{"id":2900,"date":"2012-02-15T17:54:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T23:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/?p=2900"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:03:12","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:03:12","slug":"the-man-in-the-bulletproof-sweater-vest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2012\/02\/the-man-in-the-bulletproof-sweater-vest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man in the Bulletproof Sweater Vest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In Slate,<\/em> Julia Feisenthal tries heroically<\/strong><\/a> to crack the code of Rick Santorum\u2019s sweater vest. She\u2019s convinced it must mean something \u2014 the problem is, she can\u2019t settle on a single meaning. The polysemiotic garment, Feisenthal writes, \u201clies at the intersection of practicality\u2026and frivolity\u2026 The look is both boyish and grandfatherly, sporty and fusty, conservative and eccentric, old-fashioned and hip.\u201d<\/p>\n

She seems to miss the point that it\u2019s just such a kaleidoscopic mixture of messages that every presidential candidate should strive to project. No one hoping to corral a majority in a country so large and diverse as the United States could get away with being so easily reducible as, say, a Smurf. Clinton juxtaposed his Ivy League credentials and his twang, as W did his. Obama swathes his blackness in Burberry. Sarah Palin was no more likely to go without her Naughty Monkey peep-toed pumps than her glasses. If Herman Cain had had vision enough to combine that ten-gallon hat of his with Earth Shoes, America might have put him in office and voted funds for a harem.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s New York Times,<\/em> Ross Douthat reviews<\/strong><\/a> Santorum\u2019s advantages over Mitt Romney in the grab for rust-belt voters. For one thing, Santorum has no Santorumcare program to live down. Also, he has a \u201cpopulist tinge\u201d that will allow him to \u201cplay the same anti-Bain, anti-rich-guy, blue-collar card\u2026but subtly, implicitly, in ways that don\u2019t make him sound like he belongs in Occupy Wall Street instead of the Republican primary.\u201d Here, Santorum can let the sweater vest do the talking. At once neat and hokey, it\u2019s socially conservative in a small-town dorkish way \u2014 less Joe Six-Pack than Joe Who Tops out at Two and Calls a Cab. For the electorate, the vest promises in a stage whisper: \u201cUNLIKE SARAH PALIN, WEARER WILL NOT ABANDON POLITICAL AMBITIONS FOR A TV CAREER.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Santorum, reverse-chic may equal protective coloring. More than any presidential candidate since John Kerry, he has ties to Europe \u2014 yes, Europe, land of the despised Euroweenies, and of all things dark and socialistical. His father, Aldo, was born in Riva del Garda, Italy. Santorum has visited the old family homestead numerous times. His Italian relatives are close enough to him to feel baffled by his politics. Most are, in the words of<\/strong><\/a> cousin-by-marriage Maria Malacame Santorum, \u201cred communists.\u201d No rival has tried very hard to taint him with guilt by association, but that\u2019s not to say none would if such a thing seemed possible. True, Santorum\u2019s voting record tends to preclude any such smear, but the vest helps. Counter-revolutionary, anti-bella figura,<\/em> it enables Santorum to renounce his heritage as completely as Joe Lieberman could do by growing a Cossack\u2019s forelock.<\/p>\n

A few political figures have become synonymous with their personal affectations. Lincoln and Castro had their beards; Hitler, his mustache; Mao and Nehru their signature jackets; Moshe Dayan, his eye patch. But all of these characters were flamboyant enough in their own rights to invest these dress or grooming quirks with some transcendant meaning. Santorum\u2019s sweater vest has come to serve as a kind of patsy or body double, absorbing the flack due its low-key wearer. Both Bill Maher and David Letterman have knocked Santorum for his opposition to gay rights, but neither\u2019s been able to stay on message without pausing to acknowledge the vest. The mention cost both monologues vital momentum.<\/p>\n

Despite his unassuming airs, Santorum is a man of polarizing views. He has said<\/strong><\/a> he will threaten Iran with military force. He asked Iowa voters rhetorically<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cIf hunger is a problem in America, then why do we have an obesity problem among the people who we say have a hunger program?\u201d Sure enough, this stuff gets its share of coverage. But the coverage has to jockey for space with items like \u201cSantorum\u2019s Sweater Vest Slammed by Scarlett Johannson\u201d and \u201cBemidji Woollen Mills Gets Boost from Santorum\u2019s Sweater Vests.\u201d The faintly ridiculous is deflecting attention from the truly radical. And if Santorum does win, well, can there be any doubt how Garry Trudeau will draw him? That vest just won\u2019t have the same bite as Quayle\u2019s feather or Clinton\u2019s waffle, will it?<\/p>\n

Wool my eye. Those vests are fig leaves made of Kevlar.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Slate, Julia Feisenthal tries heroically to crack the code of Rick Santorum\u2019s sweater vest. She\u2019s convinced it must mean something \u2014 the problem is, she can\u2019t settle on a single meaning. The polysemiotic garment, Feisenthal writes, \u201clies at the intersection of practicality\u2026and frivolity\u2026 The look is both boyish and grandfatherly, sporty and fusty, conservative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117,285,188,300],"class_list":["post-2900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-iran","tag-mitt-romney","tag-politics","tag-rick-santorum"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Man in the Bulletproof Sweater Vest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Slate, Julia Feisenthal tries heroically to crack the code of Rick Santorum's sweater vest. 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