The Coming Power Pageantry

I just mentioned that I attended a Mike Hatch speech this week. Yikes. I was not impressed. Sure, he's smart, brash, and stands up for the little guy, and I like him. He's also wonkish. Way wonkish. Al Gore wonkish. Which equates to loser in electoral politics, which I view as a Power Pageant. Sure enough, just like in the beauty pageants, brain and talent matter and are a part of the equation. But it is charm and beauty, pure and simple, that wins. Take Bush. He's stupid, arrogant, at times simply absurd. But he's got that facade of down-home charm that manages to convince millions that 'hey, what the hell, he's one of us and shucks, I can make mistakes too.' I even believe the absolutely hilarious spoofs of Bush (e.g., Will Farrell's, Andy Dick's, which is truth told, actually) backfire as insulting spoofs about people who feel the intellectual elite are, well, intellectually elite. It's like we laugh at Bush and his absurdity, but our laughter, to be honest, is generally also directed at those who, we feel, are stupid and beneath us. That has to change, because it's not working.

Pawlenty vs. Hatch? Pawlenty wins the charm portion of the competition hands down and thus the likely coming Power Pageant. Hatch has to cut down on the speed-talking wonky-tonk and just get a little bit down home, like he really does come from Duluth East and actually grew up here in Minnesota. As it stands now, he's a suit, a brash and successful one at that, but a suit nonetheless. I'm concerned.