The Peanuts of Politics

[A'elian' nation]

Charles Schultz was rather shrewd with his cartoon strips of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown to kick. Nothing encapsulates and mocks better the chicanery of the political processes of our government. Of course Nancy Pelosi is Lucy. Or it could be Harry Reid or Obama or any democrat or media hack. They draw lines in the sand just to draw another when stepped across. The ball will always be yanked on our republican Charlie Browns.

Boehner is our Charlie Brown of the moment. Surely, Lucy won’t yank the ball if I propose the same taxes on the rich that Pelosi and Schumer put on the table not long ago, he may have been thinking. Boehner himself probably wasn’t much surprised to find himself sucking air and finding himself on his back again. Lucy tucks her ball away and admits that those tax ideas of hers were just a bargaining ploy.

But then there is Schroeder. Schroeder beguiles Lucy. She is enamored of his musical mastery, intelligence, and charm. But Schroeder is an unattainable idealistic enigma. He lives in his own world which to Lucy must be a better world for all. But Lucy knows she barely exists in Schroeder’s world, and that torments her. All her guile is for naught.

We all know that politicians have multiple personalities. It is not only a resume enhancer but a job requirement. I know I am stretching beyond all credulity here, but what if Boehner has a Charlie Brown/Schroeder personality disorder? After all, Charlie Brown and Schroeder were best of friends. As Charlie Brown, Boehner allows himself to be humiliated by the constant swats at the ball acceding to one democrat proposal after another knowing that he is just playing their game and that the Lucys will never accept any compromise. It worked for Obama and his bowing to the world tour. One must give the appearance of being accommodating to be loved.

So over the cliff we go and over the cliff we must for this madcap scenario to work. Once over the cliff, Boehner transforms into Schroeder. Lucy is nonexistent to him, and he is impervious to all her ploys and entreaties. Now is the time for pain to be felt and felt it must. Schroeder now commences to compose his tax masterpiece. He puts in the finishing chords and notations. He holds out till the midterm elections. Any compromise before the midterm would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Charlie Brown had gone to the mat yielding and compromising to no avail. Now Schroeder will take it to the goal line.

In two years time the country will be desperate for tax relief during the Obama recession. Republicans can play the card they play best - cutting taxes. Lucy will be desperate to staunch further House and Senate losses. Obama will be embroiled in some Second Term Curse.

Should work like a charm if only he can become Schroeder. We know he is a great Charlie Brown.

[Made In The USA]

We wouldn’t have to worry about Lucy pulling the football away IF folks like Bonehead had the stones to say “Screw you, we’re not going to budge, I’m going to make sure Americans understand what you’re doing to them, you know our terms, don’t come back to the table until you’re ready to make an acceptable offer.”

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[Mr. K]

I get the Charlie Brown/Lucy analogy- but the Schroeder one escapes me completely- unless the author is saying that Boner THINKS he has the adoration

[Parmy]

I have given this analogy in several discussions that I have had with friends and relatives, both conservative and liberal.

[A'elian' nation]

To me Schroeder represents cool detached dispassion. It is the equivalent of walking away from it all. We could go over the cliff and Schroeder would continue with his sonata. We could use some of that and not act like the world is coming to an end. Do nothing for two years until the midterm elections. Pain has to be felt before the republicans can effectively use their tax-cut trump card.

Schroeder, in Lucy’s eyes, is also the unattainable ideal. He is the intelligentsia and utopia all democrats admire and want to attain. That is and always will be the downfall and undoing of the other side. They will never find perfection in man. In that sense the analogy holds.

The analogy fails in the republican sense as they will always be looked upon as troglodytes, but that striving for secular perfection is the Achilles heel of the progressive/fascist party. But if the republicans hold to Schroeder’s benign neglect of Lucy then there is something to the analogy.

The analogy holds in the democratic sense in the way Lucy promises all to Schroeder to win his affections (votes) to build her unattainable dream of total governmental control. Schroeder is her utopia.

Of course, both the intelligentsia ( Schroeder ) and the faux proletariat ( Lucy) will find their end in endless secular pursuits of perfection. When there is no longer enough of other people’s money.

[A'elian' nation]

Thanks for the cartoon.