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Are we evolving from hard to soft power? /dailykos
If he wins, risk-averse, calculating Mitt
Romney won't name a firebrand V.P. Not noxious Newt, who's way too
grandiose to play second fiddle to anyone. Thus, short of a Black Swan
event, we can expect two safe national tickets, thus reversing the
election pyrotechnics the last time around, with its high drama and
gaseous eruptions.
Too bad for media frenzy, late-night comics, or pundits amused by
theatrics -- who all relish barking-mad, headline-grabbing mavericks.
On pre-emptive invasions alone, will the two top dogs compete with the
bellicose tirades spewing from Bush, Cheney or McCain, let alone Perry
or Bachmann? Not likely, what with two, miserably failed wars slogging
to a finish, reminiscent of old soldiers who never really die, just
slowly fade away. How many war-fatigued voters will hoot and holler for
much more than a missile strike that dissuades Iran from more rogue
rhetoric?
Even the breakthrough symbolism of 2012 suffers: no whiter-than-white
Romney as first Mormon president compares with the first minority
winner, having vanquished our most famous woman politician,
then a cranky war-monger with his loudmouth sidekick. If Mitt picks a
running mate no more pugnacious than Joe Biden, the result would be four
candidates much less likely to bare their teeth like defeated GOP
zealots. In that sense, Romney's survival is good news -- if only a
break from maniacal neo-con insolence. Not believing in much of anything,
other than caution, distinguishes both Obama and Romney from fringe
misfits displaying Grandiose Rhetoric Syndrome (GRS).
Obama has already returned to his soft power campaign patter. Okay, on
Iran, he's still pandering to the right, taking "nothing off the
table." But consider Obama explaining away this contradiction -- we fire
off our nukes (or do massive civilian bombing) just to take out
half-done Iranian nukes to send a message? I suspect Obama would much
prefer history to take his oratorical defenses of government as his
legacy. His cheerleading so far outshines his legislative gains, and
his business-as-usual, save Wall Street programs will be forgotten in 10
years. Is there any doubt four more Obama years means more compromise,
co-operation and consensus -- proof positive of his "devoutly
non-ideological" purity.
Soft Talk, Big Sticks
Indeed, did not Obama's defeat of hawkish Clinton, then more hawkish
McCain, signal a turn from the hard power fiasco of Bush-Cheney?
Obama's '08 soft power charm offensive played well against eight years
poisoned by wrong-headed saber-rattling, coercion against domestic
enemies, rights violations, and nakedly imperial power plays. Neo-con
defenses of torture, plus permanent incarceration, hit squads, and
secret prisons, put Bush-Cheney in the eternal Hard Power Hall of Shame.
Perhaps a second term reveals how Obama better reconciles his soft and
hard power pledges.
Likewise, a Romney win shows enough Republicans favor his kind of
less-ideological pragmatism, not the crude pugnacity of Gingrich or
Santorum. Ron Paul, curiously enough, talks soft power abroad (well,
defensive war-making) but domestically his hard-core, absolutist
philosophy discourages soft power compromise: that "government is best
which govern least." Period, end of story.
Like our pragmatist-in-chief, Romney rarely met a high-sounding
principle he couldn't embrace. But doesn't belief in human flexibility
drive soft power -- and would not a President Romney try to match Obama
in the "compromise, co-operation and consensus" realm? In short, an
Obama-Romney battle, however nasty, presents two detached, managerial,
mediation types keen to "optimize the system," engage big business
stakeholders, and thrash out differences by slicing them in half, then
again. With moderation the new wave, the no-compromise Tea Party's wings
will be clipped. Or evoke a winger third-party that assures an Obama
win.
Romney: Dash to the Middle
Certainly, five minutes after commandeering the GOP nomination, Romney
tacks hard middle, dishing out reassuringly soft language to corral
centrist white folks offended by Obama's wobbles. And the president's
counter-strategy is no mystery: vote for me (I'm more likeable), the
economy's on the mend, and all we need is more collective action, along
with Democratic control of the House and Senate.
Thus our national election pageant returns to normalcy, that is, to its
historic obsession with personality, fundraising, management of sound
bites, adjustment to surprises, and mangling foes without getting
tainted. My rule of thumb: the less any election is about anything real
or important (read: systemic change), the more star power, wedge
issues, and propaganda dominate. Brace for an onslaught of expensive
words, along with even more expensive non-solutions (in long run
costs). Plus the tiresome GOP talking points calling out Obama for
what's he done -- ruined the country by squandering trillions with
anti-business bias -- plus what he's not done: fueled job growth, served
private enterprise, or sustained national prestige and security,
respect for religion as well as the religion of American exceptionalism.
Yawn.
Postpone the Fireworks
For a minute there, the transient Gingrich surge foreshadowed an
election battle royal with Obama (in rhetoric, anyway), fraught with
more sensational headlines than a flock of celebrity meltdowns. More's
the pity for the few of us who enjoy the absurd, imagining Newt's hard
power pile driver up against the silver-tongued, soft power president
teeming with help-your-neighbor, community togetherness. Can't always
get what you want . . .
Dispatching Gingrich means dumping the ultimate GOP mugger, congenitally
prone towards shameless lying and knowing how to get in any opponent's
face. Newt doesn't simply disagree with Romney, for example, but scorns
him as "breathtakingly dishonest." The president isn't simply
misguided, but a fraudulent, "food stamp president" whose "Kenyan
anti-colonial" socialism pinpoints his otherness. What a joke: Obama
the great enemy of empire building, the most capitalist-friendly
"socialist" in history -- and from Kenya, to boot.
But, alas, my Gingrich Gratification Grid (and subsequent Obama
landslide) dissipates if the Florida primary follows polling, re-setting
the GOP status quo. Perhaps the super-rich GOP can no longer
cherrypick their no-tax-business champions, but they can defang unruly
attack dogs, like Newt. Kudos to rightwing billionaires protecting
their own, dividing and conquering "their" Tea Party just like they
swiftboat Democrats. What a moment, to enjoy a return to relative
electoral normalcy after the rancorous Bush turmoil.
