Awaiting Elemental Meltdown – The Six Parts Seven
So, Rick Perry has the debate meltdown to end all meltdowns. I still don’t think he’s down and out, but it does seem to suggest that the Mitt train is rolling along with ever-increasingly inevitability. I mean, for all the Republican primary voters seem to demand ideological conformity, it’s exceptionally hard to believe they want to stick this guy (or, god forbid, Herman Cain) up on a stage with Obama next fall.
The real thing I wanted to talk about here is the series of modest Perry defenses. Everyone has had brain freezes, after all. And it’s not like being president has anything in particular to do with the ability to memorize talking points. But while I totally recognize those points, I want to push back on the pushback.
Here’s the thing. If Perry had genuine opinions about the means for forming governmental bureaucracy, he would presumably have access to some basic set of arguments in defense of those principles. But he doesn’t. Because he has no actual opinions; he only has the window-dressing. He wants to close three departments because it sounds like the ‘take no nonsense’ sort of approach he thinks he’s supposed to embody. Sissies try to reform systems; eggheads have complicated programs; Rick Perry just cuts right through it.
But why three? Well, it would be beyond insane to just shut down every department. And only closing one is far too mainstream. Closing the Dept of Education has been a Republican bugbear for years. So you have to go beyond that. And, let’s face it, three is a pretty solid number. We love threes in American political culture. So let’s make it three.
It was incredibly obvious watching him sputter that he had just memorized the phrase “Education, Commerce, Energy” – and had no engagement with the content of what he was saying. That’s the real crime, that when the memorization broke down he had no actual content underneath that he could resort to. All he could do was stand there, grin, and say ‘oops.’
Let’s also not forget that the essence of his ‘economic plan’ is supposedly his focus on energy. That’s what he’s supposed to be a specialist in.