The Kabuki Dance

The more I listen to the political debate (if you can call it that) the more confused I become. When did it become a problem for our President to reach out and talk to us? And by us I mean any of the various group we might use to describe ourselves, like military members, unions, congress, educators, or students. Yes the President, who was elected by all of "us", is going to speak to our children. Wait you say, I didn't vote for him. True perhaps but if you are an American citizen the system used to elect him is yours. We are a democracy! In theory we work together in support of whoever is elected for the betterment of the collective. In U.S. politics if two people or more run for an office someone is going to lose. Unfortunately losing can bring out the worst in people. If it were our children, most of us (I hope) would feel a bit embarrassed and try to discourage the spiteful, vindictive lashing out behavior that would cause us to characterize someone as a sore loser. And yet almost every time I read or watch political commentary I get an overwhelming urge to throw a yellow flag and yell UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT at the top of my lungs. We have lost sight of the healthy, thoughtful political debate that makes many people from other countries look up to us. The recent debate over the Presidents health care proposal seemed to focus more on who proposed it than on what it would mean for America and her citizens. Constructive debate from either side of the isle might have moved us toward a "win-win" solution incorporating the best parts of multiple proposals, and yet there was little of what I would characterize as constructive debate.

Back to the issue at hand. The President wants to talk to our children. I have read the text of the speech and there is no language there to insight our kids to rise up against us. In fact I didn't find anything that I don't think 98% of parents would agree with, and yet there is an uproar of opposition. Is there fear that a man that we do not like because of political party might say something to our children that we agree with? Why was there no concern when either of the President's Bush spoke to schoolchildren, or President's Clinton or Reagan? Oh my gosh I have it ... what if our children actually listen to and are inspired by the Democratic ne'r-do-well. Ouch, they might decide to pay attention, focus on their education and think they can do something important in life. Outlandish! This will never do ... we should protest, call him names like "Hitler wanna be" or something. We could preach hate and ask our parishioners to pray for the death of the president as Pastor Steven Anderson is said to have done from the pulpit of his Tempe Arizona church. Of course he is also someone who could not manage an intelligent answer to even simple questions. Evidently he agrees with nothing the President says just because "I hate Obama".

Ok I'll pull my tongue out of my cheek and get back to reality. I am really tired of those who would "lead" through polarizing a group against the President rather than by promoting respectful, constructive dialogue in the finest tradition of our democracy. I had a boss once who had a knack for seeing through the drama when it was used to hide a lack of substance. he referred to it as a Kabuki dance. Kabuki is a wonderful form of Japanese theater involving of song and dance dramatic stories and lots of makeup. My boss described a Kabuki Dance as "a glorious presentation full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

I, for one, prefer substance over drama.