There are two categories of people; those who categorize people, and those who don’t.<\/p>\n
Likewise, I think, there are two different types of politicians.<\/p>\n
One type, we’ll call the Political Engineer.\u00a0 He or she pragmatically breaks down every issue, like a good Engineer does, carefully calculating the best path to take through the issue.\u00a0 Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Norm Coleman, Karl Rove – all of them are Political Engineers.\u00a0 Just as no engineer drives a pile or moves a circuit from spec to prototype without enough analysis to mitigate risk and controlling uncertainty, the Political Engineer figures the angles before things hit the fan – or tries to, anyway.\u00a0 Politics involving real people rather than steel and electricity, it doesn’t always work – but then, the Political Engineer knows that.\u00a0 Political Engineers may have principles and beliefs – they’re human, after all, and rarely driven by pure <\/em>pragmatism – but those principles and beliefs are wrung through a lot <\/em>of deconstruction before they go out into the world.<\/p>\n At the opposite extreme is the Political Artist.\u00a0 They’re driven by something – an issue, a hot-button, a vision.\u00a0 They have visceral<\/em>, rather than political, reactions to issues; their heart, not their calculations, tell them the proper response to a political stimulus.\u00a0 They tend, I think, to be charismatic, driven\u00a0– and, sometimes but far from always, to have short careers.\u00a0 For many, I suspect, the emotion that drives them is focused on an issue that precludes a lot of big-picture ambition.\u00a0 For others, burnout ensues;\u00a0a person can only maintain that level of emotional intensity for so long.\u00a0 For still others?\u00a0 When you wear your heart on your sleeve, as opposed to calculating exactly where <\/em>you should wear your heart for best results, it’s easy to make a “mistake”, when things get hairy; those who don’t share your emotional commitment to the presenting issue might find allegiance to a Political Engineer less off-putting.\u00a0 There are quite a few of ’em out there, too; Dennis Kucinich, Keith Ellison, Ronald Reagan (to an extent, although he substituted Ideals for Emotions, I think)…<\/p>\n …and, I think, Michele Bachmann.<\/p>\n First things first:\u00a0 I support Rep. Bachmann.\u00a0 No two ways about it; she is one of Minnesota’s very best congressional representatives.\u00a0 She is vastly more qualified (to say nothing, at this point, of experienced) than her challenger, Elwin “E-Tink” Tinklenberg.\u00a0 She is <\/em>a lighting rod for all the usual constituencies that find an uppity, articulate conservative woman to be a huge threat, of course – but any woman that breaks from the mushy-left, pro-“choice” pack is going to be.<\/p>\n And Rep. Bachmann wears her heart on her sleeve.\u00a0 She’s patriotic.\u00a0 She’s American.\u00a0 And in her infamous interview last week with Chris Matthews, she – like any hip-shooter up against a tingly-legged, in-the-bag huckster might – certainly uncorked on “anti-Americans”.<\/p>\n So what is “anti-American?”\u00a0 Someone who actively connives to destroy this nation?\u00a0 Certainly.\u00a0 And in context, I don’t believe Rep. Bachmann was talking about this.<\/p>\n Someone whose actions, you hold, are inimical to this nation’s best interests?\u00a0 Someone whose actions make this nation a weaker, worse place?\u00a0 Someone who thinks this nation would be hunky-dory if it were just completely different than it is?\u00a0<\/p>\n That<\/em>, I think, was what Rep. Bachmann was talking about, in context.\u00a0 And I agree with her; I think there are a lot of people whose beliefs, platforms, agendas and actions could <\/em>make this nation a really crappy place.\u00a0And they need to be rooted out – at the polls.\u00a0 Via our political process.<\/em><\/p>\n Would I have picked a different word to describe this idea than “anti-American”?\u00a0 Probably. Do I wish Rep. Bachmann had?\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0 Did her propensity to shoot from the hip – to be other than a Political Engineer – slide her into a moment that everyone who wants to see her out of Congress can use to spin until we’re all ready to puke?<\/p>\n Give me a break. Chris Matthew’s leg was so tingly, it could have generated static electricity.<\/p>\n