George Bush likes Mutually Assured Destruction. Bunker busting nukes, missile defense space lasers, "bring 'em on"--I mean, who doesn't like that masculine crap? No matter how much crap I have to take from my boss and other social betters, I always feel like a real man--a part of the winning team that can blow everyone up. That's why Reagan was so sexy. I mean, so vote-winning.
But Mutually Assured Destruction is a Two-Player only game. The Cold War is over--we live in a Massiviely Multiplayer world now. "Do what I say or die" works against the Mother Sotviet, but not against Muhammed bin Suicide-Murder. Chicken is a game that rewards psychos, and alas, for the first time in her life America can't be a bigger psycho than the other guy.
Much like the Gamecube, Bush is trapped in the comfortable two-player paradigms of the 1980s. A world of one rational mind combatting another rational mind for complete dominance. Sure, the Game Cube makes a token effort at diplomacy by selling a network adapter. But the Polish probably have more soldiers in Iraq than Nintendo has networked players. Nintendo has made it very clear than Video Game construction contracts are available to First and Second party developers only--an apparent "Coalition of the Willing" of video game corporations. Longterm allies like Squaresoft and Rare have been locked out.
But now we need an XBox Live president, able to think in terms of a multilateral, voice-chat enabled world. Able to deal with terrorists, spammers, and high ping bastards with firm yet measured resolve.
Ladies and Gentleman, John Kerry is the XBox Live president we are all looking for. |
