Perlstein and the Aunt Millies

A few days ago I ran across to Rick Perlstein’s blog. I had just finished his admirable book on the Goldwater revolution and was pleased and amused to find that he had made himself the master of the sinkhole.

I don’t think I then grasped a couple of more general points; one, the blog is brand new, and two, Rick has done a dandy job of identifying a hitherto unpopulated niche in the teeming and gabbling blogosphere. In brief, he has made himself the patron saint of what he calls the “Aunt Millies” -- old-fashioned types who don’t like all this new-age nonsense (“young folks nowadays…”) but who do expect their government to do ordinary stuff like keep the e. coli out of the food chain, or fix the sinkholes.

It’s a fiendishly clever strategy. Perlstein, who knows a lot about conservatives, knows that there are lots of people who vote conservative but who are (wait for it!) pretty decent folk. They may rail and fuss about the Mess in Washington and how they want to Throw the Bums Out, but they do expect the government to do the things they do expect it to do. And who could defend a sinkhole--The National Sinkhole Association? Citizens for American-Sinkhole Friendship? The Sinkhole Advisory Council?

I don’t think I’m precisely an Aunt Millie: I spent too much time in daily newspaper journalism to have any special high regard for the common run of politicians. But I’ve seen a bit of old-fashioned good government in my day, and as the fella says, I know what I like.

Potholes and e. coli seem to be the big items on the Aunt Millie patrol so far, but Perlstein is not so limited. He is also good at, for example, trolling locals newspapers for mundane instances of defining good government down (e.g., link). And he is running a productive subspecialty in mundane lies. It’s good stuff in its own right, and it’s promising: a potential source of more good stuff not covered elsewhere. Long may you blog, Rick; I just hope it doesn’t distract you from your next book.