a ding-dong daddy from deecee
this is a totally subjective opinion and may or may not be correct: all things being equal, more voters will choose a republican over a democrat when voting in an election to fill an executive office.
this is a conclusion based on solely on personal observation but i think its accurate: successful republican candidates for executive positions like us president and governor of california seem to share an unusual common characteristic
it's a relatively recent phenomenon and very much like one of those 3d images that appear to be nothing but rows of multi-colored repetitive patterns until you stand very close to it, let your eyes go out of focus and then step backwards slowly without blinking. it seems to date back to an unusual convergence of life imitating art or vice versa in the mid-1970s.
gerald ford took office in late 1974. saturday night live debuted in fall 1975. a few weeks, maybe a month later, chevy chase became the first member of snl's ensemble cast to emerge as a star in his own right. chase's ticket to fame was an overly exaggerated impersonation of ford stumbling over his own feet. to the best of my knowledge, gerald ford had no previous history of public clumsiness--at least not while being videotaped by news crews. it was just a silly one-time thing until chase mimicked it on national television. then something truly weird happened. ford, who otherwise seemed as presidential as any of his predecessors, began to trip on nothing on a fairly regular basis. chase, who had to have been delighted, kept stumbling with him until ford lost the next election and chevy gained a movie contract..
things went back to normal--sort of--for the next four years. jimma carter who succeeded ford might have served two terms but there always seemed to be something lacking. at the time, i didnt realize what it was.
ronald reagan had no such problem. he capitalized on this elusive je-ne sais quois. george hw bush came by it naturally as well although its manifestation was a bit subtler. when george w bush began to attract national attention in 1999, i finally realized what id been seeing all along, but not been able to grasp.
after nearly 200 years of presidents with boringly presidential personae, american voters--following the lead of staunch republicans--now manifest an affinity for a leader who would be perfectly cast as the obliviously/defiantly moronic father of a sitcom family.
i know. at first consideration, it seems as if im taking a cheap shot. before you dismiss it that way, consider the following: ronald reagan frequently referred to his wife as 'mommy' and often appeared to need her help to interpret relatively simple questions; appeared had nothing to do with formulating answers. nancy clearly fed him responses just like the clever sitcom wife has always done. then there were the naps (a staple of dumb daddom dating back to dagwood bumstead). the ranch chores. those tall tales that merged movie roles with real life. hell, i could have stopped after 'mommy' by merely typing 'bedtime for bonzo'.
george hw bush? think dana carvey for starters. "naw gwa do" is as perfect and idiotically zen as homer simpson's 'doh' bush would have starved if hed had to sell shoes like al bundy...exactly as al bundy starved selling shoes. not convinced? who but a bona fide sitcom dad would have puked in someone's lap at an official state dinner?
just as the boy is the father to the man (or is that "do it once, shame on me; do it twice, shame on ummm me again"?), the current president bush has it down so well he often seems to doing an impersonation of chevy chase doing an impersonation of a caricature of a grinning goofy 'alf' dad. its something he clearly brought with him to the role of a lifetime. one need only glance casually at laura bush to imagine the hilarious hijinks she unleashed upon learning george had managed to get hisself locked up for drinking and driving. he's even managed to father his very own, real life olsen twins.
so where do republican california gubernatorial candidates fit into this? four words: bill simon arnold schwartzenegger. bill simon may have failed twice running for that office, but hes got the right stuff. if i were casting director for an upcoming season of 'full whitehouse' or '8 million is enough', i really couldnt say whether bill or george would get the part. arnold? admittedly hes only done the dumbo daddy in movies but i think we all know whos saving the family from his weekly schemes in real life, dont we?