The Chaotic Variations

We have a conductor in the White House and the media are his orchestra. Whatever the conductor does, whichever way he moves his hand, the horns move in that direction. The conductor sets the tempo by forming an invisible shape in the air with his hand. When the conductor cues for an accelerando, the music speeds up. The conductor is also in charge of dynamics. When the conductor raises his arms to gesture grandioso the amount of air blowing into the wind instruments per cubic inch of lung volume increases, and likewise, to soften the orchestra to pianissimo, the conductor again traces back down with his limbs to quiet the noise.

So let's turn to Syria.

Right now we have a very good orchestra. By 'very good' I mean one that minds their conductor like no other before it ever has. It was merely last month, September, when Mr. Red Line was bailed out of having to act by Russia's dictator. Oh, there were caveats, of course, John Kerry would *ahem, cough* follow up with the compliance process of eliminating WMD. Well? Here we are only a few weeks later and it's as if none of this ever happened. But this is the conductor at work. He does this with everything. Regarding Syria, its pianissimo. Shhhh. Cuing the media, the conductor looks at his loyal White House brigade of followers and takes his hands and lowers them. Obediently, they all follow suit, almost mechanically, lowering their worshipful heads like trained animals. They don't want to embarrass their conductor.

But then, he quickly removes the composition off his music stand, rips the pages off altogether as they go falling off to the side and throws a new piece up. His hands start moving wildly in the air again. Distraction. Movement. Crisis. Energy. Get the heads looking over here again, look at me, Obama. The government WILL DEFAULT! Panic. We need more debt piled onto more debt or else we'll artificially crash the system, as if asking for more debt isn't crashing the system already. But for that logic to emerge would be impossible because the trumpets are so loud you can't hear anything else from the orchestra. Cymbals are crashing, drums are roaring, Obama's hands are dramatically waving from the shoulder joint itself in huge looping arcs.

There's no such thing as follow through or accountability. Anything this president says -- red lines, budgets, spending, his own healthcare law -- it's all crashing down around him and he just keeps on repeating inane non-truths. But alas, that too is the role of a good conductor. Monotone, the repetition of a single note, over and over, even as it numbs the mind of most, it will certainly sooth the hearts of his most dedicated faithful, the true believers.

Again, Syria. Not as if I care for that particular piece of geographical real estate or the people who inhabit it. However, only a few weeks ago the president was making sure all the rest of us were aware, and did. If there's only one thing greater than this president's ideological agenda, it is his own personal pride and arrogance. Not wanting to be put into a position where his own tough-guy words would turn him out as a wimp (red line), he had to pretend to be internationally macho like the guy who needs his friends to physically pull him back from a fight while he shouts brave assertions. Don't worry -- your orchestra pit is always there, sir. All you have to do is wave your arms around. We all know your base has the attention span of a gnat.

And before I forget, there is another term worth mentioning: Klangfarbenmelodie, defined as the technique of altering the tone color of a single note or musical line by changing from one instrument to another in the middle of a note or line. Well played sir. If the lulling of the stringed instruments starts to put us to sleep, it's easy enough to crash your gong to wake us all up, as all egomaniac children are apt to do if they don't get their way.