President of What
Ego vs. empowerment on the campaign trail
Apparently this John Edwards ad is a blockbuster: Hits the right marks, pounds Edwards' themes, starts the tears flowing like an Usher ballad.
I actually think it's one of the most sleazy, manipulative little political commercials of recent years. "If you're looking for heroes, don't look to me," says Edwards. "Don't look to Elizabeth." No problem! But why shouldn't I?
"We have support. We have health care. We have the American people behind us." There's the first invocation (so far) of the non-existant Edwards personality cult. At the start of his events, Edwards often says something like "a lot of you are asking how Elizabeth is doing. She's fine!" And I hear that as often as not this gets a muted, bemused reaction.
So, think of the working people: "They are the ones that we speak for." Hey, thanks again. "They are the ones that we stand up for." You're too kind. I'm sure America's Montage Farmers are going to sleep easier tonight because John Edwards exercised his larynx and lower body.
"And Elizabeth and I decided in the quiet of a hospital room." Subtle. "After 12 hours of tests and after getting very bad news." Even subtler. His wife has cancer. "We're not going to quietly go away. Instead we're going to go out there and fight for what it is we believe."
You know, Mitt Romney's wife has multiple sclerosis. Obviously that's not going to shorten her life the way Elizabeth Edwards' cancer will shorten hers. But it's the kind of thing that could stir up sympathy and handkerchief-clutching out there in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the Romneys only ever talk about it when asked. There's no TV ad pimping her illness. If Romney has no emotions, than Edwards has only the basest ones. There's not enough Lysol on the eastern seaboard to scrub his slime away.
But I don't want to pick on Edwards. We're starting to see a cleavage between ego-driven and movement-driven presidential campaigns. The most ego-driven Democratic campaign is still Hillary Clinton's. As she showed this week her staff will turn any attack into an unacceptable personal assault. She didn't parselmouth her way out of an immigration question: The mean other candidates piled onto her. Barack Obama's rhetoric is mostly about the average voter; he wants "us" to take back politics, he's one of "us" against Washington. Hillary's campaign is about her being president. Your power depends on whether or not the president thinks you're "invisible," and if you give her your vote she will gratefully remember that you exist.
Clinton's, Obama's and Edwards' messages are illustrative of how they view the presidency. For Clinton it's a restoration of her political machine, the one that was doing such a great job before the-Supreme-Court-handed-George-Bush-the-presidency. For Edwards it's a bully pulpit that he'll use to bully people, taking away Congress's health care until they give it to you, etc. For Obama it's an amorphous inspirational job; it should be more open, more accessible. Less power should flow towards it, more power should flow towards you.
Of course all of these guys look like pikers next to Ron Paul. He seems almost embarrassed that he has to be the vehicle for a movement to dissolve executive power. "I may not be the greatest messenger," goes one of his lines, "but this is the greatest message." His other formulation is stronger.
I actually think it's one of the most sleazy, manipulative little political commercials of recent years. "If you're looking for heroes, don't look to me," says Edwards. "Don't look to Elizabeth." No problem! But why shouldn't I?
"We have support. We have health care. We have the American people behind us." There's the first invocation (so far) of the non-existant Edwards personality cult. At the start of his events, Edwards often says something like "a lot of you are asking how Elizabeth is doing. She's fine!" And I hear that as often as not this gets a muted, bemused reaction.
So, think of the working people: "They are the ones that we speak for." Hey, thanks again. "They are the ones that we stand up for." You're too kind. I'm sure America's Montage Farmers are going to sleep easier tonight because John Edwards exercised his larynx and lower body.
"And Elizabeth and I decided in the quiet of a hospital room." Subtle. "After 12 hours of tests and after getting very bad news." Even subtler. His wife has cancer. "We're not going to quietly go away. Instead we're going to go out there and fight for what it is we believe."
You know, Mitt Romney's wife has multiple sclerosis. Obviously that's not going to shorten her life the way Elizabeth Edwards' cancer will shorten hers. But it's the kind of thing that could stir up sympathy and handkerchief-clutching out there in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the Romneys only ever talk about it when asked. There's no TV ad pimping her illness. If Romney has no emotions, than Edwards has only the basest ones. There's not enough Lysol on the eastern seaboard to scrub his slime away.
But I don't want to pick on Edwards. We're starting to see a cleavage between ego-driven and movement-driven presidential campaigns. The most ego-driven Democratic campaign is still Hillary Clinton's. As she showed this week her staff will turn any attack into an unacceptable personal assault. She didn't parselmouth her way out of an immigration question: The mean other candidates piled onto her. Barack Obama's rhetoric is mostly about the average voter; he wants "us" to take back politics, he's one of "us" against Washington. Hillary's campaign is about her being president. Your power depends on whether or not the president thinks you're "invisible," and if you give her your vote she will gratefully remember that you exist.
