T-Paw’s fake 'wimp factor' problem

Like others, I've poked fun at Tim Pawlenty's "toughness problem" as it is perceived in the media. For writers and comedians alike, the GOP candidates are the gifts that keep on giving. But to be fair to T-Paw, the mocking is grossly unfair. Adam Serwer hits the nail on the head: "Does Tim Pawlenty have a “toughness problem?” Or do we have a media problem?" It is, of course, the latter.

Serwer wrote:

At the last Republican debate, CNN’s John King gave Pawlenty an easy opening to repeat his “Obamaneycare” dig at presumptive GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney directly. Pawlenty declined. That lead to a series of stories questioning whether Pawlenty is “tough enough” to be president.

Ever since Al Gore, the press has engaged in a practice of latching on to some perceived personality flaw in a particular presidential candidate and shoehorning all their coverage of that candidate into that frame. With Barack Obama, it’s that he’s too "aloof." With Mitt Romney it’s that he’s insincere. Now Pawlenty is in danger of facing a similar media meme about his supposed "lack of toughness." As Jonathan Chait wrote a few weeks ago about this phenomenon, "An Al Gore problem results in the media ganging up on a candidate like cool kids mocking a geek, with literally everything he’s doing serving as more evidence for the predetermined narrative." The high school metaphor seems particularly apt when we’re talking about questioning someone’s qualifications to be president based on their ability to level a schoolyard taunt at their rivals.

Consider this: What would you call a tall, lanky man everyone amiably called "Skin" who volunteered to serve his country during wartime, flew his fighter-bomber into intense anti-aircraft fire, completed his bomb run despite the fire consuming the plane's engine, stayed aloft for several miles more to let his crew bail-out, successfully crash-landed his plane in the ocean, went on to fly flew 58 more combat missions, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals? Most of us would call this man incredibly brave. In my book, such a man is the definition of hero. That man was George H.W. Bush. Yet, during his bid for president years later, the media labeled him a "wimp" based mostly on his awkward speaking style and modest manner. That kinda says it all, doesn't it? (Read the infamous Newsweek piece that fueled the "Wimp Factor" fire in 1987.)

It's no crime to laugh at the idiosyncrasies of our politicians. In fact, it's healthy. Unfortunately, we've created a media environment where caricatures can flourish and juvenile taunts can define a candidate's character to the point of effecting election outcomes. What is perhaps most worrying is that nothing will change until we've gone a bridge too far, and a tuned-out, misled nation ends up electing a nightmare figure to the White House. Then it will be too late. Scared yet? Fortunately, America has always had a genius for self-correcting. We are sorely in need of some. Let's hope we haven't lost the knack.