The Crossed Pond

I know the whole Lakoffian “framing” meme is passe, but I’m always interested in language shaping thought (which is where I study Lakoff, incidentally; I still haven’t read his political work). So I was delighted to read this post at the Art of the Possible about the Bush years. It’s not new exactly, just a re-hash of the Bushian “bubble” that so many of talked about over the years, wherein Bush has effectively isolated himself entirely from reality. Quoting Robert Anton Wilson:

Communication only occurs between equals–real communication, that is–because when you are dealing with people above you in a hierarchy, you learn not to tell them anything they don’t want to hear. If you tell them anything they don’t want to hear, the response is, “One more word Bumstead and I’ll fire you!” Or in the military, “One more word and you’re court-martialed.” It’s throughout the whole system.

So the higher up in the hierarchy you go, the more lies are being told to flatter those above them. So those at the top have no idea what is going on at all. Those at the bottom have to adjust to the rules made by those at the top who don’t know what’s going on. Those at the top can write rules about this, that and the other, while those at the bottom have got to adjust reality to fit the rules as much as they can.

And I further like the way cernig applies that to the Bush years. It’s an obvious case, but I like the elegance of cernig’s take on it. You should read it.

And although cernig doesn’t go there, I will (now that I’ve more or less settled on my vote). I think it’s also a pretty fair contrast in the likely governing roles of the two Vice Presidents, and the decision-making styles that they represent. McCain, let it be said, is no Bush, and is light years ahead of Bush on this score—one does not have to put McCain and Bush on equal footing to not put McCain and Obama on equal footing, and I’m going to keep smacking that down where I see it (a subject of another post perhaps; I can see it now: “Being the Best Republican in 2008 is Kind of Like Being the Best Shit-Shoveler—You’re Good, But It’s Still Shit”)—but Palin is certainly not going to not be a yes-man, whereas Obama, if anything has marked his intellectual life, is characterized by seeking out differing opinions and surrounding himself with smart people that he’s got both the wisdom to listen to and the confidence to not be led by, and the Biden pick is a pretty resounding reaffirmation of that, if you ask me.

One guy has a temper, holds a grudge, prides himself on making calls on the fly and sticking to them, and his very political existence is now married to a very particular ideology (neo-conservatism, in this case). The other guy is given to round-tables, goads advisers into challenging him, is as intellectually curious as they come, and isn’t worried about being upstaged or disagreed with. I know who I’d rather work under, were I some State Department hack bearing critical bad news that didn’t agree with the official line.