"A new species of politician"
Quaint political predictions from 1970
"A new species of politician"
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
A vacation rumination...
On my final day in the mountains - the usual writing regimen resumes next Tuesday - I am reading the Jan. 13, 1970 edition of Look magazine, which I found at an antique show. For those of you too young to know, Look was a powerhouse in pre-wired America. It had seven million readers, and competed fiercely with its chief rival, Life magazine. The way it worked was, you flipped the pages with your forefinger, discovered lavish photo spreads and long, long articles on a range of general-interest subjects, and you didn't have to wait for a download.
Nevertheless, viewed through a contemporary prism, the issue in my hands seems as antique as the furniture in the musty shed. And I'm not referring to the retroactively hilarious ads for airlines ("the Economy seats are almost as roomy as ordinary First-Class seats...and more stewardesses than you've ever seen"), booze ("Grab for all the gusto you can"), cancer sticks ("Longer - Yet Milder"), and General Motors cars that look to be as spacious as yachts.
I'm actually referring to the magazine's sunny predictions of what life will be like in America during the 1970s and beyond. In retrospect, the wild optimism is almost touching. Particularly on the subject of politics.
The magazine predicts that "a new species of politician will soon arise." This species will put a greater premium on "honesty, intelligence, independence, courage, self-sacrifice and vision." This new species will replace the late-60s species that practices "the old politics of insult, gut-fighting and invective. Such tactics are euphemistically called 'going on the attack,' meaning the advance of the warrior-orator who disembowels his adversary and hoists the shredded corpse on a victory pike."
Yep, that old species will surely be doomed during the 1970s; after all, the magazine said, "the governed have become increasingly alienated, confused, and frustrated," and will no longer tolerate the gut fighters who "don't really care about us," and whose bad behavior "masks a poverty of understanding of us and the vast problems that confront us."
Take heart, said the magazine; some "powerful new forces" will help produce the "new political breed." Television, for instance. Television will nurture the new breed, at the expense of the old: "We do not like guests who shout, rant, and harangue us, who insult us or who strike a know-it-all stance in our living room. We expect the guest to converse with us, to seek to persuade us in conciliatory tones and to concede that he is less than fallible."
That forecast turns out to be as quaint as those old '60s sketches that show urban Americans in the year 2000 riding around on monorails. Imagine the despair of Look's forecasters had they known that television would become the home of the 30-second attack ad, in which gentle-voiced female narrators would intone lies and half-truths, with the tab paid by shadowy donors and special interest groups.
And speaking of donors, the magazine lamented about how the old species was beholden to "wealthy individuals and special interest groups, almost all with an economic ax to grind...As long as private money talks, politicians must heed the big talkers." But fear not, said Look, the sun was on the horizon: "There are indications that some kind of public financing of election campaigns is in the offing. If that occurs, the new politician, unfettered by campaign-fund ties to special economic interests, will flower."
Turns out, we got public financing of presidential campaigns in 1976, and today the whole system is basically kaput because the spending limits are too low and because the vast majority of Americans refuse to finance it by checking a box on their tax returns. The special interest money flows unabated, through the legal political action committees, and, meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is reportedly considering an autumn ruling that could make it far easier for corporations to directly spend money on political candidates.
It appears that we will have to wait a bit longer for that new species of politician.
And Look won't be around for that elusively distant day. It died in 1971.
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But, for a bit of perspective, consider this anniversary:
Seventy years ago today - on Sept. 3, 1939 - Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany, in the wake of Hitler's invasion of Poland. Hitler welcomed the opportunity, declaring in his Sept. 3 proclamation that God was on his side and that anyone who threatened his government "need expect nothing else than annihilation." Such were the remarks that led to the deaths of 50 million people.
So while we grouse about health care and whatever, it's worth remembering that things could be far worse. Enjoy the holiday weekend. Back here on Tuesday.
