University of Virginia Library

Ah! Wilderness

On Animal Metaphors

By Teddy D. Vaughn

WASHINGTON — Perhaps
prompted by the First Lady's middle
name, official Washington has
indulged in animal metaphors for
years.

The most obvious, of course,
are the ornithological phenomena:
hawks and doves. The President
has called the doves everything
from frogs to in recent
months.

Just recently, a group of Long
Island housewives demonstrating
in front of the White House in a
protest against a proposed atomic
power plant that they thought
would pollute their supply,
brought ducks with them to
dramatize that the AEC is "ducking"
the issue. One placard read,
"Roasted Ducks, Yes; Radioactive
Ducks, NO!"

President Johnson reassured
visiting Prime Minister of Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew of America's
intention to stay in Vietnam by
vowing to continue "riding the
tiger," no doubt with one in his
own tank.

Critics of the President have
suggested that his exhortation to
American soldiers in Vietnam to
bring back a "coonskin to nail
on the wall" is a lot of bull and
that he is fast becoming a lone
wolf on that issue and a snake in
the grass on most issues He,
like
water had better go fishing where
the catch is.

His snide crack about dissenters
—"It's difficult now to get to the
gate without the dogs barking"—
was not the most politic statement
the President has made. In fact,
a o .

Consensus is an alien word in
Washington of late, but the one
remaining one is that if the President
doesn't lay off animal metaphors—at
least until he gets the
Vietnam monkey off his back—
he is going to sing a swan song
in 1968.

How about "It's Only A Paper
Tiger?"