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“Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain…”

by Kay Whitlock 

The first 2012 presidential debate saw an arrogant Republican deployment of the Patriarchal Authoritarian Archetype.

A Botoxed Mitt Romney began by harvesting moderator Jim Lehrer’s courage and integrity – I’m old enough to remember when Mr. Lehrer used to evidence same as a groundbreaking PBS news anchor – and then proceeded to showcase an agenda of dishonesty, swagger and braggadocio.

Personally, I had a serious attack of deja-vu, and then realized, yes, indeed, I have seen this before. Remember that great, inflated, floating head and the reverberating voice, surrounded by whooshes of flame and other nifty special effects, bellowing that “I am the great and powerful Oz”?

A number of pundits claim for the Koch-fueled Mr. Romney a triumph of “style,” confidence, and “presidential” bearing. But if he won any temporary victory at all, even in the instant punditry stakes – and consider my eyebrow permanently arched – it will ultimately prove to be pyrrhic. Because the Romney team is a wrecking crew, and if he won, countless supporters of his who aren’t rich would find their lives devastated by his economic, environmental, and foreign policy decisions.

What we saw last night was not just a revved-up, at times agitated Republican candidate, high on his own sense of power, but a calculated effort to project overwhelming strength, authoritarianism, and domination. And not just over President Obama. Over all of us.

When leaders seek to constellate such an archetypal narrative and image, truth and facts are always the first victims. But beyond that, please recognize that truth, facts, reason do not matter.

What truly matters is showmanship: setting up that unconscious, patriarchal and authoritarian reverberation so that, even without realizing it, we begin to see, hear, and interpret the remainder of the campaign through that shadow influence.

What matters is sending that reverberation out to anyone who desperately seeks to vicariously identify with that power, that promise of supremacy, that dominating spirit. And a lot of people do. Not because they’re idiots, but because rather than address the real source of their own pain and fear – catastrophic structural forms of social/economic inequality and ecological devastation – they want to strike back at the easiest available targets; the handiest scapegoats.

Pathetic as it was, that is exactly what Clint Eastwood sought to do – perhaps not entirely consciously – when he projected onto that infamous empty chair his desire to try to humiliate and denigrate President Obama. This is what’s behind all the racism (both of the dog-whistle and overt varieties), blatant male supremacy, xenophobia, and contempt for poor people that characterizes the campaign season.

It’s what the Republicans have done – at least in my lifetime – since 1964, during the Goldwater campaign. It’s their stock in trade. And every year, it gets meaner, uglier, more blatantly callous and vile.

That’s why our job is to ignore debates over Romney’s purported “insta-victory” last night. Our job is to not give in to fear or anger, but to transmute whatever we’re feeling into Romney’s certain defeat.

Our job is to strip away the special effects, the glistening, Botoxed veneer, to reveal the fraud behind the curtain that hides the authoritarian archetype.

Our job is to advance a different archetypal narrative – and do it relentlessly, not only with emotion, but also with facts. To continue to tell the truth about immigration reform, women’s lives, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and taxes.

Our job is to lift up an archetypal vision of caring community; of good neighbors who look out for one another; of leaders and community members who give a damn about ordinary folks.

Our job is to pay attention to the frauds behind the curtain and to constantly pull that curtain aside.

President Obama is doing his job, under extraordinary pressures in a volatile political and economic atmosphere, both here and internationally.

Now let’s do ours with relentless persistence and determination. Our colleagues, neighbors, friends, and family need to be hearing from us.

Donate here (Obama), here (U.S. Senate) or contact your local Democratic party to donate to candidates for the House of Representatives

Vote early where you can.

Help GOTV – for President Obama, for the U.S. Senate, for the House of Representatives.

Know your voting rights and help educate others about voter suppression/intimidation efforts; help others jump through any damn barriers to their voting.

See you on the other side of President Obama’s re-election.

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