Apologies

Francis Porretto at Eternity Road

Well, it's politicians' apologies that have been most prominent in the news, in these years of the Permanent Campaign. ...

Except that they seldom actually admit to error, do they? We get a lot of "I misspoke" and "I should have phrased that differently." We get even more "I'm sorry you were offended," which isn't an apology at all but rather a statement deploring an event outside the speaker's control. Only in the rarest of cases will a politician say, plainly and without qualification, "What I said / did was wrong; you were right to be offended by it, and I promise to change my ways."
...
It's possible to discern a politician's convictions -- or whether he has any at all -- from his actions in office. It's not even particularly difficult. Only the absolute newcomer, never before granted a position of authority, has a record of words alone.

Such as Obama. And his defenders are asking us to judge him on his promises, his words, and ignore his associations and what they reveal about his beliefs.

Any man who's held such a position will have a public record which can be compared to his espoused views...and to whatever apologies he might issue.

In the commonest case, a politician who apologizes for some utterance has expressed his convictions, or lack thereof, with greater accuracy than he intended. The evidence is usually unambiguous from his record. Did he claim that his ideological opponent is a criminal or a traitor? Did he call for taxes as a punitive measure against "the rich," who got where they are by "exploiting the worker?" Did he denigrate gun owners, or Christians, or persons who love their country and prefer that it not be overrun by foreigners who don't love it? He meant it -- probably with more intensity than he dares to expose.

It's not your Curmudgeon's intention this morning to castigate the specific views tabulated above. He'd rather focus on the apology and what it implies about the issuer. Such an apology can be translated as follows: "I didn't expect the negative reaction I'd get by showing my cards this way, and I'd appreciate it greatly if you would all just forget it."

Such a politician lacks the courage of his convictions. He wants the power to act on them, but fears to have them publicized and analyzed beforehand.

Note how frequently politicians vying for higher office object to having their records in office held up for public scrutiny. If they were honestly proud of their stands and deeds, or if it were difficult to divine their beliefs from their records, would they protest as often or as loudly?

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Altogether too many politicians would prefer that we accept their words and deeds as the revealed Will of God. This is especially true of their campaign statements and their decisions in power. They're merely bashful about expressing that desire in its fullest and most arrogant form: "I'm smarter and more moral than the lot of you put together, so sit down, shut up, and accept what I give you." When one's mask slips and his moral and intellectual hauteur is unintentionally revealed, he must explain it away somehow before it can cost him what he holds or seeks, yet without actually acknowledging fault. Thus is born the secular theology of political apologetics.