Drill, Baby, Drill: Anatomy Of A Slogan

Remember that moment during the Biden/Palin debate when she corrected him on McCain economic policy? Not Drill, Drill, Drill. No, she said, with that corrective index finger raised. It's Drill, Baby, Drill.

Actually, ludicrous though it seems, the difference makes a difference. There's the not too obvious sexual connotion to Sarah's version which is supposed to appeal to working class white men. She's like some Freudian condensation of the babe who struts around the wrestling ring between rounds and everyman's sister or mom. That's Sarah's genius. She authorizes both those images of women at once.

But here's the real significance of the slogan. It's more powerful than sex. What is more powerful than sex? Identity. Drill, baby drill caters directly to the angry base that Palin and McCain have been inciting. Their rage goes beyond resentment of elitism, it goes beyond even racism. It goes to the growing realization in their hearts that they have been wrong about everything. And not just wrong in their opinions. Wrong in their very being.

That's not my judgment of them. It's their own framing. They anchored their politics on the idea that they were the "real Americans" and that America was "the greatest country in the world." It followed that they were pretty special and their God-given specialness meant they didn't have to bother reading history or researching issues. They just knew! So now, as the whole Reagan-Bush house of cards comes tumbling down, the fear that grips them is primal. Their identity is stake. Mere equity, mere human dignity was never enough for them. They had to be "#1."

Back in the 80's, back before wind and solar were splashed all over corporate websites, back when most Americans thought environmentalists were a tiny fringe of loony tree-huggers--there was a bumper sticker you used to see on some of the gas guzzlers: Nuke The Whales, it said. A brilliant image, actually, in its own horrifying way, That sneering little slogan caused much hilarity among Bill O'Reilly's "folks" when it was Morning in America.

Drill, Baby, Drill is a contemporary version of Nuke The Whales. Except the power balance is reversed. What was once a mocking expression of actual domination has been reduced to a desperate simulation. It's a symbolic cry for a lost simplicity, a lost centrality in American culture. Because, in their hearts, the folks understand that the ground has cratered beneath them. They feel the abyss.

So drill, baby, drill. It's a long way down.

Comments

[SueMVetforObama]

Palin hometown a window into her environmentalism

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo

WASILLA, Alaska " Long before John McCain made Gov. Sarah Palin his running mate and before her views on global warming became a campaign issue, Palin's environmental priorities were crystallized in a city where she was mayor and where development long has trumped conservation.

The costs of such fast " and sometimes haphazard " growth can be seen even from Palin's lakefront home. Once-pristine Lake Lucille is plagued by high levels of phosphorous, which chokes off oxygen from the salmon and trout. Scientists put the blame on nearby development.

Palin, Faced with choosing between development and the environment, she has sided more often than not with business interests:

_She helped kill a ballot initiative that would have blocked a massive new gold and copper mine from being built near the world's most productive wild salmon fishery.

_She challenged the listing of the polar bear and Cook Inlet beluga whale as endangered species. The listings might have threatened the state's oil and gas industry.

_Her administration helped kill a bill banning water pollution near where fish spawn.

_She started a committee to address global warming. But with oil companies contributing the largest percentage of the state's greenhouse gases, her committee set no goal for reducing emissions.

In a state where oil, gas, mining and fishing are among the biggest industries, her pro-business mind-set often puts her at odds with environmentalists.

[MathIsTruth]

This is an extremely insightful article.

Though you said that this goes beyond racism, and it does, I would suggest that racism is a very significant component. At some level, there are people that are dealing with the realization that a white war hero is being bested at every turn by a black man (with a non-American father).

Obama is seen as being brighter, more innovative, more admired, steadier, better at exhibiting "family values", and more decent than McCain. It can be very difficult to admit that one's deeply held and long held stereotypes were never valid.

[bob8788]

I like Hillar's slogan better, JOBS BABY JOBS let get that one going

http://www.barackobamacans.blogspot.com/

[DanSmith]

Green Baby Green!

[marlovian]

Ironically, the phrase is a neocon appropriation of "Burn Baby Burn" from the 60s riots.

