Wonks are from Mars, bloggers are from Venus
by digby
I have been confused by the insistence on the part of many liberal wonks and pundits that speeches and political rhetoric are politically useless and the only thing that ever matters is the application of power. While I see application of power as intrinsic to successful governance as well, I have always believed strongly in the power of persuasion and rhetoric to obtain the necessary political power, whether it be from the people (most important in a democracy) or from those who interpret and dispense the analysis of our leaders — the press, academics and influential insiders.
To my mind, the most highly skilled presidents, with their high national profile and easy access to the people, competently work the levers of power in the government and fuel their own by persuading the people to back his agenda. This is done by describing what the problems are and how he (and presumably his party) seek to solve them. Unless one accepts the proposition that voters are simply window dressing and good governance must be accomplished through backroom deal making among the elite, then a president has a unique ability and responsibility to rally the people to his cause. And I think the people do matter — ask any Hill staffer if they are concerned when their polling looks bad or their local press criticizes them. The President is the only national political figure with the kind of clout to command the people’s attention for any sustained period of time, to frame the problems and answer their questions.
And yet, the bully pulpit is described by many commentators as a waste of time, a useless endeavor that has no influence and therefore needn’t even be discussed. Well, I think I may have finally figured out one reason why I disagree with so many (not all by any means) of these very smart wonks and pundits:
“For years, popular psychologists have insisted that boys and men would like to talk about their problems but are held back by fears of embarrassment or appearing weak,” said Amanda J. Rose, associate professor of psychological sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. “However, when we asked young people how talking about their problems would make them feel, boys didn’t express angst or distress about discussing problems any more than girls. Instead, boys’ responses suggest that they just don’t see talking about problems to be a particularly useful activity.”
Rose and her colleagues conducted four different studies that included surveys and observations of nearly 2,000 children and adolescents. The researchers found that girls had positive expectations for how talking about problems would make them feel, such as expecting to feel cared for, understood and less alone. On the other hand, boys did not endorse some negative expectations more than girls, such as expecting to feel embarrassed, worried about being teased, or bad about not taking care of the problems themselves. Instead, boys reported that talking about problems would make them feel “weird” and like they were “wasting time.”
Wonks are from Mars, activists are from Venus? Who knows? But I have long been puzzled as to why there was such resistance among some of DC’s smartest liberal commentators to what seems to me to be the obvious reality that Presidents have substantial power in their words as well as their actions. Perhaps this explains it a bit. A lot of them probably just think talking about problems in any situation, including politics, is a waste of time.
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