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Jewish World Review
May 6, 2013/ 26 Iyar, 5773
When governing is seen as a game, we all lose
By
Dana Milbank
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
President Obama said once again this week that Syria’s “use of chemical weapons would be a game-changer.”
The president had played this game many times before. “I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game-changer,” he said in March, in one of his administration’s many repetitions of the term. But what game does Obama propose to change? “By ‘game-changer,’ ” ABC News’s Jonathan Karl asked himTuesday, “do you mean U.S. military action?” The coach was not about to share his playbook. “By game-changer, I mean that we would have to rethink the range of options,” he volleyed. Is it too late in the game to challenge Obama’s use of this sports metaphor to respond to Syria? The very real possibility that the Bashar al-Assad regime is about to use nerve agents to kill tens of thousands of people is not a “game.” Game-changer — which has made its way from sports to business to politics and now to diplomacy — has replaced the “red line,” a term more easily understood by rogue regimes thinking of defying the United States. Game-change is a lazy reference, but that’s only part of the problem. The term is one data point in the larger trend toward viewing government as a sporting contest, a series of games won and lost. In the perpetual battle to put a “W” in the column of the R’s (in the red jerseys) or the D’s (in blue), the sports talk helps the political class to forget the real human consequences to their games. Obama and others in his administration have used the term in reference to food marketing standards (“truly a game-changer,” said the first lady), the JOBS Act (“a potential game-changer,” said the president), AmeriCorps, childhood-obesity prevention, Title IX, digital tutors, natural gas from shale, the Internet, the Independent Medicare Advisory Council, conversations about immigration, rail improvements, cyberspace research and foreign-aid standards.
So, when the president warns Syria that chemical weapons are a game-changer, is Assad to assume that he is using the term in the childhood-obesity sense or the Medicare sense? Game-changer arrived in politics during the Bush administration, becoming a cliche in 2008 with John McCain’s “game-changing” nomination of Sarah Palin as his running mate and the subsequent book and movie “Game Change.” (A previous political book by one of the “Game Change” co-authors was titled “The Way to Win.”) Now it is ubiquitous, applied by politicians and journalists to the NBA’s Jason Collins, Michael Jackson’s medical records, Sen. Marco Rubio, the U.S. military presence in Asia, the Boston Marathon bombing, health care tax credits, over-the-counter birth control, AIDS research and just about everything else. Search the Nexis database for news-outlet uses of “game-changer” over the past month, and you are told “This search has been interrupted because it will return more than 3,000 results.” Leading the pack in the race to treat governing as sport is Politico, publisher of the daily Playbook. In recent weeks, that publication and the people it has quoted have described the following as game-changers: Karl Rove’s data project, public financing of elections, the fight over the Keystone pipeline, consumer regulations, the Sandy Hook shooting, entitlement-program cuts, renewable energy, personal data disclosure, a conservative documentary, the White House chief of staff, Mitt Romney’s 47 percent video, research tax credits, Fox News, universal preschool and a decision by Politico’s publisher to sell off his television assets. In the current fight over budget cuts, Washington seems to be suffering a late onset of March Madness. Journalists provide color commentary while Democrats and Republicans compete on the field. Some headlines from recent weeks: “Sequestration: GOP wins.” “Why Republicans won’t win a sequester showdown.” “The sequester: A long-term win for the GOP.” “Republicans are losing the sequestration battle.” “Republicans win a round.” “What Republicans have to lose in the sequestration.” “The Democrats have lost on sequestration.” “GOP losing sequester blame game.” Missing from all of this color commentary? The real “losers” in the budget-cut fights: thousands of cancer patients turned away from clinics that could no longer pay for their treatments; the seniors and the disabled going hungry because their Meals on Wheels have been discontinued; the parents of preschoolers booted out of the Head Start program. For them, and for the people of Syria awaiting a sarin gas attack from the sky, what happens in Washington isn’t an athletic contest. Let’s level the playing field for them, and put a red line around the whole notion that governing is a game.
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Previously:
• 05/02/13 Mark Sanford's comedy of errors
• 05/01/13 Presidential bystander: Obama has already lost control of his agenda
• 04/29/13 A Washington weekend of honor and dishonor
• 04/26/13 Conservatives rebel against GOP leaders
• 04/24/13 Military tribunals don't work
• 04/23/13 A lack of appetite for Sen. Mike Lee
• 04/17/13 Washington moves on
• 04/16/13 At Supreme Court, cookies and baseball bats
• 04/15/13 A Senate stirred by a message from the heart
• 04/12/13 Rand Paul goes to Howard University in peace, receives quiet
• 04/11/13 Libs get angry at prez's triangulation
• 04/13/13 The new protest recipe: Less disruption from demonstrators on the Left
• 04/08/13 Obama's feeble salary 'sacrifice'
• 04/04/13 Hagel pulls rank -- with caution -- on thinning the ranks
• 04/03/13 The NRA has effectively disarmed its critics
• 04/01/13 Obama on guns ---- he's missed his chance
• 03/22/13 Obama in Israel: The presidential tourist
• 03/21/13 On Syria, Iraq's shadow is long
• 03/20/13 Standing with Rand, nervously
• 03/19/13 The Grand Old Punt
• 03/18/13 Conservative Confab Turns Into A Three-Day Therapy Session
• 03/14/13 Republicans go after Obamacare. Again.
