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EMPTY SUITS: The Costume of Power in a Theatre of Vacancies

 

Act I – The Costume

 

The empty suit is an achievement of tailoring. It stands where a person of judgment is required and, from a sufficient distance, satisfies the requirement. It is stitched in committee rooms, hemmed by consultants, pressed by donors who expect the seams to hold under strain.

 

The lapels suggest strength. The shoulders have accepted responsibilities for which the occupant has shown little aptitude. The suit itself becomes the office.

 

Conviction would complicate the fit. A principle might pull at the lining, resist an alteration, make certain engagements impossible. Better to leave room. The accomplished empty suit can accommodate a change of position without disturbing the silhouette.

 

Before a factory audience, the sleeves rise. Before a boardroom, the cuffs descend. The garment possesses a range of experience its wearer has never needed to acquire. Nothing hangs awkwardly, except the occasional question.

 

Act II – The Stage

 

The chamber is arranged for theatre. Cameras wait for the calculated scowl. Papers lie before the speakers, lending documentary weight to remarks that need never trouble their contents. Consultants shape the monologue, lobbyists cue the entrances, donors underwrite the applause. The empty suit steps into its light.

 

Today’s role is righteous indignation. The performance requires a tremor of outrage, held just short of losing composure. Too little suggests indifference. Too much might frighten a sponsor. The fist descends with sufficient force to reach the evening broadcast without endangering the furniture.

 

Across the aisle, another suit prepares its reply. They may disagree profoundly about what should be done. The vacancy reveals itself in what each is prepared to risk doing. A conviction is easier to announce when its consequences can be assigned elsewhere.

 

The exchange concludes. Both offices circulate evidence of a devastating victory. The matter under discussion remains available for a future performance.

 

Act III – The Weight

 

At last the costume is asked to bear weight. An unwelcome fact has arrived without consulting the schedule. The comfortable choices have disappeared. There is no answer that will preserve every allegiance, satisfy every donor, and leave the next photograph untroubled. For once, the office requires an occupant.

 

Advisers gather. They can supply information, anticipate consequences, and recommend a course. They cannot furnish the character required to choose it. The empty suit searches the room for someone authorized to become responsible.

 

Finding nobody, it commissions a statement. The language is grave. The concern is profound. A sentence committing the office to action is removed because circumstances may change.

 

Outside, the cost of waiting rises. The suit returns before the cameras, brushed free of anything that might adhere. It speaks movingly of the burdens of office. Somewhere beyond the frame, someone else is carrying them.

 

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