Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:32:05 PM
My first article entitled "
Why We Need Adults" spoke about immature attitudes among some voters, this one will deal with something more important, immaturity among politicians.
The problem is that politicians are not only people just like the rest of us, but that they are also a
special sort of person. Think about what it takes to get into office. You need to not only live your life without scandal, you need to select friends and relatives to avoid scandal as well. You may be forgiven one Billy Carter or Roger Clinton, but not more than one. So you need to make sure not only that you keep your nose clean, but so does everyone around you. Then, you need to enter a profession which pays enough to help fund your campaign, while also spending enough time at party events to get a good reputation with the party. After that, when you finally run for office, you have to surrender the career to which you dedicated yourself, and turn entirely to politics.
It takes a very specific kind of person to do this. And that type of person has a definite sort of personality. Not only are they the sort who craves attention (as well as power), but it is far form likely they will be the kind of person who has a detached and reserved attitude toward fame and public adulation.
Which is a round about way of saying that politicians, far from being more adult about celebrity, are even more likely than the general public to idolize celebrities.
It struck me when I was writing about McCain's
obsession with being praised by the media, the entire political class seems absolutely besotted with the cult of celebrity. Of course, some embrace celebrities because it will get them press (and votes), but even accounting for selfish motives, it seems that the political class is even more infatuated with famous people than America as a whole.
Think about it. Even if you absolutely adore U2, would you take financial advice from Bono? Of course not, but the congress would. And, no matter how sorry you felt for his condition, would you have entrusted your medical care to Christopher Reeves? No, but congress trusted him to give advice on how our health care system should function.
Our leaders seem to have come to believe that celebrity equates to truth. Of course, since their entire career is based upon the idea that getting more votes than one's opponent makes one an expert on everything, that may not be surprising.
Still, we need to start replacing these media-hungry, celebrity hugging officials with a handful of adults. Even one would be a start. All I want is one politician who would look at Bono and say "Yes, it is very nice that you can sing, now why should I listen to your theories on the IMF?"
But, as with most things our nation needs, I am not holding my breath.