Akkam’s Razor

James Wolcott: The Curse of Terri

Since September 11th, nearly all the pressure and energy has come from above, a topdown authoritarian lid clamped over the country–over the world–as the Bush administration preached a gospel of fear and launched its War on Terror. But over the last year or so, the energy and motion has surged from below in a renewal of people power, first in the Latin American cities that have elected new leaders, then in Paris, where students and supporters protested the proposed change in hiring/firing laws (and prevailed), and now, in the streets of American cities, where hundreds of thousands have decided to end their invisibility in the political process. The grip of fear can't be sustained indefinitely in an open society addicted to entertainment and diversion, and Bush's grip has cracked. He seems a shrugging, camera-mugging irrelevance when you see him on the stump now. It's as if he's trying to convince us he's still in charge, or perhaps trying to convince himself.