That condescension is unseemly in a President isn’t exactly a forehead-slapper. President Bush has been mocked and criticized as inarticulate since he was Governor of Texas. He even uses the occasional self-deprecating remark. I used to think it was funny.
It’s not funny anymore.
I spent most of my life in Chicago. During those years I always voted for Richard M. Daley for mayor. Central casting couldn’t have given us a better character. Yeah, he was a little rough around the edges. And there’s a lot a shady people around him. But he was (and still is) “Da Mare.” He speaks in SheeKahGo-ese… and at times he came close to the old SNL “Da Bearss” portrayal.
I LOVE that, even though I’m a Chicago native and I don’t talk that way. But he does and it’s part of his persona. But what I really get a kick out of with Daley is his ability to deliver the condescending sound bite. And the best part was what is never actually said, but so very clearly implied. You just know that the missing three words at the end of the comment, preceded by an invisible comma, are “ya fuckin’ idiot.”
One time, the year after the terribly tragic summer heat wave when hundreds of people died in Chicago, the city braced for the first really cold blast of winter. He and other officials were holding a press conference to talk about opening up warming centers and other services to help people cope. Some TV news genius asked him if he had any advice for parents given the dangerous wind chills that were predicted. I’m paraphrasing, but the response was something like “Don’t let you kids run around outside in their swimsuits (ya fuckin’ idiot.)” Classic Daley.
Today, listening to Dear Leader’s speech about the war and Congress’s affront to his unitary executive posture, I lost count of the implied (ya fuckin’ idiot) snarks. There were also several (you people are clueless), (Democrats should shut their pie hole), (I don’t give a rat’s ass what the non-believers think), and (kiss my omnipotent ass) thought-bubble one-liners.
It is so clear to me at this point that he is only talking to the knuckle-dragging hardcore base of his. They were drawn to him for his godliness, his macho guy-you’d-have-a-beer-with-ness, and his bring it on-edness. And then it hit me. He has to talk to these people as if they were dolts. He needs to put things in snack-sized slogans. That’s all these people can process.
Perhaps the condescension isn’t a trait. Perhaps it’s a strategy. I wouldn’t be surprised. But, dolt-in-chief, the vast majority know exactly what you're saying.
cross-posted at Kerfuffle