The Other Nine-Tenths

The Weekly Standard ^ | December 9, 2002 | Fred Barnes, the other type of American.

[Howlin]

WHILE COVERING the Democratic presidential race back in 1984, I happened to stop one day in Monroe, Louisiana. I had a problem with my portable word processor, so I visited a local Radio Shack in hope of getting it fixed quickly. And indeed the fellow running the store instantly knew what to do to get my laptop in working order.

Afterwards I chatted with the guy. He was quite smart and interesting. He told me he'd won several sales prizes at Radio Shack. I wasn't surprised. Then he asked what I was doing in Monroe. Covering the Gary Hart campaign, I said. "Who?" he asked. "Gary Hart," I repeated. "I've never heard of him," he said. He was utterly unaware a national political campaign was going on, and he wasn't embarrassed about it.

I've often recalled this story because it touches on one of the great divides in America. Yes, there are two Americas you've probably never thought about, but I have. There's one America that's involved in politics or at least keeps up with what's going on politically or in public policy. And there's another America that couldn't care less about politics. As you might guess, I'm part of the political community, the journalism wing.

The conceit of the political crowd, which I estimate at 10 million to 15 million Americans, is that all those other Americans are benighted. The politics people believe their jobs are extraordinarily important because they deal with significant, even global, matters night and day, while the rest of the country consists of silly, apathetic people who should be paying serious attention to what their betters in Washington and a few other places tell them. That they aren't hanging on every word coming from the politics crowd only proves how frivolous they are. What's worse, the non-politics types make up a whopping majority of the electorate. There are perhaps 85 million to 95 million of them. They decide all elections.

Now here's my fear. Eddie Murphy touched on it in a famous skit on "Saturday Night Live" years ago about the secret life of white people. Murphy put on whiteface to find out what button-down whites do when blacks aren't around. It turns out whites have a wild time, cavorting, drinking, and partying, partying, partying. Thus my fear is all those millions of people who are oblivious to politics most of the time have wonderful, satisfying lives and have much more fun than political obsessives do. Maybe there's an inverse relationship: The more you're caught up in politics, the less thrilling your real life is.

To start with, the apolitical aren't so ignorant after all when it comes to voting. A political scientist, Sam Popkin, figured out that most voters, though they give barely a glance at campaigns and politics, have just enough information to make rational decisions in the voting booth. So the country isn't suffering because of their lackadaisical attitude toward the important things.

And look how different their lives are, and pleasurably so, from those of politics people. They don't have to watch TV on Sunday morning to see who said what in response to a question on the future of no-fault insurance or revisions of the Clean Air Act. They can go to church, sleep in, play golf, lollygag.

They don't have to read the entire front section of a newspaper every day, especially the op-ed page. They're spared the burden of ever tuning in to C-SPAN. They get to watch popular television shows other than "The West Wing." They go to movies of no cultural, social, or political importance whatsoever. They've never heard of that documentary about George W. Bush produced by Nancy Pelosi's daughter, and they wouldn't watch it if they had. Their brains aren't focused on who's going to run, who's going to win.

Their social life is rich--parties, tailgating, picnics, drop-bys. This is quite different from the social life in Washington, which consists in large part of attending think tank banquets, book parties, two-day conferences on tort reform, or dinners at which a cabinet member is the prized guest.

Of course the folks in the hinterland don't experience the upside of life in politics, the supposedly ego-satisfying side. For instance, no one sees their face on TV or their byline in some prestige publication. They don't get recognized in airports by total strangers.

I know. Being on yip-yap shows on TV means you get recognized from time to time. But rarely does anyone remember anything you ever said, which is telling in ways I'd rather not think about. Just the other day, a woman confronted me at O'Hare Airport and asked if I were the guy who folds his arms on the Fox News Channel (she offered her imitation). Sad but true, the answer was yes. But I'm more often stopped by people with another question: "Say, aren't you Mort Kondracke?"

[Howlin]

FYI.

[Howlin]

Enjoy.

[CanisMajor2002]

But I'm more often stopped by people with another question: "Say, aren't you Mort Kondracke?"

