“YOU CHEATED, YOU LIED, YOU SAID THAT YOU LOVED ME…”

9/11/09

The media have been abuzz since Wednesday night, but not in response not to President Obama’s heath care speech, which essentially boiled down to the equivalent of intellectual mashed potatoes we have come to expect from our public officials. Instead, everyone is agog at Representative Joe Wilson’s (R. S.C.) shouting “You lie!” when the President stated that his health care plan (The President has a plan?) would not cover illegal immigrants.

Representative Wilson’s outburst should not have been made, and, by shouting “You lie!,” he displayed immaturity and an inability to control his emotions. (Or maybe not; continue reading to the last paragraph.) For those reasons, Mr. Wilson’s outburst, regardless of its veracity or lack thereof, was completely inappropriate. The other reasons being advanced for its inadvisability, however, are groundless, to wit:

--The outburst will somehow hurt Mr. Wilson.

CBS radio news on the hour yesterday, during the 10:00 AM, Chicago time, broadcast, reported that Mr. Wilson “will pay in ways he didn’t expect” for his outburst. The story went on to report that contributions were flowing in to his opponent in the wake of Mr. Wilson’s fit of boorishness. This is indeed true; in response to appeals from the MoveOn.org and the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Wilson’s opponent, Rob Miller, has received pledges totaling more than $500,000 from across the country since Wednesday night.

But think for a minute. Who outside South Carolina knew who Representative Joe Wilson was until Wednesday night? Now everyone does. And, as the sayings go, there is no such thing as bad publicity, and just make sure you spell my name correctly when you write horrible things about me. Mr. Wilson is the darling du jour of the conservative punditocracy. Who thinks that the contributions to Mr. Miller from the left will not be more than matched from contributions to Mr. Wilson from the more rabid fringes of the right? More immediately important, Mr. Wilson’s support among voters in his very conservative district, where he garnered 54% of the vote against Mr. Miller in 2008 in what passes for a “close” race in that district, has skyrocketed in the wake of his childish outburst. Politically and financially, Mr. Wilson has only helped himself by calling Mr. Obama out, regardless of the veracity, or lack thereof, of his contention or the general mookishness he displayed.

--Regardless of what one thinks of the occupant of that office, one should show respect for the office of President of the United States; Representative Wilson showed no such respect.

Once upon a time, that may have been true. But once upon a time, we had an informed electorate that carefully considered politicians and their ideas and voted based on careful assessment of the issues or a thorough analysis of their (the voters’) self interest. (The latter is completely legitimate, by the way; it’s how Chicago, and other big cities, selected its political leadership for years; see my upcoming book The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics.) People, though perhaps not having spent as many years in school (learning God knows what) as today’s electorate, actually read newspapers and were aware of what was going on around them. Campaigns were relatively short; thus, candidates were forced to run on their records of public or private service, not the latest entrail readings of political “consultants.” Over the last, oh, twenty or thirty years, the president of the United States has been the guy whose spinmeisters have been able to bamboozle a larger chunk of an apathetic, ill-informed, fatuous electorate than have the other guy’s spinmeisters.

Am I being too harsh in my assessment of our current electorate? Consider the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Can you imagine such fora taking place today? One can hear the cries from the besotted listeners: “Boring! Boring! Tell me about the candidates’ preferences in underwear!”

As H.L. Mencken said long ago, back before the level of sophistication of the typical American voter really fell off a cliff, “The American people get the government they deserve…and they get it good.” The presidency is a reflection of the electorate. In today’s America, where the situation comedy and the reality show have driven the conventional newspaper to the point of extinction, how is that presidency worthy of any respect whatsoever?

--Representative Wilson’s loutishness was beneath the dignity of the Congress of the United States.

Beneath the dignity of the Congress of the United States? Is there an extant institution that has less dignity than the Congress of the United States? When the words “Congress of the United States” are uttered, “dignity” is perhaps the furthest thing from any sentient listener’s mind, for the reason outlined in my discussion of the presidency above.

Perhaps the greatest man to grace the United States Senate was S.I. Hayakawa (R., CA), who, smart enough not to make a career of the sandbox game that is Washington, D.C., served from 1977 to 1983. He summed up his clear-eyed understanding of the Congress of the United States when he thanked a hapless witness before some ill-conceived, showboating committee of the Senate by stating “I thank you for appearing before this pack of hyenas.”


One more thought. Perhaps, on reflection, Mr. Wilson’s outburst, while unusual in latter day America, is, even if a touch boorish, not such a bad thing. Anyone who watches sessions of the British House of Commons understands that similar outbursts are part of the normal operations of that august body. Perhaps such spirited argument, and sometimes, ad hominem attacks, might not only liven things up a bit but allow us to get to the meat of the issues more expeditiously and effectively.