People love to hate politicians. Ever since there has been politicians, the word has been used as a synonym for liar, criminal, or basically any word that denotes a "bad person." The word slimy seems to be a favorite when people are describing politicians. I think a lot of these characterizations are actually pretty fair to say of most politicians; however when it comes to the sleaziest, slimiest politicians people tend to really admire them. They are just so good at it we can't help but like them.
Bill Clinton is the prime example of the slimy politician that people can't help but love. I don't know if the man has ever said a sincere word in his life, yet every word he says sounds like it comes from the bottom of his heart; and people buy it. Most people wouldn't have given Bill Clinton the "politician" label until after the Monica Lewinsky scandal where he was caught in a lie so blatant, and he lied about it so banally, that people came to realize who this man was, a "politician." But still, watching the man speak you can discern his skill; mainly by how indiscernible it is and how sincere he appears. The man is good at what he does.
The irony is that the people labeled ‘politicians (implying the slimy variety) are the ones that are not very good at being politicians, but they still try. This is where Mitt Romney fits in. The man is a terrible politician, he doesn't know how to make people feel that he is normal, just one of the guys, that he "feels their pain." Yet because he still tries to do these things he is constantly labeled as a spineless, insincere "politician."
Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on a few issues, but because he doesn't know how to sell his flip-flops he gets the politician label. As a counter example, Barack Obama was for gay marriage when he ran for state senator in 1996, then against it when he ran for the US Senate in 2006 and now he is for it again in 2012 and he has been hailed for his "evolution" on the issue. Obama is a much better politician than Mitt Romney.
It has been, and will continue to be, a theme in this election that Mitt Romney is the spineless politician while Barack Obama is the righteous crusader who is above and beyond politics. The truth of the matter is that Barack Obama is the politician, he just hides it much better than Mitt Romney.
Here’s Clinton with in full politician mode
My personal favorite video of Slick Willy entering politician mode.
Oh boy. Gentleman, let the 6 month Mitt Romney flattery party commence. Of course its a known fact that every corrupt politician in the United States has been a democrat.
ReplyDeleteLet me be devil's advocate and play MSNBC to your Fox News and point out some corruptions on the other side of the aisle. Ronald Reagan (a former actor himself) had his whole Iran Contra Affair Scandal, Tom Delay and the Jack Abramoff Scandal and finally the Bush administration and the justification process for the Iraq War.
Corruption is probably about equal to both parties in our political system. Basically anyone who runs for political office has to be what we term a "politician" in some sense of the word. They spend a large chunk of their time raising money or figuring out how the raise money. They also love to promise the public everything. "We will cut your taxes and expand welfare, education spending, defense spending, medicare, social security ect.... all at the same time!". Fortunately for the politicians, most of the general public doesn't understand basic accounting, so these promises usually work out pretty well for the campaigns of candidates (and for the magnitude of the US National Debt).
I largely agree with you. I tried to stay away from the view that all politicians are corrupt and instead focused on the 'happy' politician. I actually don't feel Reagan or Bush or even Clinton or Obama were that corrupt, I just think it's interesting how people love the charismatic politicians and don't give label them as 'politicians.'
ReplyDeleteYes, they are all politicians and yes, they can be corrupt; but just because they are charismatic or likable it doesn't mean they are any less of a politician, and it probably means they are even more of one.
And yes Mitt Romney is a politician, he's just not a very good one.
To give a global view, as bad as the US is in political corruption, we really aren't that bad in the grand scheme of things:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
Politicians aren't the only ones that are easily "corruptible". If you are charismatic and have a lot of power, there is a good chance you strayed a time or two.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22984501@N06/2963990572/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_evangelist_scandals