THE HONORABLE WOMAN HAD CLEAVAGE

The cranky old guy was browsing through the land of cable TV the other night when he stumbled upon C-Span’s coverage of the British Parliament. A system in which government leaders have to actually answer questions and attempt to explain their actions is certainly a pleasant contrast with a system revolving around an uncommunicative, haughty executive branch, so cranky paused to watch.

And lo and behold, another pleasant contrast with the U.S. system revealed itself: cleavage. The Prime Minister was not present, and the government’s side in the parry and thrust of debate was being led by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. And The Honorable Ms. Smith was sporting an only partially concealed pair of honest-to-gosh hooters. Cranky kept expecting a member of the opposition to say something like “Before discussing the problem sparrows in East Fendwich, I wish to compliment the Honorable Woman on her most ample endowments.” But no one commented on the awesome sight.

Now one has to ask oneself how such a display of political cleavage would be received on this side of the Atlantic. Can you imagine a similar revelation by the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, or Susan Collins going uncommented upon?

And how would the commentary break down ideologically? Both liberals and conservatives would snicker, but the conservative side, unless the displayer was one of their own, would also launch into rants about the general moral degeneracy of anyone not a true blue conservative. In other words, conservatives would play their usual tut-tutting role, still trying to obliterate the memory of the 1960s.

The different likely reaction on this side of the Atlantic might be explained by this nation’s youth. The United Kingdom is an old nation, and its views might be categorized as matronly and world weary. The United States, on the other hand, might be compared to an adolescent just experiencing the full force of puberty and convinced the world is one big double-entendre.