Breaking Bad and the Government Shutdown: A Thought Experiment
Two groups of mostly undesirable characters have gotten a lot of attention in recent days. One is the cast of Breaking Bad. The other is Congress.
Sadly, media coverage isn’t the only thing these two shady bunches have in common. Neither group is doing much of anything right now after the recent government shutdown and the finale of Breaking Bad. Also, it’s highly likely that there are a few dead people among both the Breaking Bad cast (don’t worry, no specific spoilers here) and the sitting members of Congress. Seriously, have you looked at McCain lately?
But in some ways, the similarities don’t even stop there. Some elements and major players in the recent debacle over the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) have started to remind me of the various power struggles and characters in Breaking Bad. So I’ve decided to see just how far I can take the comparison.
Some of this is definitely a stretch, so all the political junkies and/or Heisenberg fanatics who are dying to point out inaccuracies in my little analogy will find plenty to call me out on. Also, yes, I’ve compared the Republicans to the “bad guys” in Breaking Bad, while Walter White’s family and associates are the Democrats. But c’mon, there aren’t really any good guys in Breaking Bad or in the upper reaches of our politics, are there? I don't think I'm really doing Democrats any favors by comparing them to Walter White, Saul Goodman, and Skinny Pete. Still, feel free to yell at me in the comments below.
So where does it all start? How about with the “products” that drive all the conflict in the first place? The meth in Breaking Bad is like government-sponsored expansion of health insurance (Obamacare and earlier attempts) in our nation’s current political drama. Some might say there’s a strong similarity only because Obamacare will kill you and/or make you addicted to another government entitlement. But that’s a different rant for a different day. For my purposes, expanded health insurance coverage and meth play the same role in our stories by being the products that drive the power struggles between warring factions.
So, if expanded health insurance coverage is like meth, then what political figure is our Walter White? Gotta be Obama, right? Possibly, but I’m actually inclined to put the Big Dog himself, ol’ Slick Willie Jefferson Clinton, in our Walter “Heisenberg” White role, with Hillary Clinton as Skyler White and Barack Obama as our fresh-faced young assistant meth cook, Jesse Pinkman. Walter White and Bill Clinton are both older, more experienced, better at wielding power once they have it, and they cook up a more pure product (the blue meth and the Clintons’ 90s attempts to create universal health insurance coverage), as compared to Jesse, Obama, and the less “pure” products they were able to put on the market once the originals were no longer an option.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Skyler White are powerful behind the scenes, and their power will probably only increase long after the men have stopped fighting. Joe Biden is our Saul Goodman, primarily good for comic relief and a bad haircut. Jesse’s sidekicks in the meth business, Badger and Skinny Pete, are like Obama’s sidekicks in Congress, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (with Pelosi being Skinny Pete, obviously). And finally on the “Walt side,” Al Gore is Walter, Jr. – both enjoy a good breakfast.
OK, now for the Republicans as the nemeses of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. I can’t go too far with this because I want to avoid Season 5 spoilers and blatant comparisons of Republicans to a gang of white supremacist criminals. However, it’s indisputable that Walt/Jesse’s most pressing enemies in the final season of Breaking Bad are Todd, Jack, and Jack’s crew of ex-cons, just as Republicans have fought against the Obama/Clinton power structure. So let’s just generally say that Ted Cruz, Eric Cantor, and other Congressional Republicans are on the opposite side of Obama/Clintons in the health care showdown, just as the Todd/Jack crew fought Walt and Jesse in the meth showdown, and leave it at that. That said, Michele Bachmann has got to be the tightly wound Lydia character, while some of Walt and Jesse’s previous enemies (Tuco Salamanca, Gus Fring, etc.) are like the former standard-bearers of the Republican party whom the Democrats once battled – George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc.
http://youtu.be/WMMO4GRHJWw
Oh, and the turtle who carried the dude’s severed head in Breaking Bad? That’s totally Mitch McConnell. Because McConnell’s a turtle (a cheap joke, but the classics never go out of style). And the severed head itself has to be John Boehner – both have been baked in the sun to a golden brown, and somebody, friend or foe, is going to have Boehner’s head one of these days.
