This Election is for the Dogs

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a new meme on Facebook comparing the diaries of a cat versus a dog. The meme revealed stereotypes I wasn’t aware of-- namely that dogs are happy and carefree and cats are miserable. I didn’t realize that cats had such a bad reputation, but I guess this should’ve been clear to me as someone who’s had both as a pet. The cat terrorized me during my formative years, constantly scratching me, while the dogs I’ve owned have generally friendly and loving. It’s worth noting that I once had a dog who bit my brother so bad that he needed stiches, though my brother was being a little aggressive with her. Either way, the general public has spoken and the consensus is that dogs are man’s best friend and cats are impolite and vaguely French. I bring this up today because dogs have recently been injected into the political narrative, with Romney and Obama trading attacks over the treatment of our canine friends.

During the primary it was revealed that the Romneys used to crate their dog on the roof of their car during long road trips. This image seemed to reaffirm the stereotypes about Romney, that he lacks basic compassion and he’s just generally uncomfortable with the social norms that govern the lives of average Americans. Surely the Romney's luxury sedan is plenty big enough to fit his 5 children and a dog. It’s weird, to say the least, that Romney would strap a pet he supposedly loved to the top of his car, exposing the dog to the elements. The dog was supposedly very skittish about riding on the top of the car, and it just seems cruel. If PETA had considered endorsing Romney before, his pro-roofing of dogs position may have scared them off. Etch-a-Sketch Romney is willing to renege on most of his beliefs, but the family has held firm that Romney's dog enjoyed the experience.

In order to inoculate Romney from this canine controversy, the Romney camp pointed out that in Obama’s memoirs he discusses eating a dog as a young child. While the Romney scandal illustrates his disconnect from the average American, the Obama scandal similarly seeks to reify Republican tropes about Obama. Namely that he’s un-American and some sort of weird Muslim foreigner. He didn’t own dogs as a kid, but instead ate them, presumably for lunch at his madrassa right after he spent a morning forging a birth certificate. Not only is Obama a socialist, but he wants to serve Scruffy for breakfast.

We are beginning to see the shaping of the overarching political narrative of the election, Obama is un-American and Romney is aloof. Romney is heartless and Obama is weird. Of course, it’s patently ridiculous. Obama’s scandal plays on racist stereotypes and seeks to make an issue of his cultural circumstances and Romney’s is just strange. Both men are presented as outsiders, do all Mormons put their dogs on the roof? Do all black people eat dogs? These stories do little to illustrate who would be a better president, but these are the types of battles that shape elections. Voters make their judgment’s based on their opinion of a candidates personality and ludicrous anecdotes like these go a long way to shaping peoples perceptions.