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Feel-good Politics: a political rant
Call me the anti-Oprah. Or maybe I’m just a dinosaur, and grouchy. But while everyone else is walking around learning to feel good, to stop being so hard on themselves, or ever feeling guilty or repentant or ashamed no matter what they do, to be more self-forgiving, I’m here thinking, “where’s responsibility?” Has responsibility become passé, defunct, sunk into the junkyards of civilizations past along with videotapes and telegrams and Walkman? Have we gone from “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” to “I’m Okay, I’m Okay, You’re the F***ing Problem”?
This hit me hardest with the latest Barack Obama bumble, the “bitterness” bit everyone has heard about by now, in which, basically, he described small-town Americans as “bitter” and declared that they, because of said bitterness, turn – as some pundits have put it – to “guns and god.”
Now, say what you will about whether you think Obama is or is not elitist, or condescending, or whether you think there is truth in what he says. The fact is, he was insulting. People were insulted.
In the days before “feel-good-I’m-good” thinking, wouldn’t the reaction to that be something like, “I’m sorry”?
But Obama – and he is not alone in this – didn’t apologize. Not really. Instead he accused others of misconstruing what he said. He blamed them. He apologized for “the words” (though I’m not quite sure which words), but not his attitude. Mostly, he insisted he was right. He never suggested for a moment he might have been (gasp) wrong.
So our Democratic frontrunner stereotypes like crazy about small-towners and talks about “typical white people,” and to those who voice offense, replies only: Shame on you.
He’s got the system down: He’s okay. We’re the problem.
Gone, the responsibility.
I mean, even Bill Clinton eventually acknowledged he’d messed up and asked forgiveness.
And yes, I’m picking on Obama here, but it’s not really about him. It’s about this mentality we’re falling into, surrounding ourselves with magazines and books that scream the “I’m Okay I’m Okay” doctrine from their covers: “It’s Not Your Fault”, “How To Stop Feeling Guilty” – or my own favorite, “ How To Stop Thinking About What Makes Other People Happy.”
Why would anyone want to do that?
And maybe that’s what’s got me in a huff: that in the end, really all of these campaigns are selling the same thing: feeling good. And what I want to know is: Where’s the part about doing good? Because if this is the path we go on following, it doesn’t matter who wins the election in November: America – we – will lose.
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I agree: this is about taking personal responsibility for your actions. If Obama can't do that now, how will he do it as President? I'm glad he said it: now I know where he stands. He's apparently an elitist in populist clothing. And I'm glad he didn't redact it: now I know what he'll do. So it might be good for America in that he burst his own bubble, and now we can all be more realistic about who we're electing.
The point you're making here is great. I'd add a corollary to it, which is that it seems we've lost touch with what it means to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of our actions. No small wonder given who's running our country. The consequences of the actions of our current administration are horrendous, and there's been no admission of the administration's responsibility for causing those consequences. Has Bush ever said he was SORRY for getting us into a difficult war that has defied even his worst case scenario predictions?
As for Obama, he's such a major wild card. Based on these recent comments, you truly don't know what the guy stands for...other than change. WILL he change the way our nation handles responsibility for its actions? If he's elected, it will be easy for him to act on the lousy consequences caused by his predecessors. But what will he do when HIS actions cause more problems than solutions?
You're right when you criticize him for not apologizing. Instead of saying he "could have expressed himself better", he should have said, "I apologize for expressing myself in a way that may have offended people." Then I could have dealt with his "shame on you" accusations towards Hilary. But without the apology, he's just another pot calling the kettle black.
Your reference to Obama is taken completely out of context. I am often surprised when people take a single sentence lifted out of context to form a complete opinion about the character of someone they have not yet met.
You claim that this is insulting. To whom? I suppose if one is seeking to find an insult, anyone's comments can be misconstrued in such a manner. But then the issue really isn't about the speaker, is it? The issue is with the people seem to want to find some issue or weakness. Ever since the launch of the Fox News Network, phony umbrage has been elevated to such a high level that people expect politicians to apologize for every perceived fault, even a manufactured entirely artificial grievance.
The contrast to Hilary is laughable. Hilary Clinton is a compulsive liar, as is her husband. This is fact, not opinion. Routinely, during her stump speech and in a series of public comments, she has frequently made statements which are completely untrue. This is not a matter of a single sentence ripped from context but rather a persistent pattern of making false claims.
I'm not insulted by Hilary's lies. Nor do I expect her to apologize for them. But I certainly won't vote for her.
I'd rather vote for a passionate speaker who calls it the way he sees it, rather than a compulsive liar.