Sen. James Webb, Non-literalist

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who spent most of the last six years as a Bush apologist, wrote a good column on the anti-democratic principles of literalism. Her examples are Muslim fundies (of course) but also former Republican Sen. George Allen’s attempt to slam his Dem opponent, James Webb, during the recent race in Virginia.

Allen sent out a press release with some selected passages from Webb’s novels. Yes, strange as it may seem, the new senator from Virginia is a guy who uses his imagination to write books. Allen thought this would be a shocker to the state’s voters. Some of the novel passages were a bit shocking, too, detailing sex acts and atrocities committed during the Vietnam War. Webb, a Viet Vet, did not have to imagine all of these things. But the act of writing and revising a 400-page book is an act of the imagination.

Parker says this: "...we all have an interest in defending art against the kind of literal-mindedness that undergirds this sort of political tactic." She is troubled by the fact that "a novelist seeking public office should have to explain what he had in mind while writing."
I’m also troubled by this. Allen obviously thought he would make hay with the many literal-minded fundamentalist voters in Virginia by pointing out that Webb was a non-literalist, a guy who sees the world in all its colors and shades. Allen hoped he could defuse some of Webb’s appeal as a decorated war veteran by showing that he actually wrote about the underbelly of the war and American foreign policy during that time. Thus, implies Allen, Webb’s a traitor and not to be trusted as your senator from the Glorious Patriotic Commonwealth of Virginia.

This sort of tactic underlies Republican strategies since March of 2003, when Bush & Co. Launched the Iraq War. The war was heavily supported by literalists. Non-literalists pointed out that there was more here than meets the eye. The literalists taunted us, called us names, and generally just discredited us as cut-and-run Dems who don’t support the troops.

The literalists have now been discredited by the many complications of the war in Iraq. It was not what it seemed. As another non-literalist writer (Robert Towne) described it: "It’s Chinatown." Shades of grey everywhere. Can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys; combatants from civilians. Chinatown. Or Vietnam. Or you could say "The Real World."

The imaginative writer explores what’s behind the doors and under the rocks. It’s not always pretty. But that kind of unclouded vision in a U.S. senator could save us from ourselves.