Via Kris Olds again: Dave being common. Not sure which I prefer, the banana or the beer. (I confess that I find this sort of acting obnoxious whether the politician is a toff or not. Imagine Eric Heffer pretending to be something he wasn’t).
by Harry on February 22, 2011
Via Kris Olds again: Dave being common. Not sure which I prefer, the banana or the beer. (I confess that I find this sort of acting obnoxious whether the politician is a toff or not. Imagine Eric Heffer pretending to be something he wasn’t).
{ 8 comments }
Myles 02.22.11 at 5:44 am
Be thankful you don’t live in the U.S., then.
Oh……
In any case, the whole point of the Call me Dave business is meta; it’s not so much convincing people that he is one of them, as convincing them that he’s actually making a real, ongoing effort. So the more clumsily and self-consciously he grovels, the more obvious the effort, the more people’s egos are pandered, and the more he achieves the objectives of the exercise.
HP 02.22.11 at 6:40 am
Oh, Dear Lord. As a privileged, yet not “upper class” in a meaningful sense, USian, I’m not sure which I prefer either, but the number of lulz per byte on that link is astounding.
Ed Podesta 02.22.11 at 10:08 am
This skit contains my favourite: ‘Cameron Man of the People’ moment. Much of the video is satire, but the bit with Cameron chatting with the workers from Asda is real, and pure gold. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FnmnuDiVno
Bill Gardner 02.22.11 at 11:10 am
I dunno, it looks like Cameron’s better at this than, say, Michael Ignatieff. Or Mitt Romney, who is in his own tier of unintentional comedy.
William Timberman 02.22.11 at 3:40 pm
Myles (@ no. 1) is right. In the U.S., this sort of thing rarely elicits so much as a raised eyebrow anymore. Here everyone is used to inverse Gatsbys, and if no one is who he seems to be, then everyone is safe in his presumption…which is why, in the long run, opposition research is most likely overrated.
Myles 02.22.11 at 11:34 pm
Here everyone is used to inverse Gatsbys, and if no one is who he seems to be, then everyone is safe in his presumption…which is why, in the long run, opposition research is most likely overrated.
When you think about it in a certain way, such obvious grovelling actually serves as democratic affirmation. Why do voters want to see politicians attempt the “common touch” when it’s such a transparent fraud? Because it is an act of submission to and affirmation of the voter, by the politician. The message is, “Yes, by acting in an absurd and grovelling manner, I show I understand that the voter is boss and can dictate my actions, and I serve at the voter’s pleasure.”
William Timberman 02.23.11 at 1:09 am
If only they meant it.
vivian 02.23.11 at 2:01 am
He looks a lot like a younger Jim Belushi in these photos. Surely there is some ironic juxtaposition comedy hiding there but I’m too transfixed by protests to see it.
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