{"id":62005,"date":"2012-10-06T10:09:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-06T14:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=62005"},"modified":"2012-10-06T12:21:39","modified_gmt":"2012-10-06T16:21:39","slug":"debatable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/debatable\/","title":{"rendered":"Debatable"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It was inevitable. The national political theater that is presidential debate requires that blood be drawn, that punches be exchanged; in short, we want our tribal leaders to grapple with each other until one stands above the other, hopefully with a foot on the loser’s neck. We never move far from Establishment politics in this nation because in order to do that, we would have to rethink who we are, change the very life script that we depend on for identity.<\/p>\n

\"PoliticalThink about it. We would have to give up our inflated sense of superiority and our long history of conquest, begin to actually value life here and abroad, and refresh our dedication to a government “of, for and by the people” rather than one skewed to enhance our private fortunes and obsession with materiality.<\/p>\n

Surely it’s apparent that there’s a reason why we didn’t select pro-peace Dennis Kucinich to run the nation, despite a number of opportunities: when it comes to national leadership we have confused arrogance with confidence and aggression with leadership.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, Americans are carnivores, competitors, and no matter what our party persuasion, we want our president to reveal a gladiator’s heart and stomp the other guy into the mud.<\/p>\n

Prior to this week’s debate, those able to read between the lines were given a couple of ‘tells’ about how it would go. Romney, it was said, was memorizing zingers while the Obama camp was rejecting them in favor of serious conversation. That’s the high road vs. low gambit: always a crap shoot as to which tactic will win public approval. Both parties downplayed their candidates’ debating skills, limiting expectations, but despite Romney’s foot-in-mouth disease, he had an edge with eight continuous years of practice selling his brand of Kool Aid. It was also evident to all of us that his campaign was face down on the mat and the ref was counting. For Romney these debates represent his last hurrah, now or never.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So it couldn’t really be a shock that, in what Eric skillfully interpreted yesterday as an ambush, Obama — a brilliant orator but mediocre in a debate — stumbled and never found his feet. Worse, he let opportunity after opportunity to pounce on an almost frenetic Romney escape him, dismaying his base and disappointing his supporters. He didn’t seem up to the task of knocking back an aggressive barrage, a veritable volley — dare I say gush? — of right-wing rhetoric, most of it making no sense and promising the impossible, strung together with innuendo and fabrication.<\/p>\n

According to the Dem Congressional Campaign Committee, the candidate on the right coughed up some 27 lies in 38 minutes, or, to quote a Huffy contributor, “Never in the history of presidential campaigning has anyone lied so blatantly, repeatedly and seemingly without embarrassment. That type of person is a pathological liar. You cannot trust a pathological liar.” I’ll second that. Putting my considerable distaste aside, I will admit that it was an almost admirable performance of prevarication, requiring skills in fast-talking hucksterism and a kind of bully mentality I didn’t know Mitt possessed. One reporter called it his “CEO persona.” Now we know how he got so rich, and why allowing him to lead the nation would be a nightmare.<\/p>\n

I don’t think — at least in my lifetime — we’ve ever stooped this low to scrape candidates from the dregs of the political barrel, and I doubt that we’ve seen one whose vision for America is so cold as Mitt’s: gangster cold as in, “It ain’t personal, it’s only business,” reptilian cold, served without a second thought to life and liberty. And of course he’s hungry, willing to risk big for an even bigger win. Mitt brings a lifetime’s longing and planning to this moment, all the despair of his thwarted political ambitions and the commitments of his religious identity. He also brings his talent as a predator-capitalist hustler — a used-car salesman fleecing the witless rubes — to the national level, attempting to cover those warts with a well-heeled family and religious resum\u00e9, an unwaveringly insincere smile and pound-puppy expression.<\/p>\n

Once Mitt smelled blood in the water, he dug in his bag of tricks for the zingers (nothing original, but all insulting.) “Look, I have five boys, I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it,” said the Mittster, essentially calling the Prez not only a liar but a ‘boy.’ Awkwardly disguised in a family reference, the concept itself — a Rovian conscript of totalitarian principle — is direct projection from the Republican playbook. When that went unchallenged, Mitt tried another: “Mr. President, you’re entitled to your own airplane and your own house, but not your own facts.” Both sound bites were reclaimed from old episodes of Stewart and Colbert on Comedy Central, but they were as peppy as B12 to his base, and perhaps appropriate for a man who, as an adult, found reason to use the childish term “H E Double Toothpicks” instead of saying \u201dhell.\u201d Me, I just found his repugnant political posturing and performance embarrassing.<\/p>\n

Afterward, I found its reception maddening. Romney’s chest-thumping and podium-stealing won him the title, even though I never heard a substantive word out of his mouth. The glee with which the chattering class surveyed the fallout from the debate was palpable. A couple of contributors even went a bit giddy on CNN, discussing what a boon Obama’s stumble would be to ratings, giving them something to discuss besides Romney’s downward spiral. You could see them counting future paychecks in their minds.<\/p>\n