I’ll wrap this thing up by acknowledging that I’ve left out at least four major Breaking Bad characters – Hank and Marie Schrader, Hank’s DEA partner Steve Gomez, and utter badass muscleman Mike Ehrmentraut. I couldn’t figure out a way to tie them to our pathetic political environment without giving away the characters’ ultimate loyalties, decisions, and outcomes, and I’ve got several friends who are still making their way through Breaking Bad. Those laggards should be shirking their responsibilities and watching more TV, but good luck telling them that.
Thanks for bearing with me. See you next week!
Some of this is definitely a stretch, so all the political junkies and/or Heisenberg fanatics who are dying to point out inaccuracies in my little analogy will find plenty to call me out on. Also, yes, I’ve compared the Republicans to the “bad guys” in Breaking Bad, while Walter White’s family and associates are the Democrats. But c’mon, there aren’t really any good guys in Breaking Bad or in the upper reaches of our politics, are there? I don't think I'm really doing Democrats any favors by comparing them to Walter White, Saul Goodman, and Skinny Pete. Still, feel free to yell at me in the comments below.
So where does it all start? How about with the “products” that drive all the conflict in the first place? The meth in Breaking Bad is like government-sponsored expansion of health insurance (Obamacare and earlier attempts) in our nation’s current political drama. Some might say there’s a strong similarity only because Obamacare will kill you and/or make you addicted to another government entitlement. But that’s a different rant for a different day. For my purposes, expanded health insurance coverage and meth play the same role in our stories by being the products that drive the power struggles between warring factions.
So, if expanded health insurance coverage is like meth, then what political figure is our Walter White? Gotta be Obama, right? Possibly, but I’m actually inclined to put the Big Dog himself, ol’ Slick Willie Jefferson Clinton, in our Walter “Heisenberg” White role, with Hillary Clinton as Skyler White and Barack Obama as our fresh-faced young assistant meth cook, Jesse Pinkman. Walter White and Bill Clinton are both older, more experienced, better at wielding power once they have it, and they cook up a more pure product (the blue meth and the Clintons’ 90s attempts to create universal health insurance coverage), as compared to Jesse, Obama, and the less “pure” products they were able to put on the market once the originals were no longer an option.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Skyler White are powerful behind the scenes, and their power will probably only increase long after the men have stopped fighting. Joe Biden is our Saul Goodman, primarily good for comic relief and a bad haircut. Jesse’s sidekicks in the meth business, Badger and Skinny Pete, are like Obama’s sidekicks in Congress, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (with Pelosi being Skinny Pete, obviously). And finally on the “Walt side,” Al Gore is Walter, Jr. – both enjoy a good breakfast.
OK, now for the Republicans as the nemeses of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. I can’t go too far with this because I want to avoid Season 5 spoilers and blatant comparisons of Republicans to a gang of white supremacist criminals. However, it’s indisputable that Walt/Jesse’s most pressing enemies in the final season of Breaking Bad are Todd, Jack, and Jack’s crew of ex-cons, just as Republicans have fought against the Obama/Clinton power structure. So let’s just generally say that Ted Cruz, Eric Cantor, and other Congressional Republicans are on the opposite side of Obama/Clintons in the health care showdown, just as the Todd/Jack crew fought Walt and Jesse in the meth showdown, and leave it at that. That said, Michele Bachmann has got to be the tightly wound Lydia character, while some of Walt and Jesse’s previous enemies (Tuco Salamanca, Gus Fring, etc.) are like the former standard-bearers of the Republican party whom the Democrats once battled – George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc.
http://youtu.be/WMMO4GRHJWw
Oh, and the turtle who carried the dude’s severed head in Breaking Bad? That’s totally Mitch McConnell. Because McConnell’s a turtle (a cheap joke, but the classics never go out of style). And the severed head itself has to be John Boehner – both have been baked in the sun to a golden brown, and somebody, friend or foe, is going to have Boehner’s head one of these days.
I’ll wrap this thing up by acknowledging that I’ve left out at least four major Breaking Bad characters – Hank and Marie Schrader, Hank’s DEA partner Steve Gomez, and utter badass muscleman Mike Ehrmentraut. I couldn’t figure out a way to tie them to our pathetic political environment without giving away the characters’ ultimate loyalties, decisions, and outcomes, and I’ve got several friends who are still making their way through Breaking Bad. Those laggards should be shirking their responsibilities and watching more TV, but good luck telling them that.
Thanks for bearing with me. See you next week!
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