Trivial pursuit of the prize...or nothing concentrates the mind like the prospect of hanging

Paul Krugman's column this morning is right on target with where a lot of Americans are feeling and thinking today. This actually might be a bad thing for the blogosphere -- but a good thing for the country and maybe the world. Probably not, because of the AXE oft-complained view of the attention span of the American people. But, maybe not.

In a way, you can’t blame Mr. McCain for campaigning on trivia — after all, it’s worked in the past. Most notably, President Bush got within hanging-chads-and-butterfly-ballot range of the White House only because much of the news media, rather than focusing on the candidates’ policy proposals, focused on their personas: Mr. Bush was an amiable guy you’d like to have a beer with, Al Gore was a stiff know-it-all, and never mind all that hard stuff about taxes and Social Security. And let’s face it: six weeks ago Mr. McCain’s focus on trivia seemed to be paying off handsomely.

But that was before the prospect of a second Great Depression concentrated the public’s mind.

I was talking to my sister in Michigan yesterday. Blue collar, hard-working family hanging on by their finger-tips. She said something that amazed me -- " Bobby and I have always voted Republcian. We're ashamed..." She said that her sister-in-law isn't talking to her husband, because when she asked what Bob thought about Sarah Palin, he said "She's a Bimbo. McCain's a moron..." Peg's a working mom, through kids through college and getting up at 4AM to go work in a donut shop in southeastern Michigan while Bob is an autoworker, who gets up at 3:30 to leave by 4AM to be in Romulus for the start of the only remaining shift at the factory.  They're the epitome of Reagan Democrats...and, they've had it.  She said something interesting, and telling -- "We don't mind paying taxes for things we believe in -- but, Iraq?"

While we all should have diminished expectations going forward for a while, I find this optimistic. That's about as mainstream American as it gets. When I told her the tale of Joe the Plumber not being licensed and not being able to think about any business making $250K on his income, she just laughed, and to channel Bugs and put words in Peg's mouth, "What a maroon!" Common sense may actually triumph over conventional wisdom. I'm not taking bets, of course, but sheesh, that would be nice. To give Krugman the last word:

Will the nation’s new demand for seriousness last? Maybe not — remember how 9/11 was supposed to end the focus on trivialities? For now, however, voters seem to be focused on real issues. And that’s bad for Mr. McCain and conservatives in general: right now, to paraphrase Rob Corddry, reality has a clear liberal bias.

So, we'll see.

Comments

[paul of the clue-by-four]

Yeah, and Harry Hopkins once said something like: the only thing we have to fear is getting scared.

Seriously: Corddry?

[christian louboutin]

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