[feo]

In a modern context, Drill, Baby, Drill leads directly to Burn, Baby, Burn (in terms of hydrocarbons). Shouldn't we be seeking Shine, Baby, Shine (solar) and Blow, Baby, Blow (wind)? Not so sure about Nuke, Baby, Nuke.

[hchriste]

Drill Now is not a slogan as such it is the title of Newt's Book and the name of the House of Rep bill authorizing the leasing of off shore drilling rights in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Florida opted out and Georgia had a seperate bill. The bill also sticks the tax payers with paying the tab for exploration and if they could get away with it the cost of drilling ($2.5 Billion per platform) Congress did not pass Drill Now but let the current restriction on leasing end. There has not been a great rush to drill. Why because the taxpayers are not footing the bill. The current economic stimulus package proposed by the Republican's in the House wants the tax payers to pay for drilling. Not only off shore but in Alaska and other states. Why should we pay?

[jimmyjones22]

Interesting article.

It does seem like the zeitgeist has shift dramatically over the last few years.

I've been checking Michelle Malkin's site over the last few years, as well, and her posts and comments seem to be getting more and more fringe and out of touch. The world has changed, and conservatives are being dragged, once again, from the dark into the modern age - kicking and screaming all the way.

Go to any article on her website and just read the comments - people who were talking about the conspiracy theory, tin-hat leftists are now hashing their own conspiracy theories - (the media is attacking them, conservative leaders aren't really conservative, but are instead liberals working against them, the liberals want our guns, omg socialist/communists/Muslims/terrorists around every corner, etc)

This leads them to bazaar conclusions, like the need for a revolution, succession, or any number of insane ideas. You can go read them in length at any right wing blog.

But it's like You said - the world as they knew it is no more, and in a way I can understand what that may feel like. It must be a scary, lonely, world when no one considered mentally healthy will accept your ideas.

A scary, lonely, world indeed...

[Kerris]

Great article.

[EmjayRussell]

Palin runs a petro-state unlike any US state in its economics, more akin to Venezuela or Kuwait. See Michael Klare's short article "Palin'sPetropolitics" at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/klare .

Of course she wants to drill, and I doubt she cares much if there's any oil left for great-grandchildren, or investing the oil wealth into sustainable energy supplies (read Klare's article).

Alaska uses 4-5X the energy/capita of New York, and it is rather spread out, with a lot of air travel. Imagine what it will look like whenever the oil&gas have been (mostly) used up...

[Heaphy]

John McCain once could claim the dignity of being the only significant national Republican leader who seemed to take the threat of global warming seriously. His vapid "Drill, Baby, Drill" slogan puts a lead slug through the heart of McCain's environmentalist credentials. He will never be able to look his "old friend" Al Gore in the eye again.
- Jim Heaphy

[rumsblogger]

It's fanciful to think of "drill baby drill" as a eulogy, but these folks aren't done yet. As peak oil passes, the cries will get more shrill, but the Pelosis of the world will still cater to them, until we have institutions that allow us to prosper while using fewer resources. Once example is Carbon Share (www.carbonshare.org) where carbon emissions are capped and the value of each person's share increases as emissions are reduced.
By the way, the article forgot to mention the basics of Lakoff's Moral Politics: the "strict father" conservative mindset embaces "drill baby drill" because he provides for his family and reasserts dominion over nature (the "baby").

[robXdion]

Awesome post, Thomas. Hit all the notes succinctly.

[zanzig]

Yes, indeed, it is the Right's last scream against their loss of identity, entitlement, superiority and power.

[keepacoolhead]

With the falling oil prices of the last week that slogan doesn't have quite the same ring as it would otherwise. And of course it demonstrated clearly that McCain's energy policy would be more of the same old, ignoring that US oil is sold on the world market and that nuclear is not an environmentally safe technology.

[HeevenSteven]

"It goes to the growing realization in their hearts that they have been wrong about everything. "

I don't know if they're capable of that realization. Part of their exceptionalism mystique is deep denial. It won't be their fault; it'll those liberals screwin' up everything they tried to do right.

That aside, It's amazing to me that this cartoon of a campaign is within 10 points in the polls.