Head of State

Reading The Economist is always good for some thought provocation -- they're stridently pro-current administration slant ends up giving a pretty fair estimation of the way of the vast and varied US of Aigh. In reviewing Kerry's campaign, they continue to drive home the point that he has no platform, save for the obvious, "I'm not GWB." That in and of itself is pretty compelling stuff for most sane individuals. Sadly, we don't live in a sane country. Any place that considers a strip mall to be cultural has some reality issues.

For the record, I wish someone in the Democratic party HQ would pop in a copy of "Head of State." Granted, this isn't Chris Rock at his most incisively brutal and hilarious. Rock, for the most part, plays it very close to the vest and safe with his material. But his "That ain't right" mantra during a somewhat impromptu speech in the middle of the movie is something that anyone campaigning against an incumbent might do well to think about. At least emulating it for a smidgen of a germ. Because so much of this country just ain't right. And a lot of those ain'ts exist because of collapsing, foolish, backwards policies generated by an administration that still thinks it's 1980 (when most of the think-tank rejects in the administration were theoretically in their prime).

Anyway, that ain't right. I would only hope that Kerry (or Edwards or somebody) might find a mantra that catches hold as cleverly as that. American's like jingles (much more so than actually trying to comprehend difficult public policy decisions). Maybe a jingle would be the way to go.