• 03/13/13 Paul Ryan's magical budget
• 03/12/13 The limits of charm
• 03/04/13 The same old song: In Washington, everyone fights rather than solves
• 02/26/13 Sequester? No problem. To the moon!
• 02/25/13 GOP governors make peace with Obamacare
• 02/21/13 For Jesse Jackson Jr., the rules do apply
• 02/20/13 A grand bargain on life support
• 02/18/13 Lindsey Graham's no deal
• 02/14/13 A Lew-dicrous loophole
• 02/13/13 Let the bleak times roll
• 02/12/13 Senator of the evening: Bob Menendez has been selling his influence
• 02/11/13 'Trust me' is not enough on drone warfare
• 02/07/13 Chip off the Paul block: How will Rand separate from his father?
• 02/06/13 Empty talk, happy talk
• 02/05/13 John Kerry, finally where he belongs
• 02/04/13 With a friend like Jim Inhofe ...
• 01/29/13 Rubio's immigration 'reality' show
• 01/27/13 Ryan And Pence Represent Polar Opposites Of GOP
• 01/24/13 Congress's daffy duck saga
• 01/22/13 So much for unity: Obama's speech failed to rise to the moment
• 01/21/13 Less an inauguration than a tepid rerun
• 01/03/13 The GOP's savior
• 01/03/13 Boehner defined by a Sandy sidestep
• 12/21/12 Obama in focus, yet all over the map
• 12/20/12 A deal or a mutiny
• 12/13/12 Joe Lieberman's sad send-off
• 12/10/12 Post-thought think tank: Why DeMint and Heritage are a perfect pair
• 12/06/12 Republicans wave the white flag
• 12/05/12 Romney's last duty
• 12/04/12 Obama's poor efforts at transparency
• 12/03/12 The urge to purge: Rational Republicans defy purists at their own peril
• 11/30/12 The naked 'fiscal' truth: Lawmakers can't hide the lack of progress
• 11/28/12 Santorum's new cause: opposing the disabled
• 11/20/12 Norquist in defeat
• 11/19/12 Susan Rice's tarnished resume
• 11/15/12 Let those poor states secede
• 11/12/12 Whole lot of blaming going on
• 11/08/12 At Romney headquarters, the defeat of the 1 percent
• 11/07/12 Why I voted Republican
• 11/06/12 Romney's new tune
• 11/01/12 The Supreme Court's dog-day afternoon
• 10/31/12 A perfect political storm
• 10/29/12 Behind the Clinton 'bromance,' a stealth campaign
• 10/25/12 A Trumped-up bomb
• 10/24/12 Groupthink Live: How conventional wisdom congeals in 2012
• 10/23/12 The sound of worldviews not colliding
• 10/22/12 The tea party is helping Dems
• 10/18/12 Moderate Mitt wins conservatives' blessings
• 10/16/12 Reid's latest salvos are beneath the dignity of his office
• 10/08/12 Obama pays price for ducking the questions
• 10/05/12 Mitt Romney holds his own -- and then some -- in first debate
• 10/03//12 The Zinger candidacy --- all sugary platitudes, no protein
• 09/25/12 Obama makes room for 'The View'
• 08/17/12 Hateful speech on 'hate' groups: The Family Research Council is no KKK
• 08/16/12 Now Dems are employing harsh tactics
• 08/14/12 Paul Ryan on soapbox at Iowa State Fair
• 08/13/12 Romney's welfare gambit
• 08/07/12 Harry Reid's latest broadside
• 07/26/12 Romney can't have it both ways on defense spending, tax cuts
• 07/19/12 Ron Paul, fed up
• 07/17/12 The rotten results of one-party rule
• 07/11/12 The missing giants of the Senate
• 07/09/12 Representative Gaffe
• 07/02/12 The umpire strikes back
• 06/25/12 Norquist delivers the GOP's marching orders
• 06/19/12 The left, feeling left out
• 06/18/12 Skip the falsehoods, Mr. President, and give us a plan
• 06/15/12 The Wall Street Senate
• 06/13/12 Jeb Bush's heresy
• 06/12/12 Pileup at the White House
• 06/11/12 Obama's fate could be in Europe's hands
• 06/04/12 Welcome to Camp Competitive
• 05/31/12 Digging a racial grave
• 05/30/12 A new conspiracy theory: Is Romney a unicorn?
