Waiting for Godot?
Although Kerry seems to have got the better of Bush during the debates, there were few intellectual fireworks and even fewer shifts in public opinion. The three debates reminded me of the three Acts of Waiting for Godot, the existentialist play by Samuel Beckett. The drama centers around the characters of Vladimir and Estragon and their desperate search for hope in a world that seems increasingly hopeless to them. Godot's main theme comes at the beginning of the play:
It seems that many former Bush supporters are also losing hope. Among the conservative groups that largely supported Bush over Gore in 2000 are the anarcho-capitalists, to use Noam Chomsky's term. Interestingly, this group may be headed towards a Kerry vote or, at least, an abstention during the 2004 elections. The Bush Betrayal by James Bovard. The message: there's no hope under Bush.
Others agree, but for different reasons. Consider, for example, the Bush administration's use of faulty or misleading science, as documented in Science's Political Bulldog.
A recent article in Le Monde Diplomatique, What's The Matter With West Virginia?, shows that in West Virginia, despite Bush's tax gift to the wealthiest 1 percent, the poor and underprivileged still seem to favor him over Kerry. The message: there's no hope for Kerry.
Robert Sheer outlines the pitfalls of the "undecided" undecided vote in The Dangers of a "What the Heck Vote".
Perhaps Steve Young got it right after all. No matter how hopeless things seem, Bush comes up smelling like roses. Check out his tongue-in-cheek piece entitled THIS JUST IN...
One has to wonder whether this is the future:
While many Americans are convinced that John Kerry is Godot, in a race that by any logical standard should have catapulted Kerry to double digits by now, he still seems trapped in his own inconsistencies. At the Democratic National Convention Kerry told his audience that "hope is on the way". In the run up to the 2004 elections, in a country completely devoid of hope for many under George Bush, Kerry will have to pull off a hat trick to convince people that he is Godot and that "hope is on the way". As things stand, for many voters, the coming election -- like Waiting for Godot -- could end up as an exercise in futility.
Estragon: Nothing to be done.
Vladimir: I'm beginning to come round to that opinion.
It seems that many former Bush supporters are also losing hope. Among the conservative groups that largely supported Bush over Gore in 2000 are the anarcho-capitalists, to use Noam Chomsky's term. Interestingly, this group may be headed towards a Kerry vote or, at least, an abstention during the 2004 elections. The Bush Betrayal by James Bovard. The message: there's no hope under Bush.
Others agree, but for different reasons. Consider, for example, the Bush administration's use of faulty or misleading science, as documented in Science's Political Bulldog.
A recent article in Le Monde Diplomatique, What's The Matter With West Virginia?, shows that in West Virginia, despite Bush's tax gift to the wealthiest 1 percent, the poor and underprivileged still seem to favor him over Kerry. The message: there's no hope for Kerry.
Robert Sheer outlines the pitfalls of the "undecided" undecided vote in The Dangers of a "What the Heck Vote".
Don't say you weren't warned. Yes, you, that otherwise reasonable centrist voter who might be tempted to cast a "what the heck" vote for George W. Bush. Don't kid yourself that the Cheneys, Ashcrofts and Rumsfelds who molded Bush's thoughts will suddenly moderate their radical vision for remaking the world or dampen their attacks on our treasury and civil liberties. It won't happen: Reward their rampage of the last four years with a new mandate to rule and they will only be emboldened.
Perhaps Steve Young got it right after all. No matter how hopeless things seem, Bush comes up smelling like roses. Check out his tongue-in-cheek piece entitled THIS JUST IN...
Kerry Saves Busload of Blind Orphans...Bush's Lead Widens!!!, by Steve Young
Sept. 27, 2004 -- HOLLYWOOD (apj.us) -- In what seems like another in a string of bad luck moves by the hapless Democratic candidate during a standard mundane stump speech in Tuscaloosa, John Kerry shocked the napping crowd by jumping into raging Mississippi River flood waters to pull fifty-five blind orphans and all but one of their seeing-eye dogs out of their sinking buses.
In poll taken by Harris, Gallup and USA Today thirty-five seconds after the rescue, 62% of likely voters found that Kerry's heroism was "too showy."
Republicans were quick to jump on the incident.
"First he doesn't save a busload of blind orphans, then he does," drolled Vice President Dick Cheney. "This guy can't make up his mind."
