I heard an interview with Glenn Beck on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. I ordinarily avoid Beck. From what little I’ve heard of him, he comes across as a sanctimonious buffoon.
Listening to the interview I was struck by how shallow, trite, and frankly insipid his “message” was. It’s basically a self-help gospel.
However, folks like Beck and Palin are politically useful in their own way. They’re not terribly significant in their own right (although Palin may be the GOP nominee). For the time being they serve as a prism through which agitated voters can focus their disapproval of Obama and the Congressional Democrats. Both of them are riding the crest of Tea Party discontent with the status quo.
I don’t know how much staying power Glen Beck will have in the long run. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a fad. Palin’s future is harder to gauge.
She was damaged in the presidential campaign, but has rebounded. At the moment she’s a force to be reckoned with. A political kingmaker. Whether or not she will fizzle over time remains to be seen.
"(although Palin may be the GOP nominee)."
ReplyDeleteI hope not. I do like her, but where are the Patrick Henrys, or Sam Houstons, or Francos Scott Keys?
Are there any genuine statesmen out there?
I agree with you that there are more qualified potential candidates. But at the moment she's the one with the starpower and the big mo. I'd prefer a candidate with more depth. But we'll see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteGlenn Beck is a Mormon, so I would not expect a lucid exposition of the Gospel from him. However, he is right on when it comes to economics, limited government, socialism, etc. His show on Fox is worth watching. He rarely waxes religious. And although I firmly believe that proper attitudes toward political and economic issues are impossible apart from a Christian worldview, Beck's show has a lot of useful information to offer. And it's not tin-foil-hat stuff either, it's all documented. Forgotten (or rewritten) history, if you will.
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