roachboy

well...the responses i have encountered to this so far have centered on disbelief.
in most cases, inclduing my own, this worked its way out to anger....
for myself, it was a friends birthday last night so we got drunk and floated analyses and wondered what might be done.
and of course posted somewhere a drunken rant here--only one, so i feel like i did ok.

this is difficult.

for me, this was less about bush as president in himself than it was about the political power of conservative discourse. i did not see much in the way of policy difference that would have distinguished a bush from a kerry presidency.
what i was hoping to see was a repudiation of conservative discourse.

that this discourse shaped what looks like a significant vote for bush that was directly and explicitly for bush is still shocking (exit polling from ohio i think showing that something like 70% of the respondents who voted for bush voted on positive grounds,, that is for buish not against kerry--a percentage much higher than obtained for kerry).

what is clear from this so far:
as much as a dislike thier politics, the christian right has undertaken a powerful mobilization, something that i think most folk on the left had underestimated up to this election, frankly.
and i think that the power of television in framing issues--and particularly in framing bush (against all reason to my mind) has also been underestimated.
given what has been said about television in all this, that somehow its role could have still been underestimated seems amazing. but there we are. my general theory is that conservatvie discourse works better for those who derive a significant element of their sense of being knit into a wider world from television, particularly when that tv sits in the center of an isolated suburban house....this seems to be a factor that seperates urban fomr other spaces--the relative position of tv as information source.

the right has built an imposing media apparatus (think tanks, ideology production centres one and all---spokesmodels---the rove machine---the radio cadre--the conservative press)---they have alot of money and have figured out how to stream that money in an efficient manner (not earmarking funding for think tanks is huge--it sounds like it is not, but it is a really important innovation)

i see no vinidcation of bush or conservative discourse in this election--the results were really quite close--but you do get a fair idea of the reach and power of that discourse.
and that is frightening.
that is why i kept feeling like this election was like watching a friend set himself on fire and only being able to watch.
that is now the central enemy for progressive forces--who have not in general been thinking on the same level as the right has and who now find themsleves in a significant tactical hole because of it.

the advantages of this is that you might see a minor explosion of art and music emerging that will be expicitly political, explicitly anti-conservative. while i think that will be a fine thing (maybe fun to do as well), i do not think that it will operate to counter the right discourse machine. but it will be interesting to watch.

bush does not have much of a mandate if you look at the popular vote--but there is no need for him to worry about that because he wont stand for re-election.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite