Sailing as a political metaphor


Ike Stephenson is a friend of mine. We worked together on the Dean campaign here in Muskegon. He's also one of the most thoughtful and well-read people I know.

Here's some proof, from a recent email I received:

The presidential campaign has recently veered into an area of expertise for me: sailing!

A new Bush ad says that John Kerry goes 'whichever way the wind blows'. His rather imprecise views on the Iraq war are cited. The video is that of Kerry windsurfing. He's shown on a different tack in sync with various positions and votes. I'm not here to argue his positions.

I will argue the use of sailing and metaphor. Realistically a good sailor does go which way the wind blows. That is he reads the wind and uses it to his best advantage. If, in a race, you expect say the right side of the course to be favored but the wind shifts left you should not continue right. This persistent, stubborn adhering to one side of the course regardless of the wind's direction is called banging the corner. It's high risk, sometimes it pays off, but most times the people who pay attention to the wind and tack away from one side of the course do better.

Another example. A typical sailboat can sail within about 45 degrees of the wind direction. If the wind shifts, or heads your, eventually the angle will close to the point where you are in irons. Your sails are luffing, the boat is going nowhere and it is hard to control. A good sailor doesn't let this happen! He falls off to fill the sails, or tacks and tries the opposite tack. He doesn't 'stay the course' letting the boat sit in irons with no speed and little control.

As usual there is more than one side to this story. George Bush banged the corner in Iraq misreading the wind shift/strategic position. Rather than correcting course he has got into irons, while his sails have luffed over 1,000 of his crew members have been killed.

So, perhaps it's time to remove Mr. Bush at the ballot box so we can have a better skipper at the national helm, eh?

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Note to Karl Rove: If you're going to use a political metaphor, maybe you should have a better handle on exactly what you're talking about...

Posted: Mon - September 27, 2004 at 06:01 PM          

©