Peggy Lee struck a mournful chord with her hit song, “Is That All There Is?”
It was about the vapidity of life, and I found myself subconsciously singing along last week as I pondered the GOP presidential debate. Of course, these made-for-TV spectacles are more akin to mud-wrestling than actual policy debates. Still, I dared hope for some tiny element of civic seriousness. After all, the eight aspirants were auditioning to be (“Oh, say can you see…”) the next President of the United States!
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, stands out as a textbook example of the vapidity of modern American politics – a rampaging ego with no core democratic principles, no authentic persona, no speaking from the heart… and no possibility of being elected except that special interest powers have pumped him up with a couple hundred million dollars to be their boy.
Indeed, a strategy memo from DeSantis’ own funders and consultants surfaced publicly just before last week’s debate, confirming his vacuity – as a candidate and a person. The detailed memo instructed him to avoid talking about policy solutions, to “sledgehammer” an opponent, to appear both for and against Trump, and maybe show a little human emotion by talking about his kids. In short, he needs advisors to tell him how to be “himself.”
DeSantis is hardly the first who-am-I candidate for the White House. Hillary Clinton’s managers reintroduced her as the new “real” Hillary every couple of months in 2016, and Rick Perry’s handlers tried to make him look smart by wearing horn-rimmed glasses.
This lack of authenticity is now the norm, for it allows Big Money to shape candidates in its image. And that’s why today’s public policies are overwhelmingly based on what money wants, not on public need and honest principle.
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Vapid GOP “Debate” Reveals Why Big Money Politics Sucks