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| WaPo: Everything That's Wrong With Bush Admin - Manliness |
| 2006-03-21 |
| Man Overboard - By Ruth Marcus Tuesday, March 21, 2006; A17 I have a new theory about what's behind everything that's wrong with the Bush administration: manliness. mmmmm...does that include Condi? "Manliness" is the unapologetic title of a new book by Harvey C. Mansfield, a conservative professor of government at Harvard University, which makes him a species as rare as a dissenting voice in the Bush White House. Mansfield's thesis is that manliness, which he sums up as "confidence in the face of risk," is a misunderstood and unappreciated attribute. as opposed to vacillating and temporizing until the polls come in? Manliness, he writes, "seeks and welcomes drama and prefers times of war, conflict, and risk." It entails assertiveness, even stubbornness, and craves power and action. It explains why men, naturally inclined to assert that "our policy, our party, our regime is superior," dominate in the political sphere. like straight talk in diplomacy rather than Burgess Meredith in a $600 dress hoping her brooch conveys determination and State policy? Though manliness is "the quality mostly of one sex," Mansfield allows that women can be manly, too, though the sole example he can seem to come up with, and deploys time and again, is Margaret Thatcher. "Is it possible to teach women manliness and thus to become more assertive?" he wonders, but not really. "Or is that like teaching a cat to bark?" Me-ow! Karen Hughes and Condi have shown more leadership skills and done more for women than all of the NOW/ACLU ditzes together "The problem of manliness is not that it does not exist," Mansfield concludes. "It does exist, but it is unemployed." Well, um, excuse me, but I think -- it's just my opinion, now, maybe you disagree, and I'm sure we could work it out -- Mansfield has it exactly backward. Manliness does exist. The problem is that it's overemployed -- nowhere more than in this administration. Think about it this way: Is a trait exemplified by reluctance to ask directions -- "for it is out of manliness that men do not like to ask for directions when lost," Mansfield writes -- really what you want in a government deciding whether to take a country to war? nice slur...guess the PMS is up next? The undisputed manliness of the Bush White House stands in contrast to its predecessors and wannabes. If Republicans are the Daddy Party and Democrats the Mommy Party, the Clinton White House often operated like Mansfield's vision of an estrogen-fueled kaffeeklatsch: indecisive and undisciplined. (Okay, there were some unfortunate, testosterone-filled moments, too. hubba hubba - Ruth sounds a little excited, no? ) Bill Clinton's would-be successor, Al Gore, was mocked for enlisting Naomi Wolf to help him emerge as an alpha male; after that, French-speaking John Kerry had to give up windsurfing and don hunting gear to prove he was a real man. And Bush's father, of course, had to battle the Wimp Factor. Mansfield recalls Thatcher's manly admonition to 41 on the eve of the Persian Gulf War: "Don't go wobbly on me, George." No wimpiness worries now. This is an administration headed by a cowboy boot-wearing brush-clearer, backstopped by a quail-shooting fly fisherman comfortable with long stretches of manly silence -- very "Brokeback Mountain," except this crowd considers itself too manly for such PC Hollywood fare. "I would be glad to talk about ranchin', but I haven't seen the movie," Bush told a questioner. or spent the night embracing a man... There are, no doubt, comforting aspects to the manly presidency; think Bush with a bullhorn on top of the smoldering ruins of the twin towers. After a terrorist attack, no one's looking for a sensitive New Age president. Even now, being a strong leader polls at the top of qualities that voters most admire in Bush. but you'd prefer a puss in charge...say Gore, Kerry, Kucinich, right, Ruth? But the manliness of the Bush White House has a darker side that has proved more curse than advantage. The prime example is the war in Iraq: the administration's assertion of the right to engage in preemptive and unilateral war; the resolute avoidance of debate about the "slam-dunk" intelligence on weapons of mass destruction; the determined lack of introspection or self-doubt about the course of the war; and the swaggering dismissal of dissenting views as the carping of those not on the team. hmmmm - domestic violence card appears The administration's manliness doesn't stop at the water's edge. Pushing another round of tax cuts in 2003, Vice President Cheney sounded like a warrior claiming tribute after victory in battle: "We won the midterms. This is our due," Cheney reportedly said. After the 2004 election, Bush exuded the blustering self-assurance of a president who had political capital to spend -- or thought he did -- and wasn't going to think twice before plunking down the whole pile on Social Security. Mansfieldian manliness is present as well in Bush's confident -- overconfident -- response to Hurricane Katrina (insert obligatory "Brownie" quote here). And the administration's claim of almost unfettered executive power is the ultimate in manliness: how manly