Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Is Interstate 66 the Yellowbrick Road?

This is a really cool comparison of the 1896 presidential election and Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. I don't know if I buy it, but it's still interesting. I really like this part:

I’d love to hear your ideas on how today’s personalities fit into the Wizard of Oz.

Here are my choices:

  • The Wizard: George W. Bush (obvious choice)

  • The Cowardly Lion: John Kerry (again, the obvious choice)

  • The Scarecrow: Can I vote for Bush twice? No? OK, I'll say these are the hawkish neocons.

  • The Tinman: Big business, currently benefitting from the Scarecrow's war.

  • The Wicked Witch of the East: This is a toughy. I'm going to go with physicians, who are firmly on the side of the Republicans, and who maliciously keep our insurance costs high, while desperately trying to lower their own.

  • The Wicked Witch of the West: John Aschroft, bringer of social conservativism.

  • The Flying Monkeys: Religious conservatives. I realize this fits better with the movie version than the book, but hey, none of my analogies fit very well anyway.

  • Dorothy: Joe Schmoe American, who views Bush (the Wizard) as a savior despite the fact that his policies serve neither his economic interests nor his social concerns.

  • Toto: Undecided voters. You'd have to be as dumb as a small dog to be undecided at this point, and it's looking more and more like they're going to blindly follow Dorothy.


  • (Link shamelessly stolen from Lawyers, Guns, and Money)

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