Strategies on the Titanic

Here is an excerpt from a recent article that ran in The Washington Post:

“After losing the 2012 presidential election, Republican Party leaders vowed to craft a message they thought would be more in tune with the middle class, promising to deliver faster economic growth and to help all workers, not just the very rich.”

“Craft a message”? “Be more in tune with the middle class”?

I interpret this as follows: The 2012 chastisement of the Republican Party, which failed because of its obsequiousness, absence of leadership, and lack of principled behavior, is met with a concerted decision to save itself by more obsequiousness, absence of leadership, and lack of principled behavior.

I am reminded of the quip: “What the world wants today is sincerity; if you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

The above happens to be about the GOP, but it could as easily be about other parties. This is horse race talk, practically the only kind of political reportage we see. Will no one point out the disgusting nature of this level of political discourse? Will no one make even a passing comment on the desultory state of affairs we have when the caliber of elected officials rises no higher than men and women whose full-time preoccupation is second-guessing the constantly shifting winds of political opinion? They seem more like children at a game of musical chairs than adults sharing the same profession as Abraham Lincoln.

If the rumors we are hearing about ISIS and $20 trillion of debt are even half true, where is the alarm? Where is the zeal? Where is the courage? Where is the agreement to call off business-as-usual political shenanigans in the interest of saving our country from destruction?

As the 1980s Wendy’s TV commercial said, “Where is the beef?” Why should we, the citizens, have any interest in the soap opera of the rising or failing fortunes of some party or operative when the ship of state is taking on water faster than Titanic an hour after impact with an iceberg? Give us no more reports on the possible success of one dodgy strategy or another.

Instead, we are served up a daily barrage of articles and editorials slicing and dicing the upcoming primaries as if all that is important about them—as if all that is at stake—is the saga of the fates of this political team or that. I submit as evidence a list of common beside-the-point media formulations:

“X didn’t help himself in the polls yesterday when he …”

“X had a bad day on the stump yesterday when …”

“X may have a winning strategy in …”

“Y’s entrance into the race may cause X to lurch to the right …”

“X seems to be wooing the conservative/liberal vote in his recent promise to …”

“It remains to be seen if X’s statements on the economy will help or hurt his campaign.”

“X received a bump in the polls today when he said …”

How about, for once, an article that says:

“The nation is in imminent danger of insolvency, terrorism, and anarchy. Let us hope that X has a thoughtful plan that will address these.”