A Merkel Cure for the US

Politics needs excitement. It needs a rush. But a politically directed, perfectly planned escalation of emotions can affect the political will of the people.

We survived the conventions. Participants, observers, reporters — everyone knows they’re just theater, the greatest political spectacles on earth. Every word, every gesture is rehearsed, orchestrated and optimized for maximum effect. Spotlights, flags, music, images and banners combine to produce a sham effect, a glitzy artificial event. Price tag: around $136 million.

Of course we all realize that. “This country,” an experienced colleague of mine once said, “is one big goddamned kid’s birthday party.” But it works every time. 15,000 reporters attend and re-stage the big show, flood the world with slogans, sound bites and videos. They write and photograph, Twitter and blog, analyze, comment and criticize, but hey. They’re consumed by the show, becoming tiny cogs in the gigantic steam-puffing machine that produces more noise than thought. “The First Lady charms America!” the German Press Agency reports, and all the other press agencies dutifully follow suit. Scripted reality.

Some years back I enjoyed attending a Republican convention. I had time to marvel at the delegates, an activity that overshadowed any Wild West cliches. I had time to talk to professional American reporters who joked about the stupidities and constraints we reporters had to suffer. I met Bob, a strategist who planned individual appearances down to the split second, coordinating with the various television broadcasters. His favorite verb was “toemark.” That described the exact point in time where politician X’s toe had to be when the clock reached Y. “We want politician X to toemark at 8:36 and be finished speaking by 8:58.” He described this activity as “the execution of the most effective tactics.”

The Brockhaus Encyclopedia informs us that the goal of offering novel settings and experiences is what differentiates events of cyclical repetitiveness and a U.S. political convention is, indeed, an event of cyclical repetitiveness. Every four years. Each convention must, therefore, surpass the previous one; it must mobilize more spending and political fervor and delve deeper into people’s souls. Is it political? Yes. It’s part and parcel of the struggle for political power. Is it a part of democracy? No. Debate is non-existent. People just hold signs aloft proclaiming “We love Michelle!” or simply, “Mitt!” A balloon shower and the final curtain falls. The end.

Politics needs excitement. It needs a rush. But the politically directed, perfectly planned escalation of emotions can affect the political will of the people. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the downward spiral in which the Republicans no longer have a consensus, but only the corrosion of instrumentalized emotions. They have only their hatred of blacks, gays and the government; their consuming fear of economic decline, al-Qaida, China and their angry God of retribution who will soon come for all of us.

Half the nation has drifted far to the right and has entrenched itself in a fundamentalist escapism, bristling with weaponry it thinks is “patriotism” but which only succeeds in denying the complexities of the real world. In the beginning, Obama succeeded in opposing this fatal emotional cocktail with “hope.” What he hasn’t been able to do is stop the emotional inflation and give back to the United States its pragmatism, its sobriety and its collective confidence. One can only wish the United States will experience a cooling off of its overheated political temperature. Some kind of Merkel cure, so to speak.