Oh, hooray, now we have a race, an actual CHOICE for the American people to chew on. Pardon me for saying so, but WTF?? Aren’t these journalists citizens as well, concerned for the future of the nation? Obama’s plan for the future is barely acceptable, defending and protecting what’s already been accomplished but strewn with upcoming landmines that have progressives holding their breath. Meanwhile, Romney’s plan is — while largely unarticulated — unthinkable. We know Ryan, who won’t back up on ideology, and Willard, who will if it means a win. Enough said. So the questions that actually matter to the American public go unaddressed while the press celebrates a renewed race for votes and viewers.<\/p>\n

I watched the president seethe and grimace with what a body language expert later said was frustration, something he and I shared. Mitt, meanwhile, gave his base a reflection of their basic values in showing “anger, contempt, scorn and pride,” referenced as “negative emotion.” According to the analysis<\/a>, “Although the emotions Obama expressed were ‘positive’ on the whole, he spent most of the debate displaying very little emotion at all, Kowal said.” Yet another opportunity blown by Obama to relate to the people, as he does so well in a stump speech, and in fact, did so a day later in Ohio, considerably too late.<\/p>\n

The next debate is between Biden and Ryan, with potential to explode dicey policy issues. Meanwhile, as the political machine moves along, there are a couple of things that remain on my mind.<\/p>\n

Although offended by Mitt’s constant smile masking what can only be called dark intentions, eyes constantly shifting, shoulders hunched in a comic reminder of Nixon, I watched the entire debate. When I turned off the television, I did not think Romney was the winner. I thought he’d displayed all the things about himself that made him unsuited for the presidency, complicated by an incredible litany of lies that the fact-checkers would — and did — go after immediately. If anything, Obama’s reluctance to engage him enlarged that braggadocio and gave him opportunity to reveal himself.<\/p>\n

The next day, I talked to people who themselves had talked to people, and the consensus was that calling the debate for Mitt did not reflect thoughts here in the Pea Patch. Why is that important? Because I live in the reddest district imaginable, racism and the old boy political machine alive and well, stretching from county courthouse to state rotunda. If the Pea Patch isn’t certain, then I can guarantee you neither is the nation.<\/p>\n

Another thing — THE thing of importance — is that while this bullshit was playing out, nothing was resolved, nothing instructive revealed, and no headway made in the political dialogue informing this election. Mitt burst through the door throwing silly sting at the sitting president, who felt that he had no choice but to defend against it, and we all lost an opportunity for an adult discussion.<\/p>\n

And last, although I have no facts to offer, Obama’s demeanor disturbs me, and not just his performance this week. I’ve had a feeling for awhile now that something’s wrong, something I can’t put a finger on. Michelle Obama gave a resounding speech at the Dem convention last month, relaxed and confident, but on the night Obama spoke, she looked \u2013 the only word that comes to mind is \u2013 terrified. Her smile was strained, her body language locked. That night, Obama gave a speech we all found unexpectedly lethargic and forgettable. This week, Obama goes before 50-some million Americans, head down in the political fight of his life, and he doesn’t jab back? Not once? Not even when Mitt attacked his green industry investments with exaggerations that made MY head spin 360? Or when he made up damning and explosive numbers about the national debt? What gives? Something feels very wrong.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know — it’s just Establishment politics we’re discussing, to some a debate without substance. Real emergencies loom without our attention. We can weep that the plutocracy, an undermined Constitution, and institutionalized empiricism go unaddressed while the public is blindsided by seeming irrelevancies, but let’s also remind ourselves that, warts and all, these candidates are not created equal. As Noam Chomsky has advised, voting for a third-party candidate like Jill Stein is only possible if you do not live in a swing state, and further, only if you are VERY confident your vote won’t be needed to deliver the presidency to the Democrats. He has made it clear that your vote matters. If Chomsky’s concerned about which party leads, that’s good enough for me, and if that’s not enough, let’s all consider our aging Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Who won this debate, you ask? From my point of view, the answer is debatable and there are wild card issues that will keep me watching every move that follows like a hawk. I know how frustrating this period is, how tired we are of spin and obstruction, but clearly, political theater will continue to swing the national audience in wild arcs of conjecture and irrelevance until the very last minute, even though it feels like the actual challenges of the day remain a bridge too far.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps that isn’t it at all. Perhaps this entire episode of Kabuki is in place to allow us a detailed look at the anachronism of our electoral process, reveal the glaring holes in voting rights. Perhaps this will be the first time some of us notice the racism and assault on civil liberty associated with the Republican brand. If we are collectively appalled by the amount of money and time wasted on this election effort, spot-lighting the lobbying and purchasing of political influence on a daily basis, perhaps we will demand that systems begin to change. Maybe we’re being prompted to heal old wounds and prejudices — even systemic, collective ones — with Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, ready to go deep and root out what is no longer needed, with Saturn moving into Scorpio.<\/p>\n

We all wanted change not too long ago, wanted the sleepers to awaken and all that was broken to come into the light. Didn’t we? Or did we just want the neocons out of the mix, and everything to go back the way it was? Face it, we like the idea of change, but not its reality. There’s every possibility that we’re right on target in this grand experiment, with Mitt the guru, Barack the goad and everything moving into place for breakthrough. Maybe we’re almost there and we just don’t know it. All we can know for sure is, it’s debatable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves It was inevitable. The national political theater that is presidential debate requires that blood be drawn, that punches be exchanged; in short, we want our tribal leaders to grapple with each other until one stands above the other, hopefully with a foot on the loser’s neck. We never move … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}