Demosophia

A Test for the President, or the Media?

Tonight the nation waited for the media to see itself in the mirror. As the President delivered a sombre and clear message about the doctrinal shift that has taken place in the nation and the world since 9/11 the citizens of the nation waited to see whether or not that fact had sunk in with talking heads and pundits who normally manage to turn a decent cut of meat into a rotten urine soaked piece of garbage by the time most Americans have switched off their TVs in disgust. Do they even comprehend the massive error they've made about the state of civilization, or the depth and nature of the threat to it? Are they willing to accept the fact that they made mistakes about our reasons for going to war, or will they continue to insist (against the record) that it was always and only about WMD? Will they demand cosmetic apologies and acknowledgments of a President preoccupied with doing his job? Will they, for once, be relevant? Or will some foolish reporter, rather than listening to what was said, ask if the President has made "mistakes in communication?"

Alas, no sooner had the scene shifted from the White House to the news studio than the so-called "experts" began the littany of complaint and mesmeric imprecision that passes, in that dull world, for comprehension. "Change the world?" Why, we can't even keep the French on our side! "A free and democratic Iraq?" We don't even know to whom we'll turn over sovereignty! Where, Mr. President, are all the grubs and critters under every rock?

Why can't you acknowledge that you failed the test of omniscience? Why can you not abet our need to maintain the nation in its cocoon-like quiescence indefinitely? We know there must be a fox upon whom we can set the hounds. It is our due! You owe us the story we expect. We want the appearance of action, not the action itself! Why do you not, like us, second-guess yourself into paralysis and the stultified indifference that passes for objectivity?

Yada yada yada. Yes, the totalitarians know our vulnerabilities all too well...

Posted by Demosophist at April 14, 2004 12:40 AM | TrackBack