Clinton's, Obama's and Edwards' messages are illustrative of how they view the presidency. For Clinton it's a restoration of her political machine, the one that was doing such a great job before the-Supreme-Court-handed-George-Bush-the-presidency. For Edwards it's a bully pulpit that he'll use to bully people, taking away Congress's health care until they give it to you, etc. For Obama it's an amorphous inspirational job; it should be more open, more accessible. Less power should flow towards it, more power should flow towards you.
Of course all of these guys look like pikers next to Ron Paul. He seems almost embarrassed that he has to be the vehicle for a movement to dissolve executive power. "I may not be the greatest messenger," goes one of his lines, "but this is the greatest message." His other formulation is stronger.
Cassandra | November 6, 2007, 5:53am | #
Only people with smarmy minds to start with will see smarmy in this. Have you ever considered that maybe being faced with cancer really did cause them to examine the best way to live and serve?
Christina Pugh | November 6, 2007, 8:36am | #
One hopes that you will never have to face the life choices the Edwards have. But if you do it's apparent you will face it with a lot of hate, anger, resentment and denial instead of the courage to try and make the country and the world better.
Brian Ewart | November 6, 2007, 10:49am | #
Cassandra: Should I vote for Edwards because his wife has cancer?
If so, why?
If not, then why should he be using that as a premise in his campaign?
Politicians need to campaign on politics, nothing else.
Cassandra | November 6, 2007, 1:12pm | #
Brian: No you should vote for him because in addition to having the courage to take on corporate corruption of the government he's shown remarkable courage by facing challenges that would devastate most people and is working to change the country. Many people facing such challenges would simply choose to comfort themselves and not to help others. It says a lot about character.
Steve | November 6, 2007, 2:14pm | #
OK, I'll bite. What legislation has he sponsored or written to fight "corporate corruption of the government," and how is he different from thousands of other people every year who continue their jobs while loved ones face cancer?
swokm | November 6, 2007, 10:54pm | #
Quite the smear job. You must be very proud of yourself.
I like the smarmy false-concession: "But I don't want to pick on Edwards..." right after you dump a bucket of cow dung on him. Who is truly the slimeball here?
It is pretty pathetic when basic politeness is demonized by a political hack. His wife gets a ton of press whether he wants it or not. I think the message of "hey, we are privilege and we admit it, but we'll fight for your share of the pie" very essentially progressive. He IS asked about her all the time in press the flesh meetings, I've heard it.
And he has been attacked as "allowing his wife to speak her mind and campaign for him, though she is sick" by the right. His ad is an appropriate response to that.
I agree with the other comment that this reflects more about the writer than the candidates.
Steve | November 7, 2007, 12:49am | #
Checking Edwards' Senate record, I don't see much of substance.
He deposed Monica Lewinsky in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
He co-sponsored the Iraq War resolution.
He co-sponsored McCain-Feingold.
He voted for the Patriot Act.
The only Edwards-sponsored bills to make it into law were in 2003 and 2004, naming Post Offices in honor of Jim Richardson and Oscar Scott Woody.
That's almost as impressive as Fred Thompson.
Kevin | November 7, 2007, 2:59am | #
Take a peek at a revolutionary idea being spread by Ron Paul, google Ron Paul.
Mark | November 7, 2007, 10:26am | #
I was diagnosed with cancer on April 2, 2003, and personally I find the thought of exploiting the illness for political gain to be absolutely despicable. What is even worse is the way Edwards and his slime ball supporters claim that Elizabeth's cancer should inoculate her from criticism whenever she slams Republicans on hate sites like Democratic Underground and Daily Kos.
Matt | November 7, 2007, 3:26pm | #
I really like your last paragraph... It really sums up why I like Paul other then his policies... He is humble and he is passionate about what he believes in... its a 180 compared to the status quo narcissistic candidates.
I, Sore | November 8, 2007, 9:21am | #
Guys, white text on a black background is nearly impossible for many people to read. (See: astigmatism.) It can be literally painful.
The 17-year-olds and Geocities users of the world already did all the messy trial-and-error for us back in the late '90s. Here was the verdict: Light text on a dark background sucks.
Please tweak the format here to enable more efficient communication, which is ultimately what this whole Internet thing is supposed to be about. Otherwise you're denying yourself the full impact of your work.
Ara | November 9, 2007, 6:22am | #
Politicians need to campaign on politics, nothing else.
...and I need to have free beer and peanuts.
Limiting campaigns to the "strictly political" is a nice thought but it isn't going to happen. Not sure it ever has. Can anyone think of a time in our history when it did? Since George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, presidential candidates have always used the personal as a context for the political.
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