people.  He will give a famous speech.  Well, it's not famous yet.  But it can be.  He will speak at some length about Iraq.  He needn't admit to any wrongdoing or deceit (as much as some would like to see that) since everyone basically understands that the war is about that country's vast natural resources anyway.  But he might address "faulty" intelligence, and lack of planning to assuage the People a bit.  I'm hopeful, though not too hopeful, that such issues will be addressed in tomorrow's speech.  On the other hand, he may go a different route and look for a catchy phrase such as "spark of liberation" and use it over and over.  His speechwriters seem to fancy such rhetorical flairs (e.g., "axis of evil" and "Mission Accomplished!") but those soundbites haven't been much use in rallying a nation.  In fact--if I may dare use the word--they seem to polarize the nation even more.  It is often said Bush's strong suit is delegation of authority to the best people.  If true, then by now he should have fired many a speechwriter.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow night.