Daniel O'Rourke, CPJ member, contributes a regular column to the Dunkirk Observer. The following, "Political Slogans," was published on October 12, 2006.
I can understand the temptation of politicians to sum up policy or positions in short sound bites. It plays well on TV. I can even appreciate their desire to boil down complex issues further so they can fit on car bumpers and lapel buttons. Politicians and political parties have done that long before we had automobile bumpers.
The nineteenth century gave us, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” It was eerily prophetic. Harrison, the hero of the battle with Native-Americans at Tippecanoe, died after one month in office and Harrison’s Whig party was stuck with the independent Tyler who ignored them. “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” was about the dispute over the northern boundary of Oregon with Canada. President Polk wisely did not stay the course and never fought. He settled the boundary at forty-nine degrees latitude. He was a statesman not a cowboy.
In 1884 in one of the nastiest presidential campaigns in our history, Grover Cleveland accused his opponent, “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the Continental Liar from the State of Maine.” Blaine, alluding to Cleveland’s illegitimate child came back with, “Ma, Ma Where’s My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha.”
Woodrow Wilson ran for president in 1916 on the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War.” He didn’t. In 1928 the Republicans assailed the anti-prohibition, Roman Catholic Al Smith with the taunt “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.” Religious prejudice defeated Smith, but the rebellion against the ill-fated, faith-based anti-alcohol initiative took place seven years later under President Franklin Roosevelt.
In 1920 Warren Harding promised “A Return to Normalcy.” What we got was cronyism, corruption and Teapot Dome. Ironically, Teapot Dome was another scandal with its roots in big oil, arrogance and greed. Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall went to prison; Harding died in disgrace. Normalcy?
Hoover promised “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” His administration gave us the great depression.
In the 1964 Goldwater-Johnson election, Republicans punning on Goldwater’s unabashed conservatism proclaimed, “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right.” He wasn’t. The Democrats shot back with, “In your guts you know he’s nuts.” He wasn’t.
The slogans were haunting but unrealistic. They were catchy and memorable but simplistic and misleading. They certainly weren’t an accurate summary of the issues. Only a few like Roosevelt’s “New Deal” had any substance. What that says about us whose votes are often swayed by such sloganeering is another column.
What mystifies me in the present war is the way President George W. Bush uses political slogans. Even when the issues are horribly complex and the administration and nation have detailed evidence of its complexity; the President seems capable only of regurgitating shorthand sound bites.
In the controversy after the recent Inter Agency Intelligence report, which found post-war Iraq a breeding ground for terrorists, the President can still only repeat that we will never “cut and run.” We will “stay the course.” We will “stand down when the Iraqis stand up.” Those might be snappy sound bites, but shallow, simplistic thinking.
Slogans like that could be effective marketing, but it’s a helluva way to govern a country or run a war. It certainly doesn’t inform the public or enlighten the electorate. In a democracy shouldn’t the President be a source of a more intelligent analysis and vision? Sometimes President Bush sounds like he’s selling soap. I suspect he’s selling fear.
It’s worse than that. I suspect the President really thinks in slogans. He doesn’t seem to grasp the historical, cultural and political complexities and so his mental processes default to sloganeering. He doesn’t want the facts. Facts after all are messy and inconvenient. They don’t fit a simplistic ideology. So President Bush reverts to repetitive slogans.
We should learn from our history. The slogans of the past should not only amuse us; they should warn us. Today they should prompt us to look more deeply into the political and presidential sloganeering about this god-awful war. They should urge us to read books not bumper stickers. Books like Michael Gordon’s and Bernard Trainer’s “Cobra II,” Thomas Ricks’ “Fiasco,” and Bob’s Woodruff’s “State of Denial” are the first draft of history. They are filled with nuanced intelligence and insight. The slogans aren’t.
If we must have a slogan here’s one: “Iraq: Read Books Not Bumper Stickers.”
Daniel O’Rourke is a Member of the Federation of Christian Ministries and CORPUS. He’s a married Catholic priest, retired from the administration at State University College, Fredonia. A mediator for the Center for Resolution and Justice, he lives in Cassadaga, NY. His column appears the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Comments may be sent to orourke@netsync.net
