Campaign 2016: Is all that pizza on the road really a 'sacrifice'?
SACRIFICE:聽A woe-is-me claim by office-seekers who lament the hardships they鈥檙e supposedly enduring 鈥� in an entirely voluntary endeavor.
Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who recently made out his 2016 Republican presidential bid to be an act of self-sacrifice. In a fundraising e-mail, Cruz complained of time away from his wife and two young daughters, plus the financial burden it was imposing.
Cruz told of his sacrifice of 鈥渟leep with long nights and constant travel. And the pizza diet is a staple on the campaign trail.鈥� He added, 鈥淭he cost of campaigning back and forth across the country for president is increasingly expensive, but Heidi and I are willing to invest our livelihoods into this sacrifice.鈥�
That last part is particularly interesting, since campaign finance reports don鈥檛 show personal contributions to his presidential campaign. Unlike, say, Donald Trump, Cruz isn鈥檛 in a financial position to personally support his own presidential campaign for even a limited period of time.
Then there are the long hours, Cruz wrote to prospective donors: 鈥淒ays start before dawn and many times don鈥檛 end until early the next morning. There is almost no personal time when you run for president.鈥�
Paul Stob, a Vanderbilt University communication studies professor who studies presidential rhetoric, said Cruz鈥檚 use of 鈥渟acrifice鈥� invites comparisons with George Washington, who was a reluctant first chief executive. Upon taking office, Washington that when he learned he had gotten the job: 鈥淣o event could have filled me with greater anxieties.鈥� He described his home at Virginia鈥檚 Mount Vernon as 鈥渁 retreat which was rendered every day more necessary, as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.鈥� But, he added, he felt the obligation to lead the new nation.
鈥淢y guess is that it鈥檚 not coincidental on Cruz鈥檚 part,鈥� Stob said of the senator鈥檚 use of the word. 鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting in that Cruz turns it on himself. Washington did something close to that 鈥� not sacrificing for a larger idea, but just 鈥業鈥檓 going to put myself out there.鈥欌�欌��
Among other candidates, much of the 鈥渟acrifice鈥� talk also has been mostly inner-directed. Before throwing his hat in the ring this week, ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) about whether he could run 鈥渨here the sacrifice for my family is tolerable.鈥� And South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) he would be willing to give up some of his own Social Security benefits to help others in need.
Throughout history, presidents and presidential candidates usually have invoked the notion of collective sacrifice as an attempt to unite voters. John F. Kennedy, of course, : 鈥淎sk not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.鈥� Jimmy Carter, meanwhile, to turn down their thermostats and drive less to save energy. And in 2008, John McCain to devote themselves to 鈥渁 cause larger than yourself.鈥�
In the 2012 campaign, the perceived paucity of any similar rhetoric irked New York Times political columnist Frank Bruni. 鈥淐onditions, all in all, are ripe for a serious conversation about sacrifice,鈥� Bruni 鈥淏ut this presidential campaign has been noteworthy for its nonsensical insinuations or assurances that although we鈥檙e in a jam, we can emerge from it with discrete, minimal inconvenience.鈥�
Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
