The Politics Of Emasculation

Ruth Marcus has a rather muddled piece in today's Washington Post about a new book by Harvey C. Mansfield, in which he discusses manliness in politics. Marcus' piece is correct in some of its assumptions, but it isn't very clear what these assumptions mean in today’s modern political landscape. She argues that the Bush administration has overdosed on manliness, and I agree, but why?

What it basically boils down to is the politics of emasculation, and Marcus give a good example of it, possibly pushes the notion further in this article while decrying it. From the Post:

The undisputed manliness of the Bush White House stands in contrast to its predecessors and wannabes. If Republicans are the Daddy Party and Democrats the Mommy Party, the Clinton White House often operated like Mansfield's vision of an estrogen-fueled kaffeeklatsch: indecisive and undisciplined. (Okay, there were some unfortunate, testosterone-filled moments, too.) Bill Clinton's would-be successor, Al Gore, was mocked for enlisting Naomi Wolf to help him emerge as an alpha male; after that, French-speaking John Kerry had to give up windsurfing and don hunting gear to prove he was a real man. And Bush's father, of course, had to battle the Wimp Factor. Mansfield recalls Thatcher's manly admonition to 41 on the eve of the Persian Gulf War: "Don't go wobbly on me, George."

It's one of the things that sunk Kerry. Once he allowed himself to become defined as effete, no number of hunting trips was ever going to get him back over that hump. The republicans have kept using that meme for a while, but especially well through the last few cycles to define themselves as the tough party, thus emasculating the Democrats.

That's fine when it comes to campaigning, but when it comes to governing, it can be a disaster. The politics of emasculation has become just that for the country under this administration, because they don't do policy, they only do politics. When politics trumps policy, you end up with endless tax cuts, open ended war, and piled up debt. Sound familiar?

The reason that they are doing this is that they believe that if they can keep up this charade long enough, they can form a super majority in the House and Senate which will give them never ending power. Unfortunately, they have to destroy the country to fulfill their quest to promote their distorted vision for America, and even if the average citizen can’t see the incompetence that this sort of endeavor brings with it, they can feel it. That incompetence will sink this ship before it ever reaches its destination.

Emasculatory politics is also one of the reasons that the gay marriage banning amendments work so well as a wedge issue. It’s a double edge sword. Not only does it help bring out right wing Christians to the polls, it also drives average voters who are uncomfortable with homosexuals to vote for republicans, whose inherent bigotry allows them to strongly voice their support for such issues.

This will probably run its course in the near future, as the policies it creates implode under the ineptness of themselves, hopefully this year.