The Politics of Pablum

by Reg Green

We’re told the upcoming midterm elections are the most consequential of the decade — or our lifetimes (depending on how desperate the speaker is to be on the winning side) but you’d scarcely know it from the slogans being flung around that are of such generalized pablum that both parties could switch sides without anyone noticing. The only thing that can be said for them is that they are fully in line with the traditional inanities of their kind, like John Kerry’s “Bring it on” or the one plucked from the air by candidate Obama’s team, “Yes, we can,” which Christopher Hitchens said sounded like parents trying to potty-train a slow-learning child.

image_pdfimage_print

4 Responses

  1. Picture:

    The Four Horsemen of the Kakistocracy – it would be Five but Biden was off in the corner eating his pudding and drooling.

  2. They’re about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. (Although I quite liked Carter and Bush as sentient human beings)

  3. “Yes I Can” was the ghosted autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr, a best-seller in the 1960s but out of print by the time of Obama’s candidature.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

New English Review Press is a priceless cultural institution.
                              — Bruce Bawer

Order here or wherever books are sold.

The perfect gift for the history lover in your life. Order on Amazon US, Amazon UK or wherever books are sold.

Order on Amazon, Amazon UK, or wherever books are sold.

Order on Amazon, Amazon UK or wherever books are sold.

Order on Amazon or Amazon UK or wherever books are sold


Order at Amazon, Amazon UK, or wherever books are sold. 

Order at Amazon US, Amazon UK or wherever books are sold.

Available at Amazon US, Amazon UK or wherever books are sold.

Send this to a friend