January 14, 2008

We Seek a Larger-Than-Life President; No Wonder We’re Disappointed

 

First a “better late than never” New Year’s resolution to give up predictions for a while. I should have listened to my “quit while you’re ahead” voice after Iowa. It makes me feel better I was in good company getting Democratic New Hampshire so wrong. Consulting for my day gig reinforces the advantages of raising issues over actually taking stands. Perhaps that’s also true for columnists.

 

I want to explore the very mysterious issue of why people ultimately vote the way they do. Perhaps the reasons are never really clear or constant, and seem murkier than ever in this year’s campaign.

 

Hillary Clinton has made experience a special issue, especially in distinguishing herself from Barack Obama. It doesn’t matter that she is well down on the list herself. As Obama said during one of his less cherubic moments, “As I understand it, she wasn’t Secretary of the Treasury in Bill’s administration.”

 

The most experienced candidates have bitten the dust, wondering what it takes for the public to have taken them seriously. Bill Richardson’s withdrawal eliminates the best resume in the field. Experience clearly doesn’t get people to vote for you. But a lack of experience can make people vote against you. I get it.

 

For some, Richardson didn’t come across like a president. Apparently image is also important. The president’s role has symbolic aspects, like flying to an aircraft carrier to assure us a war is won. Dennis Kucinich has also had image problems. Unlike Kucinich, Governor Richardson actually seemed to want voters to support his positions.

 

What better past for playing a president than being an actor? In a famous psychology experiment, medical students (blindly) compared the teaching performance of actors and experienced medical professors. Most found the actors more entertaining – perhaps no surprise. Most also found the actors considerably better informed about medical science.

 

Ronald Reagan demonstrated the importance of playing the presidential role. Could another actor/politician repeat? Fred Thompson played many political leaders. I haven’t heard much from him lately. I guess the television writers’ strike affects campaigns also. Word was that President Reagan’s handlers worried whenever he took the microphone without a script.

 

Judgment is mentioned, and change was the operative buzzword after the Iowa causes. But getting specific, they seem to be proxies for a candidate’s espousing of positions voters want to hear.

 

I like to think that integrity counts. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis photo of John Kennedy sitting alone, pondering the decision that could cause peace or war. His strong sense of himself allowed him to decide and own the consequences. He was the one who had to tell Curtis Lemay, medals and all, to stop talking about World War III if he didn’t bomb Cuba.

 

By integrity I mean the capacity for putting principles and larger good above immediate personal advantage. It leads to behavior like honesty, even when truth may harm the teller, or forgoing opportunities for individual gain for the good of the group.
 

Obama rates high on inspiration. He names our experience, in moving ways that demonstrate wisdom beyond his years and political experience. Many consider that inspiring speech an indicator of inspiring integrity. Some heroes have mixed records in this regard – getting people to do the right thing, even if they didn’t always themselves. Obama has forgone opportunities in his career to serve people that needed serving. It’s a good sign.

 

Hillary chokes up answering a supportive question, and reactions are divided between the possible benefits of her showing emotion, and it’s contrived nature, perhaps better rehearsed than her now famous cackle. These reactions say something of our skepticism about her.

 

Mike Huckabee is such a likable guy, it’s hard to remember many of his views are Paleolythic – slightly ahead of Neanderthal. The Europeans would have to continue special exercises to keep their eyes rolling for another four years at the comments of American presidents. Scarily, he does seem to say what he thinks.

 

John McCain is off on Iraq, but he looks more like a president than his competitors. His integrity is impressive. Given our current hero gap, his personal history becomes even more compelling. Can anyone imagine our current president spending years in solitary confinement, rejecting release unless his men go also?

 

Mitt Romney has switched positions – consistently. He flaunts his meanspirited nature, perhaps to convince the religious right that Mormons are indeed fellow travelers. His immigration speeches make Lou Dobbs seem almost humanitarian. I hope the wisdom of the electorate can see through the smooth talk, regarding Mitt and Rudy Giuliani – another example of a man who creates himself for the times.

 

The position of president is clearly larger than life, and people see it as such – requiring a larger-than-life figure to do the job, always too good to be true. That may be why we are so often disappointed.

 

My conclusion for the moment, “Go figure.”