Philosophical Apprentice & Political Cynic collaborate!
Headline: Mitt Romney, Rory Stewart and the tragedy of politics
Sub-headline: In public life, unlike in business, there is no reward for being right
https://www.ft.com/content/511ea709-a921-4ec2-9a36-34fa1b0216e9
Did Janan Ganesh read David Brooks’ essay in praise for Mitt Romney of September 14, 2023? Its a pressing question? Or just a question of ‘Great Minds Think Alike’ ? probably a question that will remain unanswered ? Brooks essay is a narrative about his own personal redemption, from his own prejudice against Romney, framed by:
I crossed paths with two of Mitt Romney’s sons, and they looked at me with hurt in their eyes, which pierced me. I’d ridiculed people for the sin of being admirable.
This model of Political Kitsch, is a denatured version of Johnathan Edwards!
Editor: a sampler of Ganeshisms
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At least he doesn’t have to podcast. The king’s ransom he made at Bain Capital will ensure that. Whatever disappointments, indignities and mortal threats US politics has visited on Mitt Romney, his retirement needn’t be spent asking people to leave a review on iTunes.
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There are no prizes for being right. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney made healthcare reforms that inspired Obamacare, which now commands about 60 per cent public support. And this isn’t the biggest vindication on his record. A decade before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he identified Russia as a geopolitical threat. The response of the sitting president was to crack a joke.
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Then there was his (eventual) opposition to Donald Trump. It won’t do to overpraise him here. In 2012, he crawled to the then host of The Apprentice for a presidential endorsement, and got it. He was still shilly-shallying as late as 2018. But, when moral clarity came, it was acted upon with physical courage. Romney voted to convict Trump in both impeachment trials.
Editor: I stated that I would restrict my comments to the American context, but Ganesh’s lack of credibility on Stewart’s suggestion about Corbyn, I can’t resist pointing to Stewart, as presented by Ganesh, as the worst of all possible political creatures, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn . ‘This month, he suggested to what is left of the Jeremy Corbyn movement that their man was hard done by’. Mr. Ganesh is incurious? He might read another Newspaper, as a check against his employers publication… ? But The Reader is witness to the whole of the British Press’s dishonesty, that amounts to a conspiracy against Corbyn!
Headline: Anti-Corbyn Labour officials worked to lose general election to oust leader, leaked dossier finds
Sub-headline Call for investigation into ‘possible misuse of funds’ by senior officials on party’s right wing
Labour party officials opposed to Jeremy Corbyn worked to lose the 2017 general election in the hope that a bad result would trigger a leadership contest to oust him, a dossier drawn up by the party suggests.
A huge cache of leaked WhatsApp messages and emails show senior officials from the party’s right wing, who worked at its HQ, became despondent as Labour climbed in the polls during the election campaign despite their efforts.
The unreleased report, which The Independent has seen in full, was drawn up in the last days of Mr Corbyn’s leadership and concerns the conduct of certain officials, including some who were investigating cases of antisemitism in the party. Labour has confirmed the document is a genuine draft, though it is not clear who it was commissioned or written by.
The 860-page document claims that “an abnormal intensity of factional opposition to the party leader” had “inhibited the proper functioning of the Labour Party bureaucracy” and contributed to “a litany of mistakes” in dealing with antisemitism, which it admits was a serious problem in the party.
But the Campaign Against Antisemitism said the document was a “desperate last-ditch attempt to deflect and discredit allegations” and amounted to “an attempt to imagine a vast anti-Corbyn conspiracy”.
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Stewart is not, ultimately, of nation-leading fibre. Like lots of lone wolves who become popular later in life (the podcast he co-hosts, The Rest Is Politics, is a monstrous success), he is too anxious to remain so. This month, he suggested to what is left of the Jeremy Corbyn movement that their man was hard done by. Pandering like this doesn’t exude, to use his favourite word, “seriousness”.
But if these aren’t tragic men, exactly, their stories do reveal politics as a tragic craft: one that offers no incentive to be right.
Editor: I’ll resort to a bit of rhetorical pruning, in the face of Ganesh’s political fabulism:
This newspaper, being at the hinge of politics and business, is a good place from which to observe what each world misunderstands about the other.
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But the larger error is to believe that politics is as meritocratic as business: that one’s record of decisions must determine one’s career prospects. Why this is nonsense shouldn’t need spelling out.
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If there were Russian tanks on Constitution Avenue, Romney would still be accused of not seeing the Kremlin’s point of view.
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Like a Frank Capra film, it suggests that natural justice governs the universe.
Editor: Reader consider ‘Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success’ Mr. Ganesh qualifies as novice, but an avid fan of Hollywood Kitsch. Compare this to his celebration of American Silver -Fork Novelist Tom Wolfe.
“But history will be kind,” he and Romney must hear all the time. So what? In which celestial bank are they meant to cash that particular cheque? And of what solace is it to we who live in such ill-led countries?
Editor: The Philosopher/Banker pose ill suits Ganesh. Long gone are the beguiling apercus.
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