In Search of a Hero
What American voters want in a president is a hero, someone who will save us from whatever we may imagine ails us. If you look back at every election in modern times from Ike on forward, the candidate who won appeared more heroic, even if he wasn't, with the possible exception of the victory of Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford, an election that followed the Watergate debacle & Ford's pardon of Nixon.
The athletic war hero JFK certainly looked more heroic than Nixon. Lyndon Johnson, who manufactured some WWII medals, looked more heroic than the white-haired Barry Goldwater. Although there was nothing heroic in Nixon's appearance, neither was there much in the appearance of his opponents, although George McGovern actually was a WWII hero. Nixon's "heroism" centered, like Trump's, on his promise to restore white America & "save us" from racial equality.
Jimmy Carter actually served on active military duty in WWII; Ronald Reagan served as a PR man, but he was a hero in war (and football) movies! Reagan promised to "save us" from both a horrible economy AND "welfare queens in pink Cadillacs." Bush I was a tall, WWII vet who beat a short guy who looked ridiculous wearing a military helmet while riding around in a tank. Bill Clinton won against two WWII vets, but his older opponents "looked" weak by comparison. Dubya, with his brushhogging swagger, appeared more heroic than the technocrat Al Gore. Barack Obama, whose opponent John McCain was also a real war hero while Obama was not, promised to "save us" from Dubya's recession & McCain's doddering lack of understanding of a free-falling economy. Mitt Romney, who looked the part of a presidential hero figure and came close to unseating a sitting president, still lacked the eloquence and authoritative posture of his opponent.
Donald Trump constantly portrayed himself as heroic -- "Only I can fix it" -- while Clinton appeared to be someone who merely "soldiered on" in the face of repeated adversity. Yes, "it's the economy, stupid," and yes, it's white supremacy, but it's also far less about policy and more about image. Trump won on image; certainly not on substance, because what substance there is, as Clinton might say, is deplorable.
If I were Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, I would not have run for president in 2015-16. Rather, I would have looked, with the help of other party leaders, for another Obama -- someone who conveyed the qualities of the epic hero. It's time to do that now -- to cultivate and promote a core group of younger Democrats -- competent, handsome (or beautiful), and assertive. Skittish Democrats probably won't have the guts to go for it, but the person who replaced Hillary in the Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand, might replace her as the next nominee, too. There are others. I urge all of them to take elocution lessons (Bill Clinton practice by watching & emulating Reagan's style), polish their resumes, and practice looking heroic.
Marie
P.S. If you think this post suggests we want fake heroes rather than real ones -- well, yeah.
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Reader Comments (8)
amen
Way back in the day there was a TV program - Marcus Welby. M.D. - starring Robert Young as a kindly family doctor who knew his patients personally and made house calls.
A lot of viewers would probably have leapt at the chance to have "Dr. Welby" treat them instead of, say, their regular highly qualified neurosurgeon.
In real life, Robert Young suffered from severe depression which he medicated with a bottle of vodka a day or something of the sort and a suicide attempt.
I believe the favored Wall Street expression for how to sell bad investments - "let's put some lipstick on this pig" - sums the whole thing up.
I'm not sure that Jimmy Carter served in World War II. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and was commissioned as an ensign at that time. Before he attended the Naval Academy he was an engineering student at a two-year college in Georgia. He did, however, perform heroic work at the Chalk River nuclear plant in Canada when there was a meltdown there. That was in the early fifties.
@Frank Myers. You're right. Thanks for the correction.
Usually the taller candidate wins. Makes it harder for a woman, here.
How about Amy Klobuchar. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
Elizabeth Warren is pretty tall.
Heroes represent the values of their society.In earlier times these heroes were religious or god-directed; later they were secular or military. Soon they became the typical representatives of their society.Then we had what in literature is called the anti-hero. And now we really have no common basis for an heroic ideal but the followers of Trump found something in him that resinated. I think Marie is right about "saving the day" scenario. He, Trump, will change things–-the hero on horseback who rides into town, takes down all the bad guys and brings justice back into the fold. Imagine the fury when that doesn't happen.
@Jerry Wechsler: I think you're right. I recall hearing, decades ago, that in the last umpteen elections, the only time a shorter candidate won was one who was perceived as taller.
Marie
@jerry Interesting argument that with size. Au contraire, here in Europe we have and had to cope with the inferiority complexes plus corresponding compensations of many a short men: Berlusconi, Putin, Mussolini, Sarkozy ...
Does this different voting pattern make a difference to the political system?
This might be a point now, talking about leaders with complexes ...