No, I'm not starting a guessing game or inviting anyone to out me. I'm reacting to something one of my old college friends did on Faceplant a couple of days ago. I've been thinking about it ever since.
My old friend is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, the kind that used to be reasonable, if misguided, but he has allowed the Dark Side of Republican politics to take him over. His comments are usually revealing, though, because more than anything he wants to be an insider. So when he says, for example, that he actually hates Gov. Romney but hates the President more, I take that to mean that that's pretty much how the Republican establishment feels.
A couple of days ago, a telling item appeared on Faceplant under my friend's name. It was a film clip from one of those movies about a powerful person. Somebody says the wrong thing, and the powerful person replies, "Do you have any idea who the fuck I am?" (I don't click links on Faceplant -- another story -- so I don't know what movie it was, but it could've been "All the King's Men" or "The Devil Wears Prada.") As often happens with that sort of thing, the item came with an invitation to "Like this if you've ever wished you could say this to someone." My Republican friend apparently liked it very much.
The item sent me into a review of my own life (especially my work life), and I concluded that no, I've never especially wished I could say that to anyone. On the other hand, I've spent an enormous amount of energy (and some would say passed up opportunities) to avoid being in a position where a powerful person might say that to me. Since I like to have opinions, that desire has made me sort of a lone wolf, at least work-wise, and on balance it's worked out pretty well.
Now, it may just be that my friend has a healthy will-to-power and I just don't. But I think there's something else at work here. While I don't doubt that a desire for power is part of what drives House Leader Pelosi or President Obama, I suspect that a big difference between the political parties is that a Republican candidate's key supporters may be more likely to be the ones that wish they could beat down a challenge with a threat. It sets up the dynamics we're seeing in the race this summer. Mr. Romney's candidacy appeals to a smallish group that really identify with the desire for the power, while the President's support wells up from the practical concerns that most Americans face in their daily lives.
We know that Mr. Romney speaks a different language from most Americans, and it isn't just his tortured syntax. He speaks the language of people that scratch and claw for power and wealth. To the far too many people that have to scratch and claw for survival, he must look like he's from another planet. If he asked, "Do you have any idea who I am?" most of us would have to just say, "Actually, no."