Speaking Politics phrase of the week: 'Groundhog Day'
鈥淕roundhog Day鈥�:听The popular political way to refer to fruitlessly doing something over and over, as memorably depicted in the 1993 comedy classic.
鈥淕roundhog Day,鈥� the , has been getting lots of attention. It鈥檚 being made into a stage musical scheduled to open in London this summer and on Broadway next year (though its star producer And Bill Murray, who played the acidic TV weatherman forced to relive the same 24 hours over and over until he becomes a better person, recently learned he鈥檚 the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Political usage of the phrase isn鈥檛 confined to February, reflecting that world鈥檚 devotion to drawing from pop culture. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want 鈥楪roundhog Day鈥� here,鈥� Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) last week of her new quest to find some compromise on gun legislation in the wake of the Orlando, Fla., shootings. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want us to go through the same thing we went through last year with no result.鈥�
And it鈥檚 being incessantly invoked on the campaign trail, usually to reflect weariness with the whole process. In FiveThirtyEight.com, Clare Malone the anxiety about this month鈥檚 looming final primaries: 鈥淲ould it ever really come, or would cable just loop endlessly, 鈥楪roundhog Day鈥�-style, talking about 鈥榯he GOP Establishment鈥檚 last stand鈥� 鈥�?
In the Huffington Post, Chris Weigant to GOP lawmakers continually having to justify Donald Trump鈥檚 outrageous remarks. 鈥淩epublicans running for office had better get used to what has happened over the past week or two, because it is going to be the 鈥楪roundhog Day鈥� event of the entire campaign,鈥� he wrote. In The New York Times, Gail Collins on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders鈥� tendency not to deviate from his stump speech: 鈥淎mazing experience to hear Bernie Sanders address a rally. Once. By the third time it鈥檚 like a very loud 鈥楪roundhog Day.鈥欌��
As you鈥檇 expect, mentions of 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥� spike in Congress when the actual animal shadow-seeing event occurs. But as the Sunlight Foundation鈥檚 terrific CapitolWords.org shows, its frequency in other months. The bigger user 鈥� by far 鈥� is Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R), who鈥檚 known for his anger at government agencies that repeat their mistakes.
Writing in National Review in 2005 鈥� in an essay that, naturally, has been re-published every year 鈥� Jonah Goldberg what makes the movie so great. He concluded that its funniness outweighs its philosophical message 鈥� but that the two are perfectly blended.
Murray鈥檚 cranky character 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 find paradise or liberation by becoming more 鈥榓uthentic,鈥� by acting on his whims and urges and listening to his inner voices. That behavior is soul-killing,鈥� Goldberg wrote. 鈥淗e does exactly the opposite: He learns to appreciate the crowd, the community, even the bourgeois hicks and their values. He determines to make himself better by reading poetry and the classics and by learning to sculpt ice and make music, and most of all by shedding his ironic detachment from the world.鈥�
Chuck McCutcheon writes his 鈥淪peaking Politics鈥� blog exclusively for Politics Voices.听
Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥� is
