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Political Hay
Square Deal for America
How many rock star presidents can we survive?
My father was a unique character. I never met a man who was more set in his ways or more unwilling to change them, especially when it came to his looks. His one ill-advised attempt at updating his wardrobe — my mother’s really — was the purchase of an awful Nehru jacket sometime in the late 1960s. It just didn’t fit him; not in a sartorial manner, but because pandering to something so trivial as current fashion would have undermined his air of authority and diminished our trust in his rock-solid dependability.
I’ve always felt that there is something comforting in a man who disdains passing fads while I’ve never wholly trusted one who is a slave to fashion. This must have run in my family, because my youngest sister once said that Ronald Reagan — who, though a well-tailored movie star, never altered his appearance with the changing styles — always made her feel “safe.” Likewise, I instinctively mistrust anyone who has been tagged with the puerile sobriquet of “rock star”; a paean to cool and hipness that is truly a symbol of all that is wrong in America.
I suppose there is something to be said for hipness when you’re a teenager and peer pressure demands the need for such foolishness, but when your bank account is overdrawn or the IRS comes a’knockin’ at your door, who do you want to handle it? Do you want a bling-bedecked hipster or do you want a nerd with a pocket protector full of pens and pencils? Or when the bogeyman sneaks up on you in the middle of the night, is it a rock star you’d want to protect you?
George W. Bush, with his dreary vacations in Crawford, Texas and his penchant for being in bed by 10:00 PM, was the epitome of what was once known as “square,” but even the most ardent lefties were glad he was in charge during 9/11. It may have been the cool rock star who gave the order to kill Osama bin Laden in flashy, video-game style, but it was the slow, plodding and sometimes painful ways of the dull Bush that laid the groundwork.
Since the culture-busting days of the '60s, our nation has been schizophrenic in its choice between style and substance, starting with the first paparazzi president, John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie; the first First Lady to assume the role of stylish trendsetter. Although JFK was far more credentialed than the current cool cat in the White House, many felt that his election was the product of marketing his attractive family background and his ruddy, New England good looks.
After JFK came the dreary career politician, Lyndon Johnson, followed by Richard Nixon, a man so square that when he appeared on Laugh-In during the 1968 presidential campaign, I’m pretty sure he didn’t even know what “Sock it to me” meant. Next came the enigmatic Jimmy Carter, with a personal style that was chock-full of corn yet whose policies were the stuff that liberal dreams are made of.
The two terms of Reagan brought to fruition a synthesis of elegance and gravitas which had probably not been seen since George Washington, and might never again grace the highest office of our land. He naturally attracted the “beautiful people” of Hollywood, yet they remained only on the fringes of his social life and had no bearing on his presidency, unlike the next rock star, Bill Clinton, the first “black president.”
Clinton, who followed on the heels of George H.W. Bush — so unhip that his nickname was “Poppy” —was the first president to use the cool and the hip to advance his career; famously using Hollywood producers to make videos for his campaigns. While Reagan actually was a movie star, Clinton merely played one in the White House.
Then came George W. Bush who, as I said, would never be mistaken for being hip, cool or in any way a rock star. Together with his wife, a down-to-earth schoolteacher who nonetheless carried herself with exceptional grace, he was about as exciting as white bread but was fundamental to the nation’s need for emotional stability and leadership at a time when this was desperately needed.
No, some men are just not destined to be “hip” nor is this spurious attribute one that voters should seek in a man who is to lead us out of our deadly moral and economic decline. We’ve danced and slow-jammed around our problems enough for the last four years. It is time for a square deal for America.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (26) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Lisa Fabrizio
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http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/02/square-deal-for-america
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Jack in Wi.| 5.2.12 @ 6:20AM
We have had 4 stinkers in a row. The election of Romney or the re-election of Obama is just more of the same or worse. Every election the country's leadership seems to go downhill faster. You would think in a country of 310 million people that we cauld find someone better then people like this. In fact most Presidents have not been much to write home about. It seems the country survives, despite the Presidents we elect.
Bruce| 5.2.12 @ 8:11AM
Jack;
I'm sure there are a lot better people out there than what we are being presented with. But, who wants to have their life ripped apart, their family scrutinized for passing wind at an inopportune time, or a myriad of other tactics that are found in today's political clime?
emilio lizardo, PhD| 5.2.12 @ 10:06AM
This time it is different: you are woefully mistaken that a Romney presidency and an Obama second term are indistinguishable. Obama has no idea what he is doing and surrounds himself with filth, ineptitude and acolytes of a bogus theology. Romney cannot help but be a better alternative. And you, and all of your like minded cohorts in Wisconsin need to vote for him
Al Adab| 5.2.12 @ 11:19AM
Jack:
I would ask if you would rather have had Gore in office following 9-11. Bush lost his way and failed to hold spending (by a GOP congress) in line by veto, but his overall performance was acceptable and was at least to the right of Bush 41. All that said, the moderates (includintg Romney, a liberal) will fail and disappoint us every time.
Occam's Tool| 5.2.12 @ 4:55PM
Al: In the Text "What Might Have Been," edited by the brilliant Andrew Roberts, David Frum has an article on the Gore response to 9/11. It is pricelessly funny.
Thomas Paulick| 5.2.12 @ 11:40AM
How on earth can anyone call George W. Bush a "stinker"? How on earth can anyone call his father a "stinker"? This goes beyond grotesque.
jimmy jet| 5.2.12 @ 9:10PM
"We have had 4 stinkers in a row."n a
4 Ivy League grads in
a row ,
6 if you count Hillary and Michelle.