• 05/29/12 Do Republicans really want to clone one for the Gipper?
• 05/24/12 Obama's protectors are under the microscope
• 05/22/12 Obama's Old World mess: Allies are coming up short at a key moment
• 05/16/12 Where have all the candidates gone?
• 05/15/12 Barack Obama, the first female president
• 05/14/12 Irrationality wins: Voter cure for Congress's failures will likely backfire
• 05/08/12 Obama's marriage mess: His advisers scramble to clean up his 'evolution'
• 05/07/12 Taking out Dick Lugar
• 05/03/12 Gingrich may have ended campaign, but he will remain out of this world
• 05/02/12 Our do-almost-nothing Congress
• 05/01/12 President Obama, campaigner in chief
• 04/25/12 Romney's immigration Etch a Sketch
• 04/23/12 A congressional deal on immigration? Dream on
• 04/19/12 Dems battle back against Republican 'war on women'
• 04/18/12 Debauchery: An American govermental specialty
• 04/17/12 Silent witness
• 04/12/12 Rebuffing Obama's gimmicky 'Buffett Rule'
• 04/11/12 Santorum's Gettysburg surrender
• 04/09/12 The facts vs. Mitt Romney
• 04/06/12 Mitt Romney, talking to the press, keeps the press at a distance
• 04/05/12 From tracking al-Qaeda to tracking the wayward spouse
• 04/04/12 Budget cuts as back-door deregulation
• 03/26/12 My pet Mitt
• 03/22/12 Mitt Romney's latest gaffe may be etched in history
• 03/20/12 Supreme Court conceives of life after death
• 03/15/12 Conservative for Obama: The British PM as campaign prop
• 03/14/12 In Section 60, a silent search for meaning
• 03/13/12 Super Friends, unite
• 03/12/12 It's time to believe: Romney's a winner
• 03/07/12 Settling in to Washington's ways
• 03/06/12 AIPAC beats the drums of war
• 03/05/12 Did Republicans forget the women's vote?
• 02/29/12 Mitt Romney's acceptance speech, in (mostly) his own words
• 02/28/12 Common ground becomes a great divide
• 02/27/12 An expert witness for the GOP gender gap
• 02/21/12 Where Romney shines
• 02/15/12 A Republican death wish?
• 02/14/12Obama's budget games
• 02/13/12 Are GOPers playing right into Obama's hands?
• 02/08/12 Obama pumps the compressor of Joe Hudy's Extreme Marshmallow Cannon
• 02/07/12 Abramoff's atonement
• 02/01/12 Why we in the media just love Newt
• 01/31/12 The end of the road for Newt Gingrich?
• 01/25/12 Gingrich is Obama's best surrogate
• 01/24/12 Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney's attack dog
• 01/16/12 Mitt Romney's Al Gore problem
• 01/12/12 Kamikaze Gingrich, on the loose in South Carolina
• 01/11/12 Journalists' campaign trail secrets revealed
• 01/10/12 Mitt Romney's money problem
• 01/09/12 Newtonian exceptionalism
• 01/05/12 Mitt Romney out of control
• 01/04/12 Indecision 2012: In Iowa and the GOP
• 01/03/12 Rick Santorum's curious closing argument
• 12/28/11 A few cracks in my crystal ball
• 12/23/11 A few cracks in my crystal ball
• 12/20/11 Strange brews and views?
• 12/19/11 Cellphone ban would be a distraction
• 12/15/11 Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell and the Malfunction Minuet
• 12/14/11 The presidential auction of 2012
• 12/12/11 Newt's tactics comes back to haunt him
• 12/06/11 Can an anthem save Occupy non-movement?
• 12/05/11 The winner of the GOP campaign: Washington
• 11/30/11 Barney the bully: Congressman Frank's other legacy
• 11/23/11 Jon Kyl's search-and-destroy mission
• 11/21/11 Pay to play, brought to you by Washington
• 11/17/11 Big enough to save the supercommittee?
• 11/16/11 Why Newt Gingrich won't last
• 11/08/11 The 2012 campaign gets seedier
• 11/06/11 A Machiavellian model for Obama
• 11/03/11 The Herman Cain crack-up
• 11/01/11 Cain can --- he will survive
• 10/27/11 Stuntmen of the supercommittee
• 10/26/11 Democrats on the sidelines
• 10/24/11 Rick Perry's birther Parade
• 10/24/11 The birthers eat their own
• 10/19/11 The GOP's middle man
• 10/17/11 The waiting for nothing Congress
• 10/12/11 Sparsely occupied D.C.: Why the movement hasn't caught on
• 10/10/11 Can Obama strike an alliance with Occupy Wall Street?
