Tag: Election 08

Journey of the Hero

Hillary Rodham (Clinton) circa 1992.“I’ve been there. You have no idea what you are stepping into.” So Hillary Clinton suggests–especially to Barack Obama.

Some say that Hillary had a Howard Dean moment during the debate last night when she flared about her experience as an agent of change. I don’t agree, I think that she directly addressed her record and her frustration that people don’t get the fact that it’s a trial to be in the White House.

Joseph Campbell, in his well-known theory of the journey of the hero, writes

“ A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.–The Hero with a Thousand Faces

So you are Hillary Rodham–Yale Law grad, big fish in little pond attorney in Arkansas, and you live in the governor’s mansion. You give this comfort and status up to live out a dream in the White House–but deep down you are still wonder how you got here. You have trappings of the middle-class girl in suburban Chicago. And now, the White House?

They make fun of how you look, your old man humiliates you with his philandering, and there are all these rules and protocols that you slip and slide in. And you have trials–health care reform, travel office scandals, dealing with the intrusion of secret service so you can’t even have a good fight with your husband. But you are smart, and you prevail.

So, here she is, in true hero mode, bestowing boon on Obama. She warns him that this is not so easy. “It is only for the tried and true. I have walked through the fires, I have lost myself, all in a quest to find myself and return in triumph. It’s my turn for the payoff.

I get to be Luke/Leia. I don’t want to be Yoda. Why don’t you be Han Solo and fly to the next galaxy? On hyper-drive.”

(c) 2005-2016 Doctor of Thinkology. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons License.
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Rock the Vote!

The analysis of the caucus-goers on the WashPost chat tonight, included this exchange.

Q: [What about] the importance of the young vote in this election, especially for Obama’s 7 percent lead…Do you believe the young vote will be prominent in the general election?

A: The “entrance poll” says 57% of 18-29 year-olds supported Obama tonight, and that they represented almost one fourth of the caucus attendees. Both are striking figures. Clinton got 11 percent of the young; Edwards 13 percent. If that is a harbinger, then young people can have a huge impact in November.

I get excited to see young voters join in. The biggest impediment to democracy isn’t crazy partisanship. The biggest danger is indifference.

Thanks to all the 18-29 year-olds who can change both the demographic and the substance of this next election. It’s my future, but it’s your future longer.

(c) 2005-2016 Doctor of Thinkology. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons License.
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It Is Time

I swore after the last time that I wasn’t going to do it again. And it was easy, too. After a 25/8 (yeah, somehow it even overtook the time space continuum) diet of pundits and plaudits, polls and pans, giggles and gaffes, and insider news that turned out to be flawed, I was done. I gave up my steady diet of political horseracing, the press reporting on itself, and the bubble of Washington, D.C., where you don’t have any idea of how the race is shaping up because nobody buys TV or radio time and you don’t get even a black and white postcard in the mail. (D.C. is not a politically competitive market–or even important for that matter.)

But over the past few days I was dragged crying into the Edwards’ very sad, personal backstory to his political aspirations, shook my head at the Huckabee –“sure this ad is too mean, you can see for yourself”–hucksterism, was surprised by both the George Will and the David Brooks assessment of the Obama “experience” factor, cringed a bit watching Hillary Clinton sharing a wink and a nod as well as her infamous laugh with former Bill Clinton staffer George Stephanopoulos, and was not surprised with reports of McCain’s reticence to make a bigger deal of his brave service.

So, I think that I will have to work on moderating my intake. And hope that there will be some big doldrums between February 5th and the Conventions (R, D). At least I hope. Oh, and Happy New Year!

(c) 2005-2016 Doctor of Thinkology. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons License.
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