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politics and politicians Title: Scott Walker and a ‘Return to Normalcy’ He brags about the bargain rack at Kohl’s. He spends his Sunday mornings at church and his Sunday afternoons watching the Packers. He live-tweets his haircuts and getting the oil changed in his Saturn. His only unhealthy obsession seems to be an addiction to hot ham and rolls after church. (He really loves hot ham.) In a news cycle filled with burning cities, beheaded Christians, and transgendered Kardashians, how does a dull Midwesterner stand out? He showed how Thursday night. To paraphrase a reporter talking about Barry Goldwater’s presidential strategy, “my God, Walker is running as Walker!” This isn’t the first time a politician listed “aggressively normal” as a selling point. In 1920, America’s political climate was in even greater tumult than today’s. President Wilson had fundamentally transformed the federal government into an oppressive entity that regularly jailed detractors, instituted a then-unimaginable level of regulation, and created the first income tax. Our battered soldiers returned from the charnel houses of Europe to find an executive branch pushing for an even more robust internationalism. By the time the president was incapacitated by stroke (a fact hidden for months), most Americans had had enough. In a field of flashy candidates, a dull Midwesterner caught the zeitgeist by calling for a “Return to Normalcy”: “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.” Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding’s promise of a boring four years delivered a landslide victory from an exhausted electorate. After dying in office he was replaced by our dullest president, Calvin Coolidge, who was succeeded by a third steady hand, Herbert Hoover. In many ways Walker is the heir to Silent Cal; a leader focused on concrete results with minimal rhetoric and even less drama. He spent his time as a county executive and governor methodically rolling back the worst excesses of government as the world flailed around him. The unwashed progressives in Madison ranted and raved, but Walker remained the eye of the storm. Unions threatened his family, judges harassed his friends, and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz held a year-long St. Vitus’ dance, while the governor stretched in his church pew, dreaming about hot ham. As an ideologue, I’m more attracted to conservatarian activism. If a candidate promised to cut government in half, I would think it was merely a good start. Forget balancing the budget, I want spending well below incoming revenues for the next decade. And if the next government shutdown doesn’t last a year, don’t bother. So, on paper, a “return to normalcy” shouldn’t be that appealing. But Walker appeals to an exhaustion with politics in general. Like most small-government enthusiasts, I don’t want to think about Washington, D.C. every minute of every day. My ideal politician is someone I only hear about at election time and maybe in January when he submits his State of the Union address in writing. I would much rather focus my time on family, business, and art, than waste Christmas Eve watching C-SPAN’s live congressional feed. I long for the days when supermarket magazine racks featured celebrity weight loss tips instead of FLOTUS lecturing me about kale. If we’re frustrated with politics now, we’ll desperate for relief by November 2016. If Scott Walker is able to capitalize on that mood — starting with a definition of what “normal” even means anymore — the White House chef might need to stock up on hot ham and rolls. Poster Comment: For those elections where "boring" is good. Sometimes the voters are just exhausted. If (when) some of these candidates start flaming out (start with Perry, Jindal, Graham, and maybe Paul, and the book tours and lobbyist campaigns of Pataki and Gillmore), when Trump inevitably flames out from his running his big mouth, you'll be left with Jeb! and the Bush crime family or Scott Walker or Marco Rubio. In that scenario, Walker plods along his boring way while Bush and Rubio spend their time pandering to Hispanics, rarely bothering to utter a word in English. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 15. When will you get your head out of Karl Roves ass? That is the real question.
#3. To: A K A Stone (#2) When will you get your head out of Karl Roves ass? That is the real question. Rove is a house slave of the Bush crime family. Walker is not connected to them.
#5. To: TooConservative (#3) I saw Walker speak in person to a crowd. Very good. But he seems slow when speaking on camera. KISS is like that - their live sound is much better than their studio sound.
#7. To: Pericles (#5) I saw Walker speak in person to a crowd. Very good. But he seems slow when speaking on camera. He is from Wisconsin. Excitement you will not get. An exciting pol in Wisconsin would scare the living crap out of the voters.
#9. To: TooConservative (#7) I saw Walker speak in person to a crowd. Very good. But he seems slow when speaking on camera. He is from Wisconsin. Excitement you will not get. It's like that episode of the Honeymooners where Ralph is going to pitch a gadget on TV and is fine in rehersals but as soon at the camera goes live he becomes robotic sounding, etc. I think this is Walker trying to look earnest and not screw up hius words. I saw Walker in Milwaukee on a business trip literally a few months ago where he was invited to speak for the convention I was at. In person he was very eloquant and expressive and not boring at all. On TV he looks like he is recovering from brain surgery.
#10. To: Pericles (#9) (Edited) He has a good staff. I think they'll spruce up his debate appearances. There are some things they can do to soften a few rough edges a bit. He does have a boyish every-man kind of charm. He conveys the persona of a decent family man. We know the Left and the unions threw everything they had at him and it didn't stick. So Walker has a bit of Teflon of his own. The attacks will come. But they do stick more to some candidates than others over the candidates own intangibles as a public figure.
I saw Walker in Milwaukee on a business trip literally a few months ago where he was invited to speak for the convention I was at. In person he was very eloquant and expressive and not boring at all. Any other strong impressions? Was it a general speech, a speech to promote the state, an industry-specific appeal?
#11. To: TooConservative (#10) Any other strong impressions? Was it a general speech, a speech to promote the state, an industry-specific appeal? All the above - we all looked at each other and said "I guess he is running for president" - this is before he officially announced.
#12. To: Pericles (#11) All the above - we all looked at each other and said "I guess he is running for president" - this is before he officially announced. So, first impressions of his initial stump speech? Any yawns? Drew out his topics too much or hit the right notes and moved on? My impression is that of a solid steady confident performer. Personable. Very middle-class suburban outlook and mannerisms. Also cheerful, an optimist by habit.
#13. To: TooConservative (#12) ericles All the above - we all looked at each other and said "I guess he is running for president" - this is before he officially announced. So, first impressions of his initial stump speech? Any yawns? Drew out his topics too much or hit the right notes and moved on? Yes, a solid steady confident performer. Not inspiring though - no Reagan but that was not the forum for inspirational speeches either - it was a business forum.
#15. To: Pericles (#13) no Reagan but that was not the forum for inspirational speeches either He'll never match Rubio for soaring passionate rhetoric, the kind of speech Peggy Noonan used to write for Ronald Reagan. (A few times, like Rubio's convention speech, I could have swore were written by Noonan because they sounded so much like her.) But Walker can solidly deliver some decent lines on his key points. And make people believe he will accomplish what he says. And he ran 3 very tough well-organized elections against the unions and the Left and their entire playbook of tactics. Walker hasn't been tested outside Wisconsin but he didn't last through the recall and re-election without knowing how to run a campaign and recruiting the staff and volunteers needed.
Replies to Comment # 15. #17. To: TooConservative (#15) He'll never match Rubio for soaring passionate rhetoric, the kind of speech Peggy Noonan used to write for Ronald Reagan. (A few times, like Rubio's convention speech, I could have swore were written by Noonan because they sounded so much like her.) I don't find Rubio inspirational at all - it feels like play acting on his part to me.
We could do worse with Walker and a few others running like Kasich. Pataki is actually a competent person also.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 15. Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest |
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