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THE OBSERVATORY The Silly Season July 18, 2000 |
| Who wants to think during summertime? No one -- which makes George W. Bush the perfect summer candidate ... |
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Summertime, and the living is easy. It
is the season of chili dogs, of romances that never last beyond September, and of big dumb
movies full of explosions. So it should not really be a surprise to anyone that it has
also been the season of George W. Bush. Bush is the perfect summer romance, the perfect summer movie, the perfect summer frontrunner. In the summertime, the last thing anyone wants to do is think about politics -- even political junkies like me have trouble keeping their minds on politics. Certainly George Bush has trouble keeping his mind on politics (or any other serious subject), so he fits right into the season, and invites the public to non-think along with him. Which, it being summer, the public is understandably happy to do. To be sure, the Bush campaign grinds out the usual position papers, which no one will read any more than Bush himself does. Instead his campaign thrives as a novelty act -- look, ma, a Republican who does not physically sqirm in the presence of brown or black kids! If George Bush is the perfect summer candidate, Al Gore is probably the worst possible summer candidate. Earnest intelligence is not the most welcome quality at a picnic. If we held our elections on the Fourth of July, Bush would have won handily. But we hold them in the chill of November, when summer's follies are long forgotten. Bush was riding high last summer as well -- much higher than now, in fact -- when the media were in awe at his ability to rake in the money and John McCain was just a quirky senator on a bus. When fall came, Bush suddenly didn't look so invincible. I predict that he will no longer look invincible this year either, come Labor Day. As the beach chairs vanish, so will Bush's lead in the polls. (Which isn't all that big now, for that matter.) The back-slapping will get tiresome; that smirk will get more and more annoying. People will -- if reluctantly -- start to think about issues, and Bush has none. Part of summer, as I mentioned earlier, is big dumb movies full of explosions. A few days ago I went to watch one -- not in the theater but on the beach, where I set up with my binoculars in the blue afternoon sun to watch them launch a Star Wars test missile. It may be stupid, but after all it's summer (and I like watching rocket launches any time of year). Actually this particular summer movie was a box office dud. It didn't start till two hours late, after I'd already gone home, and alas there were no explosions -- the Star Wars whizbang whizzed but failed to bang. The same, I suspect, as will happen to George W. Bush. -- Rick Robinson
Update: Since originally writing this, last week, several polls have shown Gore markedly closing the gap with Bush. Summer, it appears, may be ending early this year ... |
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