Nature Girl Sarah vs. Academic Man

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."--Sarah Palin
"Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes."--Paul Krugman


Palin got a lot of criticism for the quote above, some by Paul Krugman, so it was interesting to see Krugman's new and improved opinion last weekend on ABC. Inadvertent honesty? A lapse into truth? An outbreak of sincerity? Or just a new personality change in a major character of the Washington Wrestling Federation?

There are similarities between professional wrestling and American politics. Both demand intense posturing, laughable insincerity and faux action. Indeed, there are few pursuits which can be defined by posturing and insincerity. Professional wrestling can be at least understood as entertainment and drama that both the actors and audience agree upon. Politics is different there: In politics the aim is deception; entertainment, like Rangle or the guy who thinks Guam will be tipped over by too many marines, is an unintended but merciful comic diversion.

At a recent lecture, Andrew Ross Sorkin spoke about his investigations writing his book Too Big To Fail and opined that most of the principals--perhaps all but Jamie Dimon--really did not understand the problem or its implications.

There are negatives with the people who think that 90% of life is just showing up. It's hard to make progress or a contribution when you are just treading water. Sometimes problems demand specifics, hard thinking and difficult choices. Hard choices usually mean deciding against someone with a good argument, an argument you recognize as good. But in the world of cartoon wrestling characters, everything is straightforward, all the decisions obvious.

Indeed, the only time they show their human side is with deceit.