Vote Brand X

I may not have been that informed back in college, but that didn’t stop me from having opinions, and one of those opinions was that I didn’t like W (i.e. the 43rd President of the United States). Looking back, perhaps it was the way he openly courted religious groups. I wasn’t a big fan of religious groups during that phase of my life, and yet, a few Sundays in the summer of 2008, I went to hear my friend Karl preach at the Episcopal church on the Kenyon College campus. It was a highly liturgical service, and one of the key components was the “prayers of the people,” during which we prayed for all sorts of things, including our elected officials by name. Sitting there in a room full of strangers, I read absent-mindedly off of the worship order, and I was surprised when these words passed through my lips:

“…we pray for our president, George,…”
What? Who the hell is George? Oh! They must mean W!

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image source: whitehouse.gov

At that moment, I realized something: George W. Bush was a man. He was a simple man with some good ideas and some bad ideas who got into politics because of an interest in people (though his father’s example probably inspired him too). George had a wife and two daughters, and he had overcome a troubling past with alcohol and drug use. Even though we had some different opinions, George was someone I wouldn’t mind having over to my house. I could imagine George sitting by the grill and playing with my brother’s dog, but I would serve him tea or lemonade because he didn’t drink anymore. George was a pretty decent guy.

W, on the other hand, was a brand. In fact, it was a brand that was elected by slightly fewer votes than a rival brand called “Gore.” The W brand represented a particular political viewpoint, and this brand was often parodied by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live. W was a persona, an image, a slogan, and a rallying cry to a political party. It was easy to like or dislike W because it wasn’t a person. George was the person; W was the brand.

George the Man and W the Brand were totally different.
So it goes with Barack the Man and Obama the Brand,
and I suspect the same is true of Donald the Man and Trump the Brand.

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image source: cnn.com

Our elected officials live strange double-lives, and I wonder if this is part of what ages them so rapidly while they’re in office. On one hand, they are people with basic needs, but on the other, they become brands that inspire loyalty or derision or indifference from the public. A brand doesn’t have feelings or hobbies or bad days, but the person who has to wear that brand certainly does. Paul has a phrase for these brands. They fall under a larger umbrella term called “powers and principalities,” and while they don’t necessarily have a soul or emotions, they wield great influence and tremendous cultural clout.

So how do you regard your elected officials?

In your head, is the president “Barack” (who loves his family and quit smoking a few years ago) or “Obama” (Hope, Yes We Can, Change We Can Believe In)?

Is your president-elect “Donald” (who is proud of his kids but clearly has mixed feelings about leaving his business) or “Trump” (#MAGA, Build the Wall, Lock Her Up)?

They may represent political ideologies that are bigger than they are,
and those ideologies need to be addressed and discussed and challenged,
but in the meantime, remember that, under all the branding, these are still people too.

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