All PKM readers, welcome THE REALIST, a guest blogger who will periodically pop up and write about whatever the hell he feels like. This time, its politics. Next time, it could be anything, even how big a slut your mother is. Just kidding, I'm sure he won't write about that. But she's a big whore, so you should do something about that.
---------------
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
James Carville, architect of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, is famous for having coined the phrase, “it’s the economy, stupid,” but that economic message was only one leg of the Clinton ’92 campaign theme. “Don’t forget about health care” and “change versus more of the same,” rounded out the Clinton campaign message. For a political junkie such as myself, the 2008 presidential campaign has been full of non-stop drama and political excitement (e.g., Hillary Clinton’s “Shame on you, Barack Obama! Meet me in Ohio!” and John McCain’s “Gov. Romney, you are the candidate of change!” are two of my favorite primary quotes), but as Americans come to realize that either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain will become the 44th President of the United States, we must really imagine them as president, seriously evaluating these men not on their star power or their rhetoric but their vision for America’s future: a true departure with the past or political leftovers?
“Change” has become such a cliché in this campaign. Obama’s campaign tagline is “Change You Can Believe In,” and once Sen. Clinton realized her “Ready on Day One” message wasn’t resonating with primary voters, she quickly echoed Obama’s change rhetoric. On the Republican side, Sen. McCain has boarded the change bandwagon as well. However, all this talk of change has gotten me thinking, “How much will really change?”
Our history teachers always tried to sell us on the importance of learning history by saying that history repeats itself. As I’ve thought about this presidential campaign, I’m struck by how much actually hasn’t changed. While Obama excites the country with his history-making candidacy (which I don’t deny), the substance of his campaign really isn’t that novel. Just look to the messaging of Michael Dukakis, or Bill Clinton for that matter. In fact, even if he wins the presidency, his style and policy positions may portend a failed presidency such as Jimmy Carter’s. Carter came out of nowhere to beat more well known establishment candidates in the 1976 Democratic primary to become the nominee on a message of cleaning up Washington, breaking partisan gridlock, and giving the American people confidence in their government post-Watergate. However, his trademark grin and nice guy image didn’t do much for American foreign policy (Remember the Iranian hostage crisis? You probably weren’t born yet.) or domestic affairs (energy crisis?). As for McCain, he is in danger of becoming a Bob Dole Redux—a respected veteran and senior U.S. Senator with an anemic stage presence and message in the face of a much more polished opponent. A McCain presidency might actually look like Bush—no, not a George W. Bush third term, as the Obama campaign relentlessly and ridiculously asserts, but George H.W. Bush. Would a President McCain, deft at addressing global crises, frankly care enough about health care reform and the economy to get re-elected?
I don’t know about you, but I’m sensing a bit of déj à vu.
|