lib, if you let the tax cuts expire are people paying higher taxes or not? I agree about balancing the budget during a recession is a recipe for disaster as you should realize so are tax increases! I was just doing some 'light reading' on heritage.org and found some interesting tidbits, sorry if they are not to your liking, here is another to chew on:) ***While President Obama claims to have inherited the 2009 budget deficit, it is important to note that the estimated 2009 budget deficit has increased by $400 billion since his inauguration, and the whole point of the "stimulus" was to increase deficit spending to nearly $2 trillion based on the unproven notion that would it alleviate the recession. This suggests that even if the President had not inherited a big deficit, he would have created one as a matter of anti-recessionary policy.***— NEPhilly- The way things are now, so partisan, it's going to be next to impossible to fix the big problems this country faces. All this partisan bickering while the country burns turns my stomach. I don't listen to the shouters on either side. They are only interested in their ratings and hoping the 'other side' fails. I fear that the only real 'change' will come with total revolution which would mean thousands if not millions of deaths of my fellow Americans. We need to set up term limits and get rid of lobbyists. It will not happen in my lifetime. Glad I'm not a young person anymore. It's got to be depressing to be young and see how difficult it is going to be to succeed in the coming years. I can definately see why young people just tune out politics in general. They don't know who to believe. Liberals vs. Conservatives; Democrats vs. Republicans; Rich vs. poor; White vs. Non-white. All we do is fight. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to vote anymore!— James TL
- NE--If we let the tax cuts expire, then we all pay more, yes. The point is, nobody has argued for this; in particular the democratic platform and all of Obama's statements on the subject made clear the what was contemplated was the restoration of the two higher brackets--period. Nobody else's brackets would would go up. Incidentally, simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire by their terms is an impossibility, because of certain internal problems that only us tax lawyers are interested in. Also--you admit that a stimulus program was necessary this year (you'd prefer something other than the porkulus thing that was passed, but in any event this would still increase the deficit beyond what was projected back in 2008 when the economy was not so bad). Can you suggest any way to decrease the deficit for 2009 other than the Herbert Hoover solution--cut spending and raise taxes?— liberal
- Well said James, the limpsticks and Olbermanns of the world do nothing but divide people while lining their pockets with money. At the town hall meetings I would love to hear them encourage people to included asking why no one has been locked up with their involvement in giving AAA ratings on the mortgages that were sold when they knew they weren’t AAA rated. Why the politicians in Washington got a raise when we are losing jobs, having hours cut or not getting raises this year, when it was their lack of oversight that caused this problem. I don’t want to hear that the raises are automatic either. Make them non-automatic. I would also like for people to ask them why they made it so easy for companies to send our jobs overseas. Why they haven’t enforced our immigration laws in years. I would like to see people get upset about those things too, and not just healthcare, but that would bring people together and wouldn’t reflect very well on the parties that they represent. Could you imagine limpstick and Coulter saying that the Repubs sold the country out or Olbermann and Meadows saying the same thing about the Dems. They would lose their audiences and stop making their money. All their ilk does is fan the flames to help out their back accounts.— USA#1
- The difference is that Republicans lie as a standard strategy. They can't attract votes based on their true positions so they disctract, withold information and outright lie. A Senator of the US said that Obamma is the equivalent of North Korea and Iran because he asked students to write a paper on how they can support the president. The president of all of the people. It's ridiculous and pathetic but expected.— MikeP
- liberal....you are correct about promoting fear to push an agenda. Why, just look at all those Republicans saying people were dying waiting for universal health care. How many times did Obama say we were in the worst recession since the Great Depression to push his stimulus...saying we had to act immediately to ward off doom? How many times has a Democrat/Liberal stated that we needed to reform healthcare NOW...or at least before the August recess....to forestall a calamity. Those darn Republicans promoting fearmongering is just too much to take. Both sides promote fear.....at least admit that.— tom - wilmington, de
- liberal...true, in a year of recession receipts are low and spending usually increases, causing a higher deficit. However, how do you rationalize deficits of more than $1 trillion going forward....after the recession is over and taxes are increased? All of this causing more borrowing, which creates our incresed debt, is unsustainable, wouldn't you agree? You can say for now the Republicans have a worst track record where the deficit and debt are concerned (although I would challenge that assertion, since they did write the budget surplus in the 1990's and since 2007 Democrats crafted the budgets), but you clearly will not be able to say that after 2012 if Democrats stay in control.— tom - wilmington, de
- Actually Liberal...both Summers and Geithner stated taxes would need to be increased across the board to afford all of their programs, which was quickly retracted the next day by the White House. So, on another topic...what do you think of Van Jones and his "truther" position?— tom - wilmington, de
- Van Jones, Green Jobs Czar...calling Republicans a-holes, saying only white kids shoot up schools ("We've never seen a Colombine done by a black child"), and signing a 9/11 "truther" petition. Valerie Jarrett said they have had their eye on Van Jones since April..so they had to know about his views. And none of this has been on those conservative media sites...like NBC, ABC, CBS, The NYT or the Wash Post...how about that? Meanwhile, Charlie Rangel continues to hold his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, writing tax law, while failing to report/disclose income, assets, etc etc etc. Yet both keep their jobs.— tom - wilmington, de
- Unemployment at 9.7%...but Biden claims the stimulus has created or saved between 500,000 and 750,000 jobs. Boy, just think how bad it would have been without that stimulus bill, huh? And a Zogby poll between August 28-31 has the Obama approval at 42%. I bet they were glad to see September roll around, huh?— tom - wilmington, de
- tom--of course democrats use fear as a political tactic on occasion, but my point was that many of the specific tactics currently used by the right are from the actual fascist playbook of the 1930s: breaking up meetings to create a sense of chaos and the desire for a strong leader; disparaging liberal democratic government as ineffective--"government is the problem;" and promoting the idea that all political leaders,especially Obama, are corrupt in the "Chicago style. For a good summary, read Cd's posts on a regular basis. Somebody out there in rightland seems to be reading Mussolini and Goebbels and feeding lines to their stormtroops.— liberal
- tom--can you show me where Obama advocates trillion dollar deficits after the economy recovers? Merely asserting that the democrats are going to do that is not evidence. Nor is there any merit to costing out alleged democratic programs, that may or may not be passed, using the most partisan exaggerations and omissions imaginable. This is a serious issue involving the future viability of the country. I'm fed up with the nonsense.— liberal
- High five! Why? There are trees on the While House grounds!— Talvenada
- ALL the hate is coming from the right period— wayne michael
- If you're a parent who's making your kid stay home from school on the first day because he's going to be brainwashed by a short speech by the President, you certainly don't have any faith that your child is learning how to think critically. Heck, I went to Catholic school & went to a Franciscan run High School, & the main thing I learned was to always ask questions --- even of my religion. The funny thing is, anybody want to guess how many of those kids kept home are going to look on the Internet as to what he's saying anyway then just goof off the rest of the day? Kids want to learn some independence, so the best way to pique their interest in something is to tell them not to do it. Kids are right, a lot of parents are clueless.— yobill626
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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