Pushing Absolutely No Hot Buttons

Whatever happened to the grand old art of political buttons? Once upon a time, a presidential election brought us such memorable and wearable gems as “I Like Ike” and “I’m Daft About Taft” – and few could forget the classic Goldwater button that emphatically declared “In your heart, you know he’s right,” and the anti-Goldwater parody that shot back, “In your heart, you know he’s nuts!” These days, though, every button from every campaign looks the same – blue backgrounds, American flags, the names of the candidates, and nothing else. At what point did one of America’s cleverest forms of politicking become such a deadly bore?