Everyone’s favorite icon of female sexuality-cum-cultist is sounding off on the U.S. election. In an article on the ABC News Website, the one-time Material Girl said, “In terms of the elections, I don’t agree with so many things and the decisions that George Bush has made and I’m not happy with the situation in Iraq. I do believe that the American public has been manipulated to a great degree.” I have no quarrel with her there. The part that concerns me is the sentence that follows:
“In the end, we have to say, ‘OK, we didn’t win, but there’s other ways to fix the problems, so now what else can I do to help?’ ”
The reason that I’m troubled by the previous sentence is that it seems to be a rhetorical question. Does Madonna really want to know what she can do to help? She can stop pontificating. This election demonstrated quite clearly that she, Puff Daddy/P.Diddy, Michael Moore, Janeane Garofalo, Sean Penn, and a host of others were absolutely ineffective at rallying the Democratic base. I suspect that there are few things on television more galling that rich celebrities pushing their agendas. Interesting, isn’t it, how the Democratic party — the party that looks after labor unions, the poor, and blue collar workers — has been tagged with the elitist label? If one looks at the Democratic platform, it’s quite clear that this isn’t a policy issue, but a marketing issue. So I urge them to get off the boob tube, dig into their pocketbooks, and put their money where their mouths were.