Over at HuffPo, there’s a great little video edited by Ben Craw of various pundits calling for Obama to show more emotion, wear more “rugged” clothing, and to be more “empathetic” in the face of the Gulf Oil Spill tragedy. It is, at various moments, hilarious, embarrassing, sad, and infuriating.
From the hysterics of Donny Deutsch:
At least I want the guy feeling. I want to feel his pain with my pain.
To the idiocy of Gretchen Carlson:
Look, he should’ve had on something that looked as if he was a little bit more at the scene.
[Think of] George W. Bush down at 9-11, in the pit. Those are poignant moments that are forever emblazoned in people’s heads, and that puts emotion in their hearts as well.
They (the morons with opining jobs) are calling for more emotion, just like George Bush! One suspects they long (especially Carlson) for the days of Bush’s stuffed codpiece n’ fighter pilot “outfit,” landing, hugging, posturing, and seeming to be doing something. No pragmatic assessment, no reasoned response and sure, steady contemplation, just spazzing out with reality show, reptilian brain fear and frenzy.
(I also find Carlson’s use of the word “emblazoned” extremely telling- “to conspicuously inscribe or display,” “to adorn a surface richly with prominent markings.” She wants to “conspicuously display,” “adorn the surface” with emotion and peacocking, which is what George W. was so masterful and sadly adept at- the ability to gild the surface, to act the part, to “wear the fighter pilot outfit,” as it were. As long as one looks the part, and says the correct platitudes, the children will feel as if daddy’s got it under control. Rather than the President actually having it under control.)
The encouraging part is that Mr. Craw has included various citizens calling in to let the pundits know what a non-story this is- the callers are rejecting the talking points/storyline outright. No one with any intelligence wants the President jumping up and down like a fusspot, saying “Bring it on!” and getting all emotional. They want the pragmatic, measured adult that they elected to handle the crisis, instead of (for example) invading another country that didn’t attack us because he feels like it.
When did thinking become a bad thing?
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I will never forget Johnny Depp retelling a conversation (I think it was in Rolling Stone) between he and Bill Murray about what it was like to play Hunter Thompson. They both exchanged accounts of how, even months and years later, they would have little moments where some dormant shred of Thompson’s psyche would wriggle inside them. “It’s just Hunter,” Murray said. (I paraphrase)
Kenwoode 