McCain and the modern insult...

The John McCain team has allowed its wrinkled lips to utter what must surely be one of the greatest insults of the modern age by referring to rival Barack Obama as "a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mind-set". The criticism came yesterday whilst McCain's Republican campaign criticised Obama for backing the successful prosecution of terrorists.

Obama responded to the vilification by stating that he was no longer prepared to take lectures from Republicans about who will keep America safer. Whatever he thinks though, McCain's choice of words is surely one that demonstrates the modern pyschology of the Republican world - which basically seems to think that there are two kinds of people these days, those who feel that the world should be cloaked under the constant paranoia and mystery of terrorist threats, and those other arseholes who feel that they will one day be able to return to the way of life that prevailed on September 10th 2001.

Technically, the phrase 'a September 10th mind-set' could be applied to the description of anybody that is living in the past, either ironically or otherwise: Gordon Brown has a September the 10th mind-set if he feels that New Labour's popularity will ever match that of the Blair years, for example. David Cameron has a September the 10th mind-set regarding the relevance of Thatcherism in modern Britain. Boris Johnson's hairdo shows a particularly strong September the 10th mind-set regarding fashion trends. The possibilities are endless...

On a more literal note though, the phrase shows how divided the American political scene is with regards to national security post 9/11. Under the Bush administration the American public has had little choice in how it dealt with the situation. Next year's election will not just be about just choosing a new president, but also about choosing how to deal with the issues of freedom that the Americans and their constitution used to care so much about on the days before the Twin Towers collapsed.

Written by Oli Anderson on 18 Jun 2008 1:55 PM. Permalink