• 10/06/11 Chris Christie, such a presidential tease
• 10/05/11 Obama and his foot soldiers go toe to toe
• 09/28/11 Cain could deliver
• 09/26/11 Republicans? Mr. Nice Guys?
• 09/22/11 Why Ron Paul is winning the GOP primary
• 09/21/11 I am a job creator who creates no jobs
• 09/20/11 Obama launches a revolution
• 09/19/11 Dems for Romney?
• 09/14/11 ‘Supercommittee’? More than stupor committee
• 09/07/11 Mitt Romney finds his (corporate) voice
• 09/01/11 The infallible Dick Cheney
• 08/31/11 This liberal says Perry is the ultimate conservative candidate
• 08/29/11 Wanted: More bite from Obama the Great Nibbler
• 08/10/11 How Rep. Austin Scott betrayed his Tea Party roots
• 08/09/11 The most powerful man on Earth?
• 08/08/11 The FAA shutdown and the new rules of Washington
• 08/04/11 Lt. Col. Allen West fires a round at the Tea Party
• 08/03/11 Government on autopilot
• 08/02/11 Dems mourn debt deal like death
• 07/27/11 Life imitates sport
• 07/26/11 Obama and Boehner take on Washington
• 07/21/11 Why Americans are angry at Congress
• 07/20/11 The new party of Reagan
• 07/18/11 Rob Portman, the boring Midwesterner who could bring sanity to the debt debate
• 07/13/11 John Boehner's bind
• 07/04/11 Stephen Colbert, Karl Rove and the mockery of campaign finance
• 07/01/11 President Puts Up His Dukes, As He Ought To
• 06/28/11 Rod Blagojevich verdict: All shook up
• 06/27/11 Progressives voice their anger at Obama
• 06/24/11 ‘Mission accomplished,’ Obama style
• 06/22/11 Jon Huntsman's first step toward oblivion
• 06/21/11 Scott Walker finds making bumper stickers is easier than creating jobs
• 06/20/11 A day of awkwardness with Mitt Romney
• 06/06/11 Hubris and humility: Sarah Palin and Robert Gates on tour
• 06/02/11 The Weiner roast
• 06/01/11 Congress clocks in to clock out
• 05/30/11 Hermanator II: No More Mr. Gadfly
• 05/24/11 How Obama has empowered Netanyahu
• 05/24/11 Pawlenty bends his truth-telling
• 05/20/11 Default deniers say it's all a hoax
• 05/18/11: Gingrich gives voice to moderation
• 05/17/11: Donald Trump and the House of Horrors
• 05/16/11: The medical mystery of Mitt Romney
• 05/12/11: The body impolitic: Schock photos should tempt lawmakers to cover up
• 05/10/11: Muskets in hand, tea party blasts House Republicans
• 05/09/11: The GOP debate: America -- and the party -- needs the grown-ups
• 05/05/11: Mitch Daniels, an alternative to scary
• 05/03/11: Obama's victory lap
• 05/02/11: How the journalist prom got out of control
• 04/28/11: Obama's birther day: Why did he lower himself by appearing in the briefing room?
• 04/27/11: Obama, lost in thought
• 04/24/11: Andrew Breitbart and the rifts on the right
• 04/22/11: Ten Commandments for 2012
• 04/21/11: Obama likes Facebook. Facebook likes Obama.
• 04/18/11: Without Nancy Pelosi, Obama is adrift
• 04/15/11: If progressives ran the world
• 04/14/11: Faith in political apostasy
• 04/13/11: One man's revolution is another's political expediency
• 04/11/11: Shutdown theatrics
• 04/06/11: Paul Ryan's irresponsible budget
• 04/05/11: Robots in Congress? Yes, we replicant!
• 04/04/11: Robert Gibbs, Facebook and the White House corporate placement service
• 04/01/11: Haley Barbour, the fat cats' candidate
• 03/31/11: Republican freshmen in House shut down compromise, and possibly the government
• 03/30/11: Coburn and Durbin, the dynamic duo of the debt crisis
• 03/28/11: The Obama doctrine: A gray area the size of Libya
• 03/24/11: Dems as Weiners
• 03/23/11: Obama's quick trip from tyrant to weakling
• 03/17/11: Who's afraid of Elizabeth Warren?
• 03/15/11: The underwear flap over Bradley Manning
• 03/10/11: In Senate's debt debate, talk isn't cheap
• 03/09/11: With Obama's new Gitmo policy, Administration officials had some 'splainin to do
• 03/02/11: Issa press aide scandal is like bad reality TV
• 02/25/11: Jay Carney: Mouthpiece for an inscrutable White House
• 02/14/11: The Donald trumps the pols at CPAC
• 02/09/11: Arianna Huffington's ideological transformation
© 2011, Washington Post Writers Group
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