Amidst controversy over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, British Pri - ah, what the hell, you know who he is - Tony Blair will be stepping down next year.
Big news for our strange-speaking brethren from across the pond, but what does that mean for you?
Absolutely nothing. Sorry to sound like an American jackass, but for the most part, who runs GB won't really make a difference in your life.
It does show, however, how pressure can affect someone's power in another country. Over here, it's just a reason to keep on going. "Hell, they want me to step down? I'll show them. I'll just stick around another half decade or so. Hail, Satan."
It goes for all politicians, however, not just slimy Republicans.
Wet noodle Democrats do the exact same thing.
Take Joe Lieberman, for example. Or Strom Thurmond.
Even though he sounds like an adult from a Peanuts cartoon, Strom Thurmond is officially railing against the "nigger race" in this newsreel footage from 1948. He managed to stay - actually he flourished - in the Senate from 1954 to 2001!
He actually says:
I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.
source: wikipedia
It sounds a bit off-topic, but it plays into what I was talking about above: that politicians in America - not that they don't do it other places - will do just about anything to stay in office.
Strom Thurmond may have been a racist bastard - well, he was a truly racist bastard - but so were his constituents, and there's nothing that politician likes to do more than please his people.
Look at the way George Wallace flipped:
In the late 1970s Wallace became a born-again Christian, and around the same time apologized to black Civil Rights leaders for his earlier segregationist views, calling these views wrong. He said that while once he had sought power and glory, he realized he needed to seek love and forgiveness. It was because of this change in his worldview that Wallace realized the harm his earlier segregationist rhetoric and views had caused. His final term as Governor (1983–1987) saw a record number of black Alabamians appointed to government positions.
Wallace was racist, but only to please the good people of Alabama. I'll be a little bit more cynical than the wikipedia article above. It's my opinion page; I can do that. When it became politically advantageous for him to do so, Wallace switched his opinion like "that" (imagine a snapping sound).
Tony Blair story reported in the New York Times.
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What is the cutoff age when you can legitimately have a change in your thinking? I want to be as big a dick as possible until then but sometimes it's difficult.
ReplyDeleteBlair is leaving so he doesn't get Thatchered - but I bet he will anyway.
Well, I think you can always be a dick, and I actually was a dick to several other bloggers yesterday, because sometimes it's just cathartic
ReplyDelete