By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
–William Ernest Henley
Whoever turned up the dial on time did a fine job, didn’t they? The last days of 2013 are racing by, leaving only the tiniest trace of themselves behind. This was a week when household emergencies and the inevitable advance of the holidays took supremacy over politics for me, but the news of the day didn’t grab headlines until Nelson Mandela made his final transition, long expected and, given his physical condition, a mercy. He leaves behind a nation better for his coming and sadder for his loss.
American politicians are being customarily obtuse in dealing with South Africa’s former president. Rick Santorum proclaimed that while “what Mandela was advocating for was not necessarily the right answer,” he was a man who battled ‘great injustice,’ similar — sez he — to the Pubs fighting against the tyranny of Obamacare. Dick Cheney affirmed that from his perspective, once a terrorist, always a terrorist but that Mandela had “mellowed” once he came to power. And not to be left out, Bill O’Reilly joined these two in faint praise, saying Mandela was “a great man but he was a Communist.” Well. Alrighty then.
O’Reilly and Santorum ALMOST rival Limbaugh in the contest for Dunce of the Week, after Rush’s rant — echoed by enough in the conservative camp to garner Jon Stewart’s attention — about the new and suspect “Marxist” Pope who is “ripping America” by going after unfettered capitalism, hence The American Way. Such an attack, said Rush, is “the pope ripping Ronaldus Magnus, the pope ripping trickle-down economics.” And all of that, said the Haterater, unable to restrain himself from being even more disrespectful, is giving “Obama an orgasm.”
One has no need to wonder what this latest brand of radical-conservative thinks of Gandhi or even — gasp — the Nazarene as non-violent peace advocates: sappy, misguided nanny-state hippies acting against the natural order (of unstated but understood elitism and white supremacy). Mandela’s passing has brought us another of those opportunities to see ourselves in the harsh mirror of history. A study of suddenly post-apartheid South Africa had the same energy signature as what we’re seeing around us today, well worth consideration as we speculate on the nonsense of having reached a post-racial society.