7/ This is the benefit of doubt amount accepting fiction that they are the 'right person who might do the right thing for the right reason'
-
-
Replying to @vgr
8/ But for the fiction to work, the incumbent has to play powerfully to it, step up, and into the role, the mask of the office.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
9/ The more deeply the person 'fakes it', the more opposition becomes a theoretical, ceremonial, adversarial position.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
10/ And the better the faking, the less you need to work on actual imaginative alternatives. You can phone in gestural stubs of alternatives
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
11/ This is a picture of the politics of detente: between elections, there is political "peace", opposition and alternatives are ceremonial
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @vgr
12/ What happens when there ISN'T a detente? When incumbent either doesn't care to fake 'leader for all' well enough, or is unable to?
3 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
13/ Old habits die hard. We are used to leaders who can be trusted to play the 'fake it till you make it game.' Who can be expected to grow.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
14/ It's not actually unreasonable expectation to hope leaders enter as politicians, and exit as statesmen/women, even if not 'great' ones
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @vgr
15/ Even GWB, not my favorite by any measure, grew as a person in office. He left as "our" President, even if one most were unhappy with.
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @vgr
16/ These habits are strong. We are tempted to drop substantive opposition/option creation and go ceremonial the moment someone wins
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
17/ We see this playing out now. People playing the "deplorability scorecard" game assigning points to every new appointee.
-
-
Replying to @vgr
18/ It's as though we believe there is a magic scale where if he scores D- on a "didn't enable awful forces" card, it's detente not conflict
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @vgr
18/ Staying in conflict mode is tiring. Switching to detente mode is relaxing. Real opposition takes energy. Ceremonial opposition is cheap.
2 replies 2 retweets 6 likes - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.