Legitimation Crisis Strong- Bush presidency judged as "notlegitimate" by minorities, Dems.

[/ dave /]

> >It will be interesting to see what kind of reception he'll get as he
> >travels abroad.
> 
> Indeed... but will anyone in the States notice?
> 
> Catherine
 
Powell's extreme popularity in US polls might well assure that
demonstrations taking place abroad when he makes his trips will have
many people rallying behind him at home. If the Repubs and the newsmedia
spin it right, it may even have the effect of notching up nationalistic
fervor in the heartland. Just what we need.

As usual in the US, it has everything to do with how the media handles
the protests. If current news reports vis-a-vis Powell's ascension give
any hint, he looks to be in line to get the velvet-glove treatment, at
least in the short term (probably longer).

All the more reason why, under this new administration, it will pay for
non-US activists to do whatever possible to find effective ways to
communicate their message through the various mass media - thinking
always of that viewer staring back through the TV screen. And attacks on
culpable individuals and more importantly their specific objectionable
policies and actions will be most effective, as opposed to attacks on
ambiguous phantoms like America-at-large, which would only serve to
eliminate the possibility of undermining the US machine from within -
and much of the momentum of the last year will be lost as a critical
number of heretofore engaged US citizens retreat defensively to that
cozy and well-scripted place they occupied when America was daily
identified as the "Great Satan" in the not-too-distant past. Such things
are always more likely to occur when the Republicans take center stage...

A Warning to LBO readers:

I heard the most curious song yesterday, a song like no other I have
ever heard in my life. And music of every ilk (<<<Davies) is a big part
of my world, so I'm normally very resilient to surprise. At the
dentist's office they play the typical lite-FM soft-pop mush day-in and
day-out, but the song I heard yesterday as I lay getting my teeth
prodded was an astoundingly explicit call-to-arms disguised as a
Christmas song, with a heart-felt male baritone voice tenderly evoking
visions of America's glory and virtue, her noble place in the world and
the unquestioned divinity from which it uniquely springs. Various
Xtian-sacred motifs were further woven into the mix (remember, this is
the ostensibly secular, corporate lite-FM station) and then the kicker -
as to soaring strings and fanfares, a choir belted out, "HALLELUJAH. . .
A-MER-ICA!" over and over and over. And that was only the first
verse/chorus. I'm used to hearing the "crossover" Amy Grants, etc. when
I go in for my fillings and the occasional root canal (is there some
connection?), but this song clearly straddled more than one line, as the
political merged with the sacred merged with the corporate and had me
thinking of George, Colin, Delay, and all the rest as I stared out the
window and the hygienist gently scraped away at my enamel.

Q: What lies in store? (A: Grab the reins and don't wait for it to take form...)

--

/  dave  /