I think all the suitable puns on the name "Kerry" have already been used as titles at one time or another
You know, I enjoy over-reacting to politicians' rhetorical infelicities as much as the next guy, but this pundit-manufactured brouhaha over John Kerry's mention of "regime change" is a bit much even for me.
What Kerry said was "what we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States." As this metaphorical use of "regime change," when taken literally, comes pretty close to likening Saddam Hussein's terror-police state to the Bush administration, it's a rather absurd, perhaps offensive, and almost certainly unwise piece of political attack rhetoric. Unwise, because Kerry was only asking for a similarly hyperbolic counter-attack. Christ on his throne! When you take Kerry's choice of words seriously and literally, he's not only saying that the President is just as bad as Saddam Hussein, but calling for the violent overthrow of the US government, tearing up the Constitution and destroying the world as we know it! Oh, the outrage!
Of course, no one is even claiming, except as a joke, that Kerry meant it this way. He meant, in a bumbling, roundabout sort of way, "vote for me because I think I'd be a better president than the current one." Everybody, even Andrew Sullivan, knows it.
"Regime Change Begins at Home" is a popular saying among those who don't like Bush. Every third car on the street in my neighborhood has it stuck to its bumper. (And I'm pretty sure that it would be a popular freeper bumper-sticker had Gore become President: and perhaps this is unkind, but I'm having a hard time imagining the Sullivanian outrage under those circumstances.) Rightly or wrongly, wisely or unwisely, Kerry was appealing to this sentiment. Do all of these drivers dream of the violent overthrow of the US government and its replacement with the dictatorship of Comrade Kerry? Sure they do, just like they're really worried that the US government has been drawing up plans to send an expeditionary force into their uteri. What do you mean "hands off El Salvador?" I've got my hands right here...
"Regime change" began life as a propagandistic euphemism. As with "ethnic cleansing," its consistent use and unequivocal effective meaning have brought it full-circle, rendered it wholly transparent. Still, it remains a figurative sort of construction. Whether they are used to describe policies that are just or not, such euphemisms invite subversion and ridicule from those who wish to attack those who use them. ("Choose Life" is an example of the same sort of thing; so is putting a little trademark symbol next to Bush's "religion of peace" phrase.) Bush didn't invent "regime change," but he has, for obvious reasons become associated with it as no other. Using it in sarcastic slogans and applying the "regime change" metaphor to the upcoming election seems a fairly obvious and innocuous move. Silly, but then, so many such things are. It's understandable that the Kerry campaign should want to appeal to those who are capable of being inspired or impressed by such an inverted propagandistic metaphorical use of this term. This sort of thing happens all the time. Of course, appealing to the slogan in such a direct way was a spectacularly bad idea, and Kerry should probably think long and hard about taking further advice along these lines. There's just no future in it.
And then, on the other hand, you have the counter-counter-attack from guys like Josh Marshall, who says the conservative commentariat's reaction is akin to "overwhelming displays of violence to overawe and terrorize another group into docility and obedience." The scurvy bastards! Marshall alone refuses to be silenced. Where do they find young men like this?
Running for president during a war makes ordinary attack-politics extremely tricky, but how credible or reasonable is it to blame this fact of life entirely on Republican perfidy? Not very.
Come on, guys.
(via NZ Bear.)
Posted by Dr. Frank at April 6, 2003 12:22 PM | TrackBack