to conclude that Congress gave the go-ahead to ignore a law without it ever saying so; how even manlier to argue that your inherent authority as commander in chief would permit you to brush aside those bothersome congressional gnats if they tried to stop eavesdropping without a warrant. Mansfield writes that he wants to "convince skeptical readers -- above all, educated women" -- that "irrational manliness deserves to be endorsed by reason." Sorry, professor: You lose. What this country could use is a little less manliness -- and a little more of what you would describe as womanly qualities: restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt. But that's just my view. marcusr@washpost.com feel free to write to Ruth - use manly words and cuss a lot - deep down, I bet she likes it. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #19 Hillary Clinton Puts Bill On A Leash Billary:I'm boss, Hil tells Bill Clintoon: Senator's word is now 'final,' says the ex-Prez WASHINGTON - After being surprised by her husband's role in the Dubai ports deal, Sen. Hillary Clinton has insisted that Bill Clinton give her "final say" over what he says and does, well-placed sources said. /channeling |
| Posted by: RD worm 2006-03-21 23:13 |
| #18 I think, to put it bluntly, that the difference between George W Bush and the Democrats is that Bush is more interested in what he can do for the country than how he can manipulate the system to enrich himself. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-03-21 22:13 |
| #17 More generally GWB is a vertebrate, as opposed to his most recent challenger (and his predecessor). |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-03-21 22:05 |
| #16 LOL! |
| Posted by: RD worm 2006-03-21 21:54 |
| #15 "...restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt..." Oh yes, just what we need. Perhaps Ruth can advise us on which language to learn for our future: Farsi, Arabic, or Chinese. At least those of use who survive the bomb. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-03-21 20:45 |
| #14 *wipes feet on RD worm* you don't have to actually remove the spine, boy |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-21 20:20 |
| #13 lotp Touch the hair and die, buddy. ;-) [ring in nose on a short leash] Ohh my bad i ment [/ring in nose on a short leash] »:-) |
| Posted by: RD worm 2006-03-21 19:22 |
| #12 Kim du Toit |
| Posted by: Angack Sperong2266 2006-03-21 15:39 |
| #11 Manliness Picture - NYC Fireman on 9/11 Marine in Falluja Coast Guard Rescue on the Gulf Coast When the $hit hits the fan, everyone is looking for 'manliness'. The left was done its best through browbeating rhetoric and royal judges to shackle manliness in this country. Notice however where their tools fail as with the muzzie zealots, they keep their mouth shut. Its all about power. In our case they have taken tools to control that power, one they fear but only because they see it as a threat to their claim to power. In the second case, they fear the power of the those exercising it, but can do nothing about it. |
| Posted by: Speath Uloluns3561 2006-03-21 15:33 |
| #10 Consider me enlightened. He must be fun at those faculty cocktail parties. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-03-21 10:22 |
| #9 He probably did send a copy to Larry. He was one of the few faculty trying to stiffen Larry's spine. You might want to check up on Harvey. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-03-21 09:40 |
| #8 So a Harvard professor is now the "expert" on "manliness"? Yeah, I'm sold. Jeez, Harvey, maybe you should've sent a copy to Larry Summer's? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-03-21 09:27 |
| #7 And Roosevelt and Truman were .... ? Carter and Clinton were in tune with their feminine self? Explains a lot. So we can count on Hillery's Manliness? |
| Posted by: Javirt Whaiter9406 2006-03-21 08:09 |
| #6 So we have Manliness versus Victimology. I think the dimocrats have picked another fantastic loser. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-03-21 07:57 |
| #5 Why, yes, we should try to achieve consensus with the likes of Ahmadinejad. I'm sure if we would just bring ourselves to agree that Israel should be wiped off the map that we would get along swimmingly. I'm sorry, dear Ruth, but rolling over and taking it isn't exactly "womanly". That's more along the lines of a stupid broad who prefers to whine when she doesn't get her way, yet refuses to get off her ass and do anything to actually make the desired result appear. I think Ruth needs to get acquainted with this series of books. Not a lot of consensus building, restrained, introspective ladies with a touch of self-doubt in those pages. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-03-21 07:01 |
| #4 Marz = okay by me. War too, when need be. Touch the hair and die, buddy. ;-) |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-21 07:00 |
| #3 ME MAN FROM MARZ ME LIKE WAR ME DRAG WOMANS BY HAIR BACK TO CAVE /hey and i voted for GWB twice! [2000 & 2004] |
| Posted by: RD 2006-03-21 02:33 |
| #2 Be nice. Let Ruthie play with her new strap-on. |
| Posted by: badanov 2006-03-21 01:06 |
| #1 shoulda HT'd Drudge - my bad |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-21 00:15 |