CommonPrejudice

George Will Channels His Inner Les Nessman

I'm sure someone else has made the connection but George Will's column today (via Political Animal) is too funny. It's the old dungarees versus the suits with Daniel Akst and Will reprising the roles of Herb Tarlek and Les Nessman.

Akst and Will:

...Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche....

... "Ours would be much more so if supposed grown-ups would heed St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and St. Barack's inaugural sermon to the Americans, by putting away childish things, starting with denim."

Herb and Les

Herb: The whole world is in revolution. And not just here. But not just here. Everywhere. Any you know is at war? It's the dungarees versus the suits, Les. The whole world is in two armed camps. Over here we have the dungarees and over here  the suits. Remember the riots in the 60's? The dungarees versus the suits. And Watergate. Those guys arrested were wearing dungarees and who suffered for it?
Les: The suits!
Herb: Exactly.
Les: There were issues Herb.
Herb: The issues.. The issues, Les, were a smokescreen.When a son disobeys his father, what's he wearing?
Les: The son? ... Dungarees!
Herb: And what's the father got on?
Les: Probably a suit.
Herb: Do you see what I mean Les?
Les: Yeah!
Herb: And what's worse?
Les: What?
Herb: The fathers are beginning to wear dungarees too!
Les: That's right.
Herb: And so are the mothers.
Les: It's just like the Bodysnatchers.

Obama: Another Bush?

It's apparent now that the new American administration will be continuing - if not expanding - many of the Bush administration's worst policies regarding the claims of the president to withhold information that they alone deem to be a state secret as well as the denial of habeas corpus to prisoners picked up in the formerly known War on Terror. Greenwald today has a thorough rundown.

People must understand that this is not saying Obama is Bush. False equivalency is an extremely common problem in today's political environment (While many may not agree with Micheal Moore, to equate him with the racist, lying cretin Limbaugh or the seriously insane Beck is beyond nonsensical). Nevertheless being unbiased means holding everyone to the same standard and it is clear Obama in this respect is failing to meet even the most basic demands of those who were vehemently opposed to the Bush policies of illegal rendition and the denial of habeas corpus. I wrote the following a couple of years ago. To me it's a fundamental problem of American politics and liberalism. It is simply not sufficiently understood the degree to which the Democratic Party is a party of the status quo and establishment.

 As mendacious, incompetent, and immoral as the Bush administration is, the absolute most dangerous thing for progressives and those who value human rights, democracy and peace can do is treat them and their policies as anomalies. They are part of a systemic problem.

Too many people in American politics and media don't view it this way.