State of Dejection
I hate to keep going back to the same sources, but Anna Quindlen has done it again. Her analysis of the true state of the union is just about perfect. Nothing big seems right in America: war, economics, health care, unity, hope. It's hard to get excited about a Medicare drug benefit that seems to be a political boondoggle or the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice who received the fewest minority party votes in history.
It's easy to write off this point of view, as the commentariat of the right often does, as just America bashing liberalism. That's a ridiculous argument, of course, as the true America bashers hiding in the caves of Afghanistan, the palaces of Saudi Arabia and the slums of Pakistan must rejoice at every reading of the news from the hated West.
It's those who love America, or the idea it represents, who mourn the erosion of civil liberties, the increasing divide - economic, racial, religious - between our people, the "with us or against us" attitude of the leadership that labels dissent as sympathy with the devil.
Playing on that tired Reagan theme of "Morning in America", Quindlen sums it up this way:
It's not morning. It's not even afternoon. There's not much union in the state, just one fissure after another. Of course, that won't play, so instead it's more of the same: new programs that feel old, old programs that feel over and the ubiquitous assertion that we will prevail. Just for a moment forget the combat deaths, the killer hurricanes, the illegal wiretapping, the internecine warfare, the political indictments, the overdue bills, the clueless leaders, and repeat after me: Confident. Strong. Stronger than ever. Do you feel it? Do you feel it? Nope, me neither.
You really should read the whole piece. She uses her deft touch with the language to piece together a summary of our affairs that is illuminating and informative but has that melacholy feel that suits the situation.
It reminds me of a piece Hunter Thompson wrote for the New Year's Day edition of The New York Times Magazine, I think in 1974. The piece has that same feel, as Thompson ruminates on the end of Richard Nixon, the focus of his energy for so long, but can't seem to celebrate it.
Like Thompson and Nixon, George W. Bush has consumed the energy of the left - including much of mine - for the last five years. You would think we would rejoice at watching everything he touches turn into a spectactular flameout. But the rejoicing is short lived, at least for me, as I look around the country and the world and see the wreckage and devastation he has wrought.
Yeah, I don't feel it at all.
It's easy to write off this point of view, as the commentariat of the right often does, as just America bashing liberalism. That's a ridiculous argument, of course, as the true America bashers hiding in the caves of Afghanistan, the palaces of Saudi Arabia and the slums of Pakistan must rejoice at every reading of the news from the hated West.
It's those who love America, or the idea it represents, who mourn the erosion of civil liberties, the increasing divide - economic, racial, religious - between our people, the "with us or against us" attitude of the leadership that labels dissent as sympathy with the devil.
Playing on that tired Reagan theme of "Morning in America", Quindlen sums it up this way:
It's not morning. It's not even afternoon. There's not much union in the state, just one fissure after another. Of course, that won't play, so instead it's more of the same: new programs that feel old, old programs that feel over and the ubiquitous assertion that we will prevail. Just for a moment forget the combat deaths, the killer hurricanes, the illegal wiretapping, the internecine warfare, the political indictments, the overdue bills, the clueless leaders, and repeat after me: Confident. Strong. Stronger than ever. Do you feel it? Do you feel it? Nope, me neither.
You really should read the whole piece. She uses her deft touch with the language to piece together a summary of our affairs that is illuminating and informative but has that melacholy feel that suits the situation.
It reminds me of a piece Hunter Thompson wrote for the New Year's Day edition of The New York Times Magazine, I think in 1974. The piece has that same feel, as Thompson ruminates on the end of Richard Nixon, the focus of his energy for so long, but can't seem to celebrate it.
Like Thompson and Nixon, George W. Bush has consumed the energy of the left - including much of mine - for the last five years. You would think we would rejoice at watching everything he touches turn into a spectactular flameout. But the rejoicing is short lived, at least for me, as I look around the country and the world and see the wreckage and devastation he has wrought.
Yeah, I don't feel it at all.
posted by John at 11:39 AM
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