I opted to watch The King’s Speech instead of President Obama’s address Tuesday night. I felt okay with my decision after reading the transcript, which Paul Krugman aptly described using a cranky cat poster. Though by far my favorite reaction came from David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy. The first post I want to highlight for comparing the speech to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It was heavy on the sugar, but that was offset with a little crunchy practicality. It was remarkably unremarkable for a nation that has reeled from terrorist attack to war to financial calamity over the past decade. But in that vein, it will probably be widely embraced as the political comfort food it was intended to be.
I’m a sucker for smart metaphors, especially when they involve food. If more columnists used food metaphors to portray political speeches, not only would I be more interested in politics, but maybe we’d end up with more inventive topping combinations. For example, Rep. Paul Ryan’s response for the GOP? Grilled salami and Nutella on rye.*
Yet it’s really Rothkopf’s second post to which I want to draw your attention. In it, he criticizes some of the rhetoric that’s been used lately to push for more innovation.
It is the widely subscribed to notion … often cited by politicians and op-ed writers … that somehow there is something special, some gene in American DNA, that makes us uniquely capable when it comes to innovation. …But the reality is that the idea that the United States has somehow cornered the market on innovation is an overblown myth.
He goes on to list a whole bunch of stuff we didn’t invent, as well as some stuff we sometimes think we invented but just perfected. His point being that lots of amazing things were created by people who lived or came from countries perceived as being less innovative. And that there are better ways to encourage people to innovate than invoking the doctrine of American exceptionalism.
Could the president have promoted American growth and better lives in the future without implying that we live in a zero sum world full of actors who are working hard to defeat us?
Hear, hear. I mean, to some extent I get it. Some nationalistic fervor is par for the course. And we know China can be ridiculously competitive at times. But this isn’t Rocky IV. Just because China produces more solar panels doesn’t mean they’re gonna Win the Future, whatever that means.
But forget all that. I think it’s time to retire the word innovation anyway. It’s a tired buzzword with too many meanings to too many people.
And another thing: Geoffrey Rush deserves another Oscar. If you’re reading this, Academy members, please give it to him.
*In truth, I didn’t read the rebuttal, nor have I ever tried this sandwich.