Final Fantasy
The American-Statesman’s Jason Embry has an interesting observation about Rick Perry’s words versus Rick Perry’s actions with regard to federal stimulus dollars. Perry and the Legislature took billions in stimulus money and balanced the state’s biennial budget. Meanwhile, Perry bashes Washington and the stimulus.
Perry dresses up like some kind of rugged, self-made man when the truth is he owes whatever money he has to the benefactors who hired him to undertake the state government piece of their corrupt schemes. He is anything but self-made. And it’s the same with the state budget. Perry brags he balanced it, and points to Washington as the culprit, when in fact Washington saved his ass and the state budget.
Does reality matter? Increasingly, many voters simply want politicians to make the right gestures. They are quite willing to overlook actual actions so long as the politicians pander properly to them with make-believe in speeches and ads. This is the Perry Way, of course, and a cultural-political preference for pretend-play that hides what’s real is one reason an empty hat like Perry can be successful.
In his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond writes about his beloved home state of Montana. It’s a state completely dependent on outsiders — tourists, the federal government, etc. — but its citizens pretend that they are the last of the self-reliant Americans. However much we might admire western-flavored self-reliance — and I do — this kind of disconnect between reality and fantasy is one reason cultures collapse, as Diamond points out.
Our contemporary political practices, of course, are all about fantasy. The best fantasists become the most successful media consultants. Perry and his team are particularly good at it.
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About Glenn W. Smith
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
Nice post, Glenn. I think the answer to your Title’s question is “Not all that much….”
I’ve lived in Texas since 1940; never lived anywhere else. Cannot imagine living anywhere else. It is home, where I know the bastards best. The summer weather is not the most difficult part of living here. The simple-minded people who are easily bamboozled by the Perry style politicians are the most difficult part. They are neighbors who are more often than not genuinely decent people. But who can’t think or refuse to educate themselves, and who haven’t learned to distinguish what they see on the teevee from what is going on around them in the real world. And they vote, all of them. It is something, a right, they hold dear. They will drive 50 or more miles in some parts of the state to cast their votes for crooks, liars, con-men, hypocrites, adulterers, and thieves.
It is terribly frustrating.
doran
I read yesterday that the Republicans are literally begging Kay Bailey to stay in the Senate so you may not even have a good challenge to Gov. Good Hair. Perry is beginning to sound like a loon, but who am I to judge – my governor is Arnold Terminator.
At least Ahnald has no pretensions to the presidency. Watch Perry’s national campaign unfold. Palin in pants.
I could not have said it better myself.
All true, but I always look to the other side of the coin. Too often, Democrats seem to assume Republican framing when it comes to these things. Even progressive critics too often do the same – accepting myths about free markets and laissez faire in their critiques.
In our personal lives, it’s important to have people around us, preferably those we love and trust, to call us to account when we fail to let the facts get in the way of a good story. If we don’t have that (usually because, through an accumulation of money or power, those around us will begin to accept our version of reality regardless of its validity) it becomes difficult for us to maintain our connection to the world of facts.
In politics, when one party has no one – like the media or the other party – to call them to account when they lose all connection to reality, their flights of fancy become ever more fanciful.
Sadly, we have a long way to go for that to happen. Yet I remain confident that it will.
I agree with you about Democrats’ accepting the right’s framing. In fact, they often chase after it. Thanks for making the point.
National political picture for next election:
1. Mitt Romney and Good Hair. How can you tell them apart when they’re not in the same picture?
2. Sarah Palin and Good Hair. How can you tell them apart when they’re not in the same picture?
[yes, the Qs are the same intentionally]
Ooooh burn