Keep On (Soft) Rocking In The Free World

If there is one group of people less enamored with the Republican slate of presidential contenders than conservatives, it's wuss rockers. You may remember that John Hoosier Mellonhead asked frontronner John McCain to stop usine his awful songs "Our Country" and "Pink Houses" at political rallies. "Pink Houses," for Pete's sake! Is McCain trying to deliver a message about gay marriage?

Not to be outdone, songwriter/guitarist Tom Scholz of the band Boston just asked Mike Huckabee to stop using his anthem to suck, "More Than A Feeling" at his events.

My question is why do these liberal Republicans feel the need to use semi-feel-good soft rock at their events? I trace it back to their desire to be like the defining politician of the last generation, Bill Clinton.

Clinton was what this generation of Republicans aspire to be on many levels. First of all, he was successful at getting elected. Second, he was able to parlay his lust for power into real power by avoiding a true governing philosophy. A tax increaser after his election, he swung over to a welfare reformer when the country moved right on him. Today's Republicans aspire to govern not from a philosophical viewpoint, but from a pragmatic agenda. It's so much easier than actually trying to lead. However, actually being a Clinton is a strategy already taken by one of the Democratic contenders, so our Republicans have to settle for being like him.

One of the defining moments in Clinton's rise to power in 1992 was the at the Democratic convention. As the Clintons and Gores stood on the dais, the soft-rock of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" blared. The next thing we saw was a big election victory.

I, for one, felt much better when Republicans didn't choose crappy soft-rock as their campaign themes just like Democrats. No, the world was better when Republicans chose crappy country music.