Word: wasps
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...common image of a U.S. Secretary of State is that of Dean Acheson, Cyrus Vance, James Baker -- a suave Wasp lawyer, slender and urbane, who probably rowed at Yale or Princeton. But Lawrence Eagleburger, the new Acting Secretary, looks like the Michelin man with a cane. He once had an exercise bike fitted with a special rack so he could read diplomatic cables; it stood unused so long it was finally removed, and now he's ballooned to more than 250 lbs. He's had a knee-replacement operation, takes steroids for a muscle disorder, and has been spotted with...
...ways of the Wasp linger today, despite condoms and Madonna. America attracts hard workers from abroad and breeds them at home, whatever Japanese politicians may think. Thomas Jefferson could still vaguely recognize our politics (Aaron Burr would certainly recognize our dirty politics). Survey after survey finds that Americans are the most religious people in the industrialized world, and the seriousness with which we take our sex scandals amazes cynical Europeans...
...stumbling blocks to acknowledging and proclaiming such once obvious truths may be the figure of George Bush, who is the most visible Wasp in America right now. But Bush is more post-Wasp than genuine article. Thomas Jefferson didn't think in cliches and speak in mush. There is also a lot worse in Wasp history than George Bush's inarticulateness, with slavery standing at the top of the list. The best defense of Waspdom is that it always included people who saw that slavery was wrong, and when it came to a fight, they won the war and (thanks...
...racial dimension flows naturally into the political, where the uglier side of Quayle's mission begins to become apparent. One of Quayle's amazing but unlikable feats last week was metaphorically to transform old Willie Horton into a beautiful blond fortyish wasp has-it-all knockout. (Horton was the black murderer who raped a housewife while on furlough during the time that 1988 Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts; the Bush campaign used Horton to ridicule Dukakis.) So in 1992, by Quayle's interesting subliminal design, Murphy carries at least some of Willie's message: mindless liberalism allied...
...Personae into shape. The book promises to be a whopper, the author's thoughts on a lifetime of blustery enthusiasm for popular culture. The sport section, for instance, will deal with baseball vs. football: Paglia is passionately in favor of the latter. Baseball she considers an academic pastime: "Wasp, cerebral, Protestant." Football, on the other hand, she wishes she could have played: "The rhythms of my writing are high impact. Colleagues have seen my ability to look downfield and see pockets of trouble. And I hit them...