Back in 2000, when I registered for my first email account, the battle for the Presidency between George W. Bush and Al Gore, reintroduced my generation to the Style vs. Substance debate first explored in national politics with a charismatic John F. Kennedy smiling for the television audience and the stiff as a board Richard M. Nixon sweating through his shirt.
The internet was relatively new at the time, and the man who took credit for inventing it was taking a beating in the press, for, among other things, boasting that he invented the internet.
Obviously, Gore did not invent computers and he did not invent modems and he did not invent data transfer systems, but when the internet was but a wee little pup, a young senator from Tennessee passed some important legislation to give the kid a chance to grow up.
Gore didn’t invent the internet, but he certainly did his best to bring it along.
If anything, the substance that Gore actually helped the internet was more important than the style by which he clumsily took credit for it.
Democrats were supposed to be very proud of the fact that they could tell his substance apart from the style.
Gore was the better candidate, even if he was a bit stiff. And Bush would prove to be a disaster, even if he was the candidate you preferred to have a beer with.
Presidential elections were something—as most Democrats would tell you—that were too important for us to pick candidates based on personality.
Substance mattered. That’s what any person of intelligence would tell you.
But I Just Don’t Like Her
There was a joke that used to go that Hilary Clinton was our nation’s first female president. That was back in the days when Mrs. Clinton wouldn’t just use her position as First Lady to just quietly raise money so kids could learn to read.
It was Mrs. Clinton at the time pushing for universal healthcare in a very hostile Congress.
And it was back before Mrs. Clinton actually declared her ambitions to be the real first female president.
Hilary has been in the public sphere for quite some time now. Enough time for her trademark pant suits to enter the national consciousness, and enough time for every man, woman, and child to form an opinion about her.
Most Americans will fall into two basic camps on this matter.
They’ll either think she does a great job and like her a lot. Or they think she does a great job…but they just don’t like her.
Most people don’t really question her competency. They just question her disposition.
The substance is just fine. She just has to work on her style.
Yes, We Can!
Enter Mr. Cool, Barack Obama. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I’m not completely sold on the pearly whites.
I like the guy, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a beer with him. He sure could tell a great story.
But is he really the right choice to lead the country?
Would I just vote for him because he’s cool, or do I believe that he’ll do the best job?
Isn’t the presidential election a contest of more meaning than a high school popularity contest?
Will Obama turn out to be more like JFK? Or will he be more like another charming Democratic president, who also happened to be one of the worst chief executives in recent history: Jimmy Carter.
Smiling and being positive and talking about being a uniter is all well and good, but when the poop hits the fan in the great stink fest of politics, is this the man we can trust to roll up his sleeves?
Hilary is being derided for being a politician, but, you know, she’s applying to be a president, which is, you know, being a politician.
When it comes down to it, I’ll vote for whoever is represented by the Democratic party. (Or for Nader like I did back in 2000 when the internet was still young.)
But ask me who I think will do a better job as president, and I really feel like Hilary is the best candidate for the job.
Even if I “feel” that I like Obama more. He sure can, after all, mug for that camera.
Whether or not Hilary ultimately makes a better candidate than Obama may never be known, in the sense that we can't have both of them be presidents, simultaneously, in parallel universes where we can compare the results.
But it's clear to me that in "guessing" which candidate would do a better job, that the Democrats have abandoned their own logic, that substance matters over style, and now favor Obama in much the same way that many borderline voters stuck with Bush, Jr., because he was the one you'd rather have a beer with.
Ultimately, I don't need to "like" my president--I just need them to get the job done. |
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