BY C.A. CHASE

In print | Published November 13, 2008

The election of our president-to-be threatens cynicism’s central position vis-à-vis politics. I’ll be frank. It’s hard not to raise an eyebrow in appraising appreciation when the current James Bond thinks that Obama would give him a run for the money. It seems that the public (here, liberal) may be inching away from a jaded view of the government. (I guess I could point out that Obama only won a little over half of the electorate, leaving some of my right-wing facebook friends posting messages about moving to Canada. But conservatives gnashing their teeth over an Obama win don’t have The Daily Show, The Onion, et al. in their arsenal. Therefore, the power of snark lies in the realm of Obama.) But if this is the case, then it’s only temporary.

Why are we jaded? Ignoring sociopathic ad men who start pushing Christmas decorations in September, whoever thought up Palin porn, and the demonic rise of Miley Cyrus, the ‘slice n’ bake’ answer is politicians.

Slice ’n’ bake as may be, it is to overstate the role of cynicism in mediating politics with our lives. Why would people watch TV pundits if they didn’t feel some sort of disconnect? Hopefully you’d only let someone else think for you if you didn’t really care for what you were supposed to think about.
Other than the fact that most politicos aren’t the greatest of orators is the fact thatthat the whole soliciting-sex-in-Minneapolis-restrooms-money-laundering game is a bit alienating. We orient ourselves via snark towards politics because if you feel like you don’t have any voice in the way things are run, you might as well blow smoke rings at the world. And guess what? An ex-smoker is running our country.

Though at first glance, an uncontested, optimistic winner makes for a healthy relationship between the White House and the public, the prospect of leaving jaded behind is more than a little jarring. What would politics be without the cynicism? I get the feeling that a lesser sense of political despair is going to have a hand in bringing about the apocalypse, and there’s not a damn thing any one of us can do about it; in a weird way the federal government is predicated upon people being: (a) pissed off, or (b) indifferent towards politics.

And let’s not forget the attractions of the whatever, it doesn’t matter, black coffee n’ cigarettes mentality, the slick swift slide toward personal entropy.

There’s a certain style, a certain glamour to not giving a damn, even if it kills us all in the end (if you think I kid, think about the healthcare system). Beyond the surface of cynicism is often a lack of engagement, the feeling that you can’t do anything about the way things are.

Cynicism then renders the world livable, through sarcasm, without meaning that you have to take responsibility for it. But once “that world” is run by someone intent on fixing the economy, healthcare, education, our two wars, etc. etc., what do you do?

If all the hip lads and lasses who said that the world won’t listen were of the subset that voted for Senator O., then it appears that the world did listen, if only for a bit. The chance of an unclouded relationship with power may just do the trick for not putting up with politicians with horrible speaking skills and track records.

Hopefully we’ll be a little less likely to put up with alienating politicians, if only because the whole “-gate” suffix is getting more than a little stale.

C.A. Chase is a sophomore. She can be reached at cchase1@swarthmore.edu.

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