Time for a change.
Appleby| 5.2.12 @ 7:15AM
I think most of us just want an adult to be in the White House. Somebody we don't have to apologize for, and somebody who will spend more time at his desk than prancing and dancing on late night television and thrusting his face into every televised event. Calvin Coolidge, where are you when we need you?
Magnifying Glass| 5.2.12 @ 8:59PM
Problem is, to the socially obsequious, being an adult is antithetical to being hip. Hip is part rebel, part stylisita, part wishy-washy talent, part laziness and part lacking in direction.
We have seen a trend since the 1950's of more and more men in their 60's who never grew up. Bill-Jeff is a good example. But there's a reason why younger folks stay at the bars til closing and party all night. They can..because they are young, have the stamina and little responsibility.
With responsibility comes (drum roll please) the notion that one acts responsibly. Going to bed early enough before a work-night so you don't spend the day in your cubicle just trying to stay awake. And there's parenthood where the parent must watch for danger to the child, teach, lead by example and yeah...even be boring.
Somewhere along the way, parenting got bastardized into meaning being the kid's friend. Shoot, my dad and mom were never my friends while I was growing up. Allies, supporters, teachers, mentors, leaders, coaches but never my friends.
That is something that can come later when they've done a good job of parenting and can consider you a respectable individual when you've grown up.
Growing up means accepting one's fallibility as well. Jeez, we have so many adult prima-donnas these days. Spent their whole young lives being told how wonderful they are that failure goes unacknowledged. And, it also has as a by-product, bullying. See: Obama, Barack Hussien.
I still and always will blame the 60's. The notion that everything we did up to that decade was un-hip and really square. True, I would never have been a Lawrence Welk fan but the whole flying off the rails things of the 60's was some anomaly that made my skin crawl.
Dr. X| 5.2.12 @ 7:56AM
Sorry, Lisa. This country has idiot presidents because it has idiot citizens who vote for them. This country is obsessed with the likes of the Kardashians, Michael Jackson, Gene Simmons, Ozzy, Steven Tyler, and the like. These people become millionaires because the public willingly GIVES them money and fame.
Von Mises Jr| 5.2.12 @ 8:49AM
It is enjoyable to watch "Clockwork Orange" and the Droogs for two-and-a-half hours, but it is good to go back to real life. We have been stuck in this movie for three-and-a-half years, and it is almost over!
Crassus| 5.2.12 @ 9:54AM
We're not cured yet, boy.
Godfrey | 5.2.12 @ 9:36AM
Shared on my photo blog from the heart of it all.
Porches of Dayton: Americana in the Midwest
http://americanadyt.blogspot.com/
Car Freak| 5.3.12 @ 10:58PM
Dang it, thought it said "Porsches of Daytona" and was really confused. Both for the mixing of racing venues and the photos that had nothing to do with cars.
Need better glasses, I guess.
Al Adab| 5.2.12 @ 11:14AM
Exactly the problem with the nations' obsession with celebrity. We fawn all over people who have no claim to fame but fame. Select a field and we find celebrities instead of competence everywhere we go. It has infected our political life to such an extent (John Edwards case in point) that our criteria for election have become twisted.
Petronius| 5.2.12 @ 11:36AM
See my other post on the Norquist thread.
Derek Leaberry| 5.2.12 @ 1:35PM
The sainted Laura Bush was not above telling vulgar jokes at the expense of her husband. I don't know how graceful that is.
The truth about the Bush women is they received great press due to the fact that they agreed with so much of the left-wing social agenda and therefore useful to the left. The Bush women support abortion rights, Planned Parenthood and homosexual "marriage" just like The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS, NBC, ABC and the rest of the media enemy.
Dittohead| 5.2.12 @ 2:04PM
None! We are doomed!
Vern Crisler| 5.2.12 @ 2:49PM
This sounds like another in a long list of up-and-coming apologias for an empty-suited, magic underwear wearing, Republican candidate.
aware| 5.2.12 @ 4:30PM
That's the way it smells to me, too. What else could possibly be the point?
Like I said, getting "conservative" votes for "liberals", while impossible for Democrats, is child's play in the hands of the Republican wing of the Ruling Class.
Clint| 5.2.12 @ 8:27PM
Romney Is McCain Redux.
Mickey| 5.2.12 @ 8:44PM
Clinty is a racist anti-semite redux.
albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 9:22PM
Didn'y Huey Lewis and the News cover all of this 25 years ago with "It's Hip to Be Square"?
Tassie| 5.2.12 @ 9:47PM
I never understood why Obama was seen as cool or hip or like a rock star. He was just superinflated by the media. That's all. He is cold not cool and he is not hip but rude and robotic. There is no spark in his eyes, no real compasion. He is dry like a rock. And I learned something else, if Hollywood and Ophra like someone, than that means there must be something very wrong with that someone.
Bob Grant | 5.2.12 @ 11:33PM
Romney should concede the rock star label to obama and start warning the low information voter what a second obama term will mean to them and their family.
If that doesn't wake them from their cult-worshipping stupor nothing will.
POST American| 5.3.12 @ 12:49AM
"Understand, EVERYTHING that's
put out there in culture --from Mozart
to crack whores ---to fundamentalists
and computer games --is 'authorized',
put out and promoted----from the TOP."
----YET STILL there are those who
follow the CON of --
--------------'ROCK-efeller n' Roll'
LOL ----too funny!