Posted by
Andrews on Saturday, March 21, 2009 1:30:48 PM
There is a troubling tendency among both political parties, one that arose with the "angry left" and has begun to appear on the opposite side with the birth of the "angry right". That is the tendency to pile on whenever the president makes a slip or gaffe. Whether it be the "Bushisms" fascination during the previous administration or the piling on to Obama about his "Special Olympics" comment. It seems, rather than fight out the issues, both sides would rather find "gotcha" moments and attack each other over trivialities. It is a self-defeating trend, as, rather than allowing us to resolve big political questions, it results in parties which are not ideological, but personal, until we fight more over the personalities of our leaders and less over the issues they represent.
Clearly, there are times when these gaffes or personal mistakes are relevant. Clinton's philandering, for example, was relevant, as it showed the lack of trustworthiness and his willingness to put his own wants above everything else. And perhaps the "Bushisms" would have been relevant had the left supported them with other evidence of stupidity and incompetence. However, as the left used them as prima facie evidence of incompetence, they were not a valid argument.
And the same with Obama's "Special Olympics" statement. Yes, it is tasteless, yes it shows a momentary lapse of judgment, and if it were used to support arguments that Obama lacks foresight, it might be valid. However, that is not how it is being used. Instead the right, which has argued against speech codes, political correctness, and excessive sensitivity, is turning itself into the very thing it has denounced and starting a witch hunt over language. That is not only wrong, but it also gives future support to those who push speech codes from the other side.
There are certainly enough issues for us to dispute, enough arguments to make. Obama is planning a massive restructuring of the economy, is pushing tremendous expansions of the money supply, and is essentially sounding the death knell of the advances we have made toward a free market since Reagan was elected. Why not fight over those instead of trying to score points by harping on a momentary lack of thought?
POSTSCRIPT
And for those who will point out my own mention of trivial gaffes, I will reply that, yes, I will continue
to laugh at his slips. However, I do not base my opposition on his foolish statements such as buck passing "don't pass the buck" speech. I laugh at them and then return tot he issues. I don't expect that we will ignore his every mistake, that would be unreasonable. What I ask is that we not dwell on them, that we not base our criticisms on the mistakes of politicians, and instead dwell on the issues that matter.