Bush Fatigue
The New York Review of Books is running a feature, "The Election and America's Future," which asks some of the journal's regular contributors for their views on "what has been called 'the most consequential election in decades.'" The result is a set of very much on-target critiques, neatly organized in alphabetical order by author name, on the failings of the Bushites, crisply and lucidly written by luminaries ranging from Russell Baker and Anthony Lewis to Norman Mailer to Gary Wills and Brian Urquhart. The brief essays run down the list of Bush Administration crimes and misdemeanors -- the Iraq war looms largest, of course, but there is also ample coverage of the Administration's "accomplishments" in alienating most of the world, in the erosion of civil liberties, in redistributing wealth upwards, and in rolling back environmental protections, as well as riffs on the election's high stakes in the realm of jurisprudence, and the prospect that Bush will name as many as four Supreme Court justices to the bench should he snag (or steal) another term in office.
It's all sobering, of course, and these fine writers come up with many a trenchant turn of phrase. But it's also strangely exhausting. Reading through the NYRB pieces, you get the sense that it's all really been said before, and that no one who reads these essays (especially considering the subscriber base of this particular publication) is likely to be changed by them.
No one who knows me would doubt my bona fides in terms of raw contempt for the current Administration; my family now tiptoes around political topics at the dinner table for fear of the reaction any foray into that realm will stoke from me. I am the choir to whom these essays preach. So I wonder whether my reaction to them might be an early symptom of Bush Fatigue -- a sign that I have made the transition from outrage at the Administration's actions, through a jaded lack of surprise at anything it might do or try, to, finally, simply being sick and tired of Bush generally, and to a sense of waiting to see if we will finally start shaking free of him in two weeks. Exactly two weeks from today, in fact.
Interestingly, the NYRB issue that includes "The Election and America's Future" is dated 4 November 2004. That's two days after election day. At that point, will the body politic have heaved a massive, long sigh of relief, or will the reaction instead have been a sharp gasp at the prospect of four more years of chaos and inept government? Or will we (as many have darkly suggested) face yet another long endgame of litigation that steals any legitimacy the election itself might have offered?
Recall the well-known (and likely apocryphal) ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."
. . .
Carve out your place in history! Enter the Dump Bush Pumpkin-Carving Contest.
It's all sobering, of course, and these fine writers come up with many a trenchant turn of phrase. But it's also strangely exhausting. Reading through the NYRB pieces, you get the sense that it's all really been said before, and that no one who reads these essays (especially considering the subscriber base of this particular publication) is likely to be changed by them.
No one who knows me would doubt my bona fides in terms of raw contempt for the current Administration; my family now tiptoes around political topics at the dinner table for fear of the reaction any foray into that realm will stoke from me. I am the choir to whom these essays preach. So I wonder whether my reaction to them might be an early symptom of Bush Fatigue -- a sign that I have made the transition from outrage at the Administration's actions, through a jaded lack of surprise at anything it might do or try, to, finally, simply being sick and tired of Bush generally, and to a sense of waiting to see if we will finally start shaking free of him in two weeks. Exactly two weeks from today, in fact.
Interestingly, the NYRB issue that includes "The Election and America's Future" is dated 4 November 2004. That's two days after election day. At that point, will the body politic have heaved a massive, long sigh of relief, or will the reaction instead have been a sharp gasp at the prospect of four more years of chaos and inept government? Or will we (as many have darkly suggested) face yet another long endgame of litigation that steals any legitimacy the election itself might have offered?
Recall the well-known (and likely apocryphal) ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."
. . .
Carve out your place in history! Enter the Dump Bush Pumpkin-Carving Contest.
posted by ahab at 8:20 AM
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