Sports are wildly popular in America. The current NBA Finals are managing monster ratings, even with a small market team like Oklahoma City. American men (and some women) paint their bodies and faces on weekend autumn days and brave freezing cold weather to support their beloved teams. Even as major sports take increasing amounts of attention, other more traditional sports carry allure too.
Just like the GOP training Romney
Rodeos are as American as Lincoln’s hat. Cowboys gave birth to swagger, and as America swept across the western territories of the Louisiana Purchase two hundred years ago, their image in civilization rose. John Wayne is still the quintessential man after all these decades. Even today, the romanticism of horses and the wild west lives strong within us.
Even horse races can captivate the nation, with winning horses at the Triple Crown events becoming celebrities instantly, like this year’s I’ll Have Another. With all the pomp and circumstance of the hats, the tradition, and the white faces, horse racing at least gets a mention in major media.
Yet there is one variety of horsemanship that normally gets left out. Equestrian sporting tends to be reserved for the super rich, who have access to farms and stables in areas where there normally aren’t many farms or stables, like Boston or New York City. Young preps hop over small fences and bushes. Some have taken the sport so far that they created “dressage” or the advanced training of a horse to respond to minimal commands: some have deemed it horse ballet.
The fact that the American public is nearly completely oblivious to dressage probably helps the Romney’s more than it harms them, as they are sending one of their horses to compete in London’s summer Olympics. What might normally be cause for ridicule, or at least alienation, has given way to general confusion. “What?” is most people’s response.
But it reveals just how deep the canyon between Romney and most of America is. He is fabulously wealthy, and if elected would be the richest President ever to hold office. He has never in his life come close to understanding how difficult it is to make a living without privilege. While he himself has been very successful in business, all this post is saying is that he has so much money that he grooms horses for dressage. A true leader would address the fundamental issues of America and maybe consider donating the metals his horse wins in London to help to feed the poor that is trying so hard to screw over.