"A hero?" asked House Majority leader Tom DeLay. "Ask the kid whose dog he chose to leave behind."
A FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll revealed the 89% of their viewers believe that there was a direct link between blind orphans drowning and Kerry.
"Kerry's an opportunist," claimed a former blind orphan not on the bus. "He's probably planning to become a Supreme Court justice after he serves as president, and knew saving those kids would become a plus during confirmation."
One has to wonder whether this is the future:
Who could have imagined, at the turn of this century, how quickly and completely the American republic would collapse? Historically, the decline and fall of great empires normally takes place over decades, and in the case of Rome, over several centuries. The disintegration of the United States took place in just a few brief years.
While many Americans are convinced that John Kerry is Godot, in a race that by any logical standard should have catapulted Kerry to double digits by now, he still seems trapped in his own inconsistencies. At the Democratic National Convention Kerry told his audience that "hope is on the way". In the run up to the 2004 elections, in a country completely devoid of hope for many under George Bush, Kerry will have to pull off a hat trick to convince people that he is Godot and that "hope is on the way". As things stand, for many voters, the coming election -- like Waiting for Godot -- could end up as an exercise in futility.
posted by J. DeVincent at 1:59 PM
4 Comments:
Nice to get a laugh JD. Appreciated in these dire times.
I suppose we shouldn't discount the current military operations underway in Iraq as the October suprise, the pacification of the Iraqi resistance. In leiu of the long silence on the front one must assume that the military is well equiped and re-supplied. It would be folly to doubt their capability. The use of Iraqi's to secure sites of religious and cultural sensitivities makes sense all the way around, albeit better late than never.
The President makes the statement that he sets the strategy..., and absolves himselve of any responsibility if anything goes wrong and appears to an in tune dude if it goes right. Since he is running on winning a military operation he will win the point, which will be widely reported as a victory in Iraq, a year and a half after the mission was accomplished the first time. Hopefully that will absolve him of having lost the peace the first time, and he can do it the second time if we give him another shot. (No pun intended.)
The Department of Homeland Security is a virtual goose in the ass to those so inclined to be goosed, so that will energize Bush's base as well. The talking geese, er heads, will give it of course, a gander. Without the TV media we wouldn't know what the government wanted us to be terrorized about over here. I presume the purpose is lower Social Security cost by creating high anxiety in the Baby Boomers.
I suppose that the dollar to euro is duely noted over there. Seems to me that before the second war to end all wars in Iraq Saddas said something about basing the price of his oil on the euro back when it and the dollar were one to one as well, which would show more fiscal foresight on his regime's part than on Mr. Bush's.
In the end there is always hope in America, because of the inate goodness of the people of the world, who have populated this nation. As with individuals, nations are the last ones to know themselves, so Kerry's "global test" really isn't anything more than " a decent respect for the opinion of mankind..." At least he sounds like he has a clue.
You're pretty much right on target in your comments, EZ. Despite the apparent debating victories, I am still not convinced that Kerry can muster enough independent voters to save the day -- even without an October surprise.
You might want to revisit the "Waiting for Godot" post, now that I've edited it and added the Le Monde link, "What's The Matter With West Virginia?" It's an eye-opener.
Cheers,
Hello JD.
I have to agree with LeMonde's article, with the caveat that it applies to Texas as well as W Virginia. Bug Tussle, as PM Marvel calls it, seems to be a rather large city of millions of small hamlets spread thin over a land area the size of the United States.
I think the recent war to end all wars in Iraq is as good an example of the diffusion of knowledge and information in the US. There is really nothing new about the assumptions of the War Party leading up to that conflict being exposed as false, those assumptions having been debunked two years ago by many of us, for the lies that they were and are.
Yet a large portion of the electorate still insists that those assumptions are correct. Obviously the American mainstream media is a failure, but it has played upon the American peoples own desires to have their ears tickled. They are going laughing all the way to the bank, of course, of river styx.
Living in a nation that cannot and will not face its' own past, I am not surprised that it is again failing to grasp its' own future, or understand its' present circumstances. American isolationism has gone from the physical to the mental, and unfortunately for the world, the world is along for the ride.
Very perceptive, EZ. I suppose that there are more examples of "reality evasion" than just in W. Virginia or Texas.
It is this inexplicable attitude on the part of some voters (many?) that makes me wonder whether Kerry will pull it off in November.
In any case, it should be another exciting election eve.
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