Monday
While some people are into bird sightings, I’m into literature sightings. (Okay, so I do some bird watching as well.) The latest is Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, mentioning Waiting for Godot on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show Friday night.
The reference was to the way Republicans keep stringing Democrats along on the possibility of compromise, only to back out when agreement is near. They did this constantly with Barack Obama, and they’ve been trying to do it again as Democrats craft an infrastructure bill and set up a Congressional committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection. When Nancy Pelosi agreed to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s conditions about the investigation, McCarthy refused to take “yes” for an answer and backed off.
Normally people mention “Lucy and the football,” a gag that recurred for years on Peanuts when Lucy assured Charlie that this time she wouldn’t pull the football away when he ran up to kick it–only to, once again, pull it away at the last moment so that Charlie, once again, falls flat on the ground. While the Peanuts episode captures the situation well, so does Samuel Beckett’s play.
In it, we see Vladimir and Estragon awaiting the arrival of one Godot, whom we can think of as bipartisan compromise. They’ve been waiting for a long time and they are still waiting at play’s end. The play has such interchanges as the following:
ESTRAGON: Let’s go.
VLADIMIR: We can’t.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We’re waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You’re sure it was here?
VLADIMIR: What?
ESTRAGON: That we were to wait.
VLADIMIR: He said by the tree.
And this:
ESTRAGON: He should be here.
VLADIMIR: He didn’t say for sure he’d come.
ESTRAGON: And if he doesn’t come?
VLADIMIR: We’ll come back tomorrow.
ESTRAGON: And then the day after tomorrow.
VLADIMIR: Possibly.
At the end of Act I, a boy messenger shows up and informs them, “Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow.”
In Act II, some time has passed—we know this because there are a few more leaves on the tree—and Estragon and Vladimir are still waiting. Every time they seem on the verge of giving up, a tiny vestige of hope flairs up:
VLADIMIR: We’ve nothing more to do here.
ESTRAGON: Nor anywhere else.
VLADIMIR: Ah Gogo, don’t go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better.
ESTRAGON: How do you make that out?
VLADIMIR: Did you not hear what the child said?
ESTRAGON: No.
VLADIMIR: He said that Godot was sure to come tomorrow. (Pause.) What do you say to that?
ESTRAGON: Then all we have to do is to wait on here.
At the end of act II, the boy—or maybe a different boy, it’s not clear–shows up again:
VLADIMIR: You have a message from Mr. Godot.
BOY: Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR: He won’t come this evening.
BOY: No Sir.
VLADIMIR: But he’ll come tomorrow.
BOY: Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR: Without fail.
BOY: Yes Sir.
The boy could be both the same and not the same if we think of the first as John Boehner—head of GOP House Republicans during the Obama administration—and the second time as current head McCarthy. In neither case is the identity of the boy important.
So is bipartisan compromise our Godot? Will GOP members of Congress enter into responsible governance. We can look to Beckett’s words for the answer:
VLADIMIR: What does he do, Mr. Godot? (Silence.) Do you hear me?
BOY: Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR: Well?
BOY: He does nothing, Sir.
Some say the play is about waiting for God. We can read it as waiting for Gop.
