This Sunday I had a strange experience. Kind of like something you would see in the X-Files. I woke up, made myself a few pancakes, picked up my Washington Post outside my door, and started reading the day's headlines. Now reading the Post, I expect to read about the budget debate, flooding in Virginia, the latest in Bosnia. But nothing like, say, the latest in Hanover. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw a great big picture of Bob Dole speaking in front of AD right there on page A8. It was like one of those strange dreams that you have, where you're not sure if it's real of not. Since I've been down here in Washington DC for my leave term, I've tried to keep up with Dartmouth news. I even bought a subscription to the D. So one day, I was taking to one of my friends on the phone and she told me that good ol' Bob was coming to speak in front of AD that weekend. I just had to laugh. She must be mistaken. But no, there he was, there AD was, right there on page A8.
Now I'll tell you why this struck me as a little odd, seeing AD and Dole together, a seemingly happy couple. You see, in Dole's speech he refers to his days in a fraternity at the University of Kansas, and how his big prank was to throw a couple of plates of spaghetti on his fraternity housemother. Yes, his housemother.
But this revelation that he's really that old was not the real reason this was so odd. You see, for the past few months, Bob Dole has gone on a rampage against Hollywood for the violent and explicit images that it portrays and blaming it for the destruction of American society. Then he turns around and speaks to students in front of the original "Animal House," a movie filled with drunkenness and much more that I'm sure Dole would not approve of, and he then grants an interview to MTV, which was banned in my house during my teen years because of its explicit images. (Though I still managed to sneak it in anyway.) All of this was an obvious attempt to connect with our generation, though it goes against his avowed principles.
I read recently that Bob Dole praised the movie "True Lies" for its family entertainment, while he damns others with much less violence. Now let me ask you this: Do you think Dole really thinks families should sit around the fire and watch "True Lies?" Or perhaps it was just another political ploy to gain the support of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a devout Republican, while simultaneously playing down his previous attacks on Hollywood to appeal to the mainstream voter who watches movies such as "Die Hard" and "Basic Instinct" with glee.
The point of all of this is the following: If we are to find someone who is a real political leader, someone who will lead our generation into the 21st century, I seriously doubt Bob Dole is our man. Not only is he out of touch with our generation, but recently he has seriously compromised his values just to win a few votes. If the Republicans truly want to defeat Clinton in '96, they would be much better off dumping Dole as well as all the other contenders. They would fare much better with say ... Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, he's a Republican, he married a Kennedy, and hey, he appeals to the mainstream voter with good ol' family entertainment.
