Wednesday, Aug 02, 2006
H.L. Mencken famously wrote that "no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public". Less well-known, but equally apt, is a term Mencken coined: "Boobocracy", meaning a government run by boobs. He had in mind figures such as Ulysses S. Grant, a famously brilliant general who later became a far-from-brilliant president. Grant once remarked that Venice would be a fine city if only someone would drain the streets.
President Grant notwithstanding, the Boobocracy's lode-centre has always been Congress, an institution famous for its narrowness of mind. On the evidence of the last few weeks that is not likely to change after this year's elections.
This came to mind a few days ago as I was listening to a political programme on a local radio station in Vermont. The guest was Greg Parke, a Republican candidate for a senate seat that is up for grabs because the incumbent is retiring. Parke is running mainly on his foreign policy expertise. In interviews he emphasises his knowledge of the Middle East.
So it was with interest that I listened to his analysis of the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. When asked by the show's host to explain the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah the candidate replied that "essentially Hamas is the political wing and Hezbollah is the military wing".
"Of what?" said the host.
"Of the people who hate Israel," Parke said.
This is wrong on so many levels that one hardly knows where to begin.
The problem is not confined to Republicans. A few nights later I caught a televised news conference by Ned Lamont, a Democratic senate candidate in Connecticut. Asked about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Lamont called for greater contact with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose name he rendered as "Mamoo Sabad". He did not explain how he thought getting together with "Sabad" was going to help the situation in Lebanon.
I am not picking on politicians here, tempting though that may be. Nor am I trying to scare readers with the prospect of this ignorant pair taking up seats in the US Senate.
My point is a broader one: if you want to understand American politics you must first understand that America's political culture is uniquely self-referential. It is not just that most Americans pay little attention to events beyond the country's borders; it is that on a deeper level most Americans can't understand why they would want to do so.
One result is that what passes for intelligent debate in America is often a pretty sorry spectacle. All of this goes a long way towards explaining the reaction to the recent visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to Washington.
Al Maliki's speech to a joint meeting of Congress was so upbeat, so at pains to link Iraq to the "war on terror", and so effusive in its thanks to America that one could not help but wonder how much "help" Al Maliki had writing it. Reactions to the speech broke down along party lines. Republicans praised the address as proof that the administration's view of Iraq is correct. Democrats denounced it as happy-talk propaganda.
Real controversy
The real controversy, however, swirled around Al Maliki himself.
After Al Maliki criticised Israel and refused to denounce Hezbollah during his joint news conference with President Bush he came under strong criticism from some members of Congress.
Later, several Democrats boycotted Al Maliki's address to Congress and the party chairman, Howard Dean, called him an "anti-Semite". In attempting to defend Al Maliki, a Republican senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, patronisingly suggested that the prime minister currently has a lot on his mind and probably did not really know what he was saying.
The important thing to understand is that, from an American perspective, none of this was really about Iraq, Al Maliki, or the Middle East. It also had nothing to do with stopping a war or running the country. It was about point-scoring with the voters and against one another in an election year. It was about members trying to shore up their own constituencies.
Congress may, indeed, be a "Boobocracy". But its driving mantra comes from the late House Speaker Tip O'Neil, not Mencken. It was O'Neill who famously said, "all politics is local".
And that, when you come down to it, is the problem.
"Think Globally, Act Locally" is a great slogan when you print it on a bumper sticker. But it isn't a great way to run a country especially a superpower.
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
