State of the Union preview

The Zeitgeist is looking particularly ghostly this decade.\nThe German phrase is translated as "the spirit of the times" and serves witty opinion columnists who want to sum up entire eras by pointing to people like Marilyn Monroe, Spiro Agnew and Monica Lewinsky. "There's the Zeitgeist! Look how shallow/wicked/pitiful everything was!"\nBut if we had to decide on a Zeitgeist for the Oughties, it might have to be all the things that aren't there. Like the vice president, it's being kept in an undisclosed location. It's the feeling that what is visible is pretense, and that the real action goes on beneath that veneer of institutional smiles and reassurances.\n"This is a new era in Washington! We're putting government back in the hands of the people."\n(Meanwhile, the vice president refuses to release to Congress records from his meetings with Enron officials. Whatever the notes say, it must be bad. Otherwise, the Washington rule is that public scrutiny of something slightly embarrassing is worse than the media scrutiny that comes with the refusal to hand over secret documents. Remember the Zeitgeist of administrations past? And this is the war-time height of presidential popularity. Makes you wonder what the man is afraid of.)\n"Oh, sure! The economy is fine. Recovery is around the corner. Go ahead and build that backyard swimming pool."\n(But pay no attention to the implosion of companies like Enron, Global Crossing Fiber Optics and K-Mart…K-Mart, for Heaven's sakes!)\n"It's time for a tax cut, not a tax hike! Tell those dirty Democrats not to raise your taxes."\n(When in fact, the surplus has vanished, Social Security and Medicare are in real trouble, the War on Terror-Perpetrated-on-the-United-States continues to drain resources and somebody has to foot the bill to protect us from biological menaces. As for Democrats raising taxes, Sen. Ted Kennedy's call for a hold on tax cuts amounts to a temporary inconvenience for the wealthiest one percent of Americans.)\nPresident Bush to corporate America in his State of the Union Address: "Now is the time for corporate prudence!"\n(President Bush to corporate America in his address to a fund-raising dinner: "Now is the time to make your checks out to…)\n"Thank God we've saved the Afghan women from the Taliban's oppression!"\n(But in Northern Nigeria, where the hard-line Islamic government has sentenced an accused adulteress to death by stoning, don't expect U.S. intervention.)\n"The situation in the Middle East cannot be characterized by the words disaster, tailspin or imminent train wreck."\n(Have you watched the news lately?)\n"During last year's election crisis, we learned that across the nation, over two million ballots were thrown out of the counting process.\n"It's time for real voting reform, and we'll have it before the midterm elections in 2002."\n(Ha ha ha ha ha!)\n"This administration really cares about the environment." \n(This administration's stated policy is to let polluters police themselves, while Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman learns to play Nero's Fiddle Concerto.)\n"Everything is different after Sept. 11. We will embrace those things that make America great."\n("Fear Factor" is still on television.)\n"The Winter Olympics are going be really exciting this year!"\n(Need I say more?)