Turns out it's all a game...

What's with all this "Monday morning quarterback" talk? No more flip-flopping or Massachusettes liberal. That's old news. Now the Iraq war is a football game. Okay. Man, when the administration decides to run with a phrase, they really hammer it. At least you can tell which pundits on the news receive talking points directly from the oval office. And you know who in the blogosphere listens to AM radio and Fox News, both of which treat the war like a football game. That's handy, I suppose.



Election coverage is about as fever-pitched, foaming, and anheuristic as it's ever been. I'm always astonished that for all the criticism that my academic friends dish out regarding the "horse-race" mentality of the news, their discussions among themselves sound no different. I think it has to do with a vague sense that our birthright as "rhetorical critics" is being stolen. Or maybe it's about the destruction of democracy as we know it. One or the other.

You know we have reached a precious stage of instantanous campaigning, real-time dial polling, and on-the-spot punditry when this game, The Political Machine, can be billed as an "educational tool." In this simulation, the candidate's ideology and stand on the issues are replaced with more wieldy elements: charisma, comeliness, compassion, credibility, experience, etc. Maybe it's for those who have grown out of Dungeons and Dragons (John Kerry, 3 hit points!). If you feel in this election that you are choosing between two quickly-drawn cartoon characters, try out this feeling out in a more suitable environment. If you think I'm being cynical about the campaign process, just look at this game.