Politics, policy, and the nuances between
Of course, Benjamin Netanyahu didn鈥檛 mean his controversial March 4 speech before Congress to be 鈥減olitical.鈥� The Israeli leader , 鈥淭hat was never my intention.鈥�
By the time you read this, dear reader, the controversy may well have disappeared into the rearview mirror. But the flap was a reminder of the many shades of meaning of the word political.听
In a certain sense, anything a politician does is ipso facto a 鈥減olitical鈥� act. Would a journalist insist that what he or she is doing is 鈥渘ot journalistic鈥�? Do doctors say that what they鈥檙e doing is 鈥渘ot medical鈥�?
I note that has a 鈥減olitics editor鈥� rather than a 鈥減olitical editor.鈥� This may simply reflect a current tendency for adjectives to disappear in favor of nouns used as modifiers. During the 1840s, the United States fought 鈥渢he Mexican War.鈥� (The call it 鈥渢he US invasion.鈥�) More recently, the US has been involved in something referred to as the 鈥�Iraq War.鈥� Had it been fought during the administration of James Polk, it might have been called the 鈥淚raqi War.鈥澛�
鈥淧olitics editor鈥� may just be following the pattern of 鈥淚raq War.鈥� Or a news organization that gets some money from the federal government may want to avoid a job title like 鈥減olitical editor.鈥� It may be that political has become politicized, in other words.
If so, what about policy? In politics and policy we have a set of fraternal twins, not quite synonyms, covering between the two of them a range of concepts that some languages express with just a single word.
Politics came into English around 1520, meaning the 鈥� 鈥榮cience of government,鈥�... modeled on Aristotle鈥檚 ta politika 鈥榓ffairs of state,鈥� the name of his book on governing and governments,鈥� according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. (Of the splendidly ridiculous early variant spellings that the Oxford English Dictionary lists, my favorite is politycques.)
Oxford defines policy thus: 鈥淎 principle or course of action adopted or proposed as desirable, advantageous, or expedient; esp. one formally advocated by a government, political party, etc. Also as a mass noun: method of acting on matters of principle, settled practice. (Now the usual sense.)鈥�
Politics can refer, rather grandly, to the business of governing, and policy more to the 鈥渃ontent鈥� of a particular administration.
In his new , David Axelrod, the political adviser who helped get President Obama elected, relates a dust-up he had soon after the inauguration in 2009 with Rahm Emanuel, the new president鈥檚 chief of staff. Mr. Axelrod was fretting that White House insiders were already talking about chucking various commitments Mr. Obama had made during the campaign. This prompted Mr. Emanuel to scream that he was 鈥渟ick of hearing about the campaign,鈥� and that 鈥渢he campaign is over.鈥�
It would seem Axelrod had discovered what former New York Gov. meant when he said, 鈥淵ou campaign in poetry; you govern in prose.鈥�
