High culture low priority
At Washington & Jefferson College Monday night, former Ronald Reagan speechwriter and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan lamented that not many figures on today’s national political scene publicly ponder the virtues of Beethoven or Brahms.
Instead, she sighed, they show off whether they like “Tupac or Biggie” more.
She didn’t mention him by name, but Noonan was referring to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a 41-year-old who has lately been tagged as a rising star in the Republican firmament. Rubio recently pointed out that the late Tupac Shakur is “someone I listened to growing up” and that “I’m the only member of the hip-hop caucus in the Senate.”
It’s natural that Rubio would have consumed the same popular culture his peers did in his formative years. It’s also likely to his political advantage to show off his knowledge of rap and hip-hop – it shows he’s hip, a new kind of Republican. Moreover, it presents some “common man” credentials.
And that’s why you’re unlikely to encounter any politician with national ambitions openly discussing their preferences in classical music. Or painting, poetry, opera or wines for that matter. In 21st century politics, the premium is on populism.
It wasn’t always thus. During the thousand days of Camelot, President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, were lauded for their sophistication and elan in inviting figures like cellist Pablo Casals, French novelist Andre Malraux and violinist Isaac Stern to the White House. It was said to be a welcome change from the Dwight Eisenhower White House and the former general’s taste for Zane Grey paperbacks.
Now, rubbing shoulders with that kind of highbrow crowd would get you tagged as an “elitist.” Remember the invective in 2004 when it was revealed that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry could – quelle horreur! – speak French fluently?
Of course, the likelihood that tomorrow’s politicians will be debating the finer points of classical composers has been diminished by the policymakers of today, who have been relentlessly hacking away at arts funding and creating curriculums that have made high culture a low priority.