The Evolution Of A Political Genius - Chicanery, Democracy's Most Saleable Product

Tommy Bowdoin had been an unusual child - intellectually precocious and with good humor and obedience - but what made him stand out was his engaging charm.  Adults were drawn to his manner, his attentiveness, and his genuinely affectionate comments. 

'That's a lovely dress you are wearing, Mrs. Thomas', he said to the dowager aunt of his mother who had come down from Millinocket to spend the weekend.  Tommy's mother was somewhat of a Gertrude Stein or Pamela Harriman, women who were naturally social and created congenial social spaces for others. 

 

'Why, thank you Tommy', the old woman said, 'and aren't you kind to say so?' to which Tommy gave her a broad smile which erased any hint of flattery or ulterior motive.  The dowager smiled back, charmed and feeling somewhat prized. Offhanded, meaningless flattery was the stock-in-trade of modern life; but this innocent recognition, this sensitive observation from a child? Now, that was different. 

Of course it was difficult to know what really was behind little Tommy's smiling generosity.  Blandishment? Something learned and practiced from his socialite mother? Some nascent understanding of people's willingness to take others at face value? 

Whatever it was, this ability, or better this talent, was endearing to others; for as the elderly Mrs. Thomas realized, what more sincere, honest, and meaningful feeling than that expressed by a child? 

Such sincere expression became his calling card, his ticket to admission to every clique and every club no matter how exclusive.  The boy had an uncanny talent for judging others, for understanding exactly what aspirations, concerns, or ambitions they had and how to address them.  Whether dress, ability, looks, acuity, or intelligence, Tommy knew how to elicit a smile of appreciation and even fondness. 

It was no surprise that he was elected to every school office, selected prom king, and given the lead in the school play.  Charm, he found, was indeed the key to success. 

Of course such an ability does not come without a sharp intelligence - it is no mean feat to hear a ticking heart, or so it was how Sister Mary Joseph described it when the boy expressed a particularly beautiful sentiment about Jesus and his divine compassion - and as he got older, Tommy began to realize the authority he had over others.

'The boy's got a silver tongue', remarked his proud father, using a correct but inapt metaphor (the boy was simply too young to understand the manipulative power of eloquence).  Tommy even as a youngster was beginning to realize how easy it was to flatter with a purpose, how human exchange is rarely an objective, factual thing, but one of easy compliment, courtesy, and gesture. 

It was not to Kant, Schopenhauer, or Aristotle that the boy turned for education but Hollywood, the megachurch, and Madison Avenue.  He was fascinated at the ease with which movie moguls turned out the most emotionally dishonest films and made a fortune; or how thousands rose up out of their pews shouting 'Praise the Lord', then dropping to their feet in abject devotion; or how the touts of advertising made millions for their clients with cuteness, humor, and cultural savvy. 

Most tellingly, he wondered at the ability of politicians to sell a bill of goods to credulous voters without a touch of irony, without a scintilla of doubt.  Promises were made which were never intended to be fulfilled - politics was a marvelous Disneyland dream machine no different from Hollywood's but far more consequential.  Money was the currency in Washington, not tears. 

So it was not surprising that the boy, now a young man with a solid education behind him, turned to electoral politics as his calling.  He was now self-aware, estimating his talents and abilities without exaggeration; and as importantly understanding that politics, like every other remunerative enterprise, was a shell game.  It wasn't so much fooling the people and leaving them with nothing, but fooling them into buying what you were selling. Without claiming to be one, Tommy had become a true American. 

He was master of the perfect storm - charm and a silver tongue to express it; an appreciation for image and the credulousness of the observer; the amorality of buying and selling; and the beautiful, wide-open spaces of democracy. 

While communism restricted tomfoolery to the ruling party, democracy is a free-for-all.  Snake oil salesmen are everywhere.  There's a buck to be made on every streetcorner, a voter to be invited into the big tent of progressivism, a lost soul to be brought to Jesus.  A marvelous, untamed, uninhibited side show; and for people like Tommy Bowdoin, a gold mine. 

His mastery of policy was a piece of the charade. Politics might be all smoke and mirrors but just in case the air cleared for a moment, a good politician needs a few facts and figures at hand.  One of the finest conmen in recent memory was Rudy Kurniawan, a young man who bilked credulous wine investors out of millions, selling them dreck in fancy, falsely aged bottles and convincing them it was the finest of Baron de Rothschild's personal collection.

Rudy had one of the finest wine palates ever, and it was this special talent which gave him the credibility he needed to fool others.  He included some very fine wine in his offerings, and often a legitimately great bottle of wine for future investors - all as cover for the scam which prosecutors called the spawn of Bernie Madoff. 

The point being that Tommy collected just enough facts and figures to sound legitimate when proposing policy.  A few crumbs of objectivity was enough for the public he was to represent.

His rise in political visibility was not surprising.  He was made for American electoral politics.  No one was more suited than he to buy, sell, barter, and trade without the fetters of moral compunction. He was the very incarnation of P.T. Barnum, Billy Sunday, Amy Temple McPherson, snake oil salesmen, Ponzi scheme orchestra leaders, and Wall Street magicians.  

Politics is a no-lose situation.  While Rudy Kurniawan, Bernie Madoff, or the Enron shysters had a lot to lose if they were found out - and they were - a politician puts nothing at risk with his empty promises and desultory performance once in office.  If he can convince his constituency that he is their man, that is more than enough to foster and continue a profitable career. 

A character as well-suited to American politics as Tommy Bowdoin was needless to say never without female company. That same marvelous combination of charm, a silver tongue, and a lack of any irony or moral restraint led him to some of the finest sexual conquests in Washington.  Women, like the voters of his state, simply could not resist him. 

He is still on his political way up.  Still a young man he has plenty of time and opportunity to climb the Washington ladder, but kingmakers on both sides of the aisle have him in their sights, and certainly sooner rather than later he will be a name to remember.