*McLaughlin Group cackles*

How could Freddy "The Beetle" Barnes be mistaken for Morton Kondracke? :)

"Say, aren't you Mort Kondracke?"
"WRONG! NEXT ISSUE!"

[Howlin]

I love the thing about crossing his arms. You can tell how upset he is by the number of times he crosses and uncrosses his arms!

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

so I visited a local Radio Shack

I wonder if Fred got out of the store without the clerk asking him for his name and address.

[okie01]

Fred aptly demonstrates what is true about so many conservatives -- we don't take ourselves seriously.

Quite the contrast with the elitist, self-absorbed libs.

Right, MurryMom? I know you're out there...

[Howlin]

Phone number first, remember???

[Mo1]

WHILE COVERING the Democratic presidential race back in 1984, I happened to stop one day in Monroe, Louisiana. I had a problem with my portable word processor,

They had portable word processors in 1984???

OK OK .. let me go back to reading

[goodnesswins]

All you have to do is tell Radio Shack ...."NO."

[Wait4Truth]

I like Fred Barnes for the most part. He seems pretty normal most of the time. Have you noticed that Mort is moving left these days? I know he's a Democrat but he is trending away from being fair. He was whining tonight about the "gargantuan Bush tax cut"...and on and on and on.

[xsmommy]

loved it!!!!

[deport]

In 1984, Epson introduced the first laptop computer: the HX-20. In every HX-20 was a ROM chip containing the first word processor for a laptop computer: SkiWriter®, a product of SkiSoft, Inc.

Not that it matters but I just figured it was a portable typewriter that needed a battery or something similar....

[Common Tator]

It is a shocking thing, but a large number of voters at regular elections are there to vote for or against a school levy. There is a lot of evidence that splinter party canidates get votes based on some voters just randomly picking one name of 4 or 5 on the ballot.

Lots of people pick a candidate based on if the voter likes him or her. Back when George Voinovich was running for the Senate from Ohio, they did a TV ad showing George and his wife walking in a park. Janet was looking at George with obvious love and admiration. The announcer said, "George has made lots of important decisions in his career as Mayor of Cleveland, a L. Governor and Governor. But he always says the best decision he has ever made was to ask Janet to marry him." As George and Janet walk away from the camera holding hands the announer asks the viewer to vote for George Voinovich. Studies after the race said that commercial wiped out the gender gap and won him the Senate Seat.

Janet nor George said a word in that commercial, but Janet's eyes said "I got a wonderful guy".

So wining elections is not all about issues like social security and the farm bill. For both men and women if the public likes you, many of them will vote for you.

Wining elections are always a combination of a number of things. But for the first time in memory the Republicans have a ground game. They are going door to door to get votes.

We now know what Ralph Reed is doing. He has had an army of young people going to Repubican doors asking to vote and offering rides to the polls tomorrow.

This will tell us a lot about the efforts in 2004.

[Howlin]

I thought about looking for it, but I figured you were going to find it before I could. Thanks. :-)

[Mo1]

I love the thing about crossing his arms. You can tell how upset he is by the number of times he crosses and uncrosses his arms!

LOL .. it is kind of cute

[Mo1]

LOL .. thanks .. I didn't know that

[Lokibob]

Yes they did. I had to buy my ex a "portable word processor" before I was able to get my first computer (commodore 64). Actually, It was my second, I had a timex sinclair 1000. It had 1k of memory,and for another $100 I bought 16k more. Now I have a $10 wrist watch with more memory than the commodore. LOL

She saw the word processing capability of the 64, and the word processor thing went into the closet, never to come out. If I remember right, it was $500, about $100 more than the 64.

[struwwelpeter]

I wonder if his "word processor" back then was one of those 4kb microcomputers (Timex, Sinclair, Tandy, etc) with the cassette recorder data storage. They were only slightly more sophisticated than a stubby pencil, but at least you could "Hunt the Wumpus."

[deport]

Fred has it about right I suspect. Most ppl don't give two whits about politics on a daily basis. The campaign really doesn't begin until these people start to feel the need to find out enough info to make a voting decision on..