In a desperate display of politics-as-usual, the two-headed Clinton avoided relinquishment to irrelevance by winning primaries in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. According to a column this week by Gerard Baker in The Times of London,
"Last week, with commendable honesty, Hillary Clinton's campaign announced that in a frantic push to save their candidate from defeat at the hands of Barack Obama, they were going to throw everything including the “kitchen sink” at him...
...In the last days before this week's critical Texas and Ohio primaries, Mrs Clinton hit Mr Obama not only with the sink, but with most of the plumbing, the countertops and a couple of heavy duty appliances for good measure."
Hope poked its head up. Did you see it? It jumped into Barack Obama for a little while. Perhaps you saw it on his face, and yes, in his words. He even wrote a book about hope (my dad read it). Yes, hope was there. As usual, though, cynicism showed up, and hope took cover. Even Barack is wondering where hope went. What to do?
Hope is like a flame. The Special Olympics torch is called The Flame of Hope, in fact. We're instinctually drawn to the visual of the flame, and its warmth. When we sit by a campfire, we feel connected, maybe even hopeful. The warmth that hope gives fuels us, individually and collectively. Hope is what we get from prayer. And hope is contagious. That's why when hope decided to speak through Barack Obama, hope spread from person to person, from city to city. Last night at my synagogue, when the topic of the election broke out, kids as young as fourth grade were bellowing their hope for Barack Obama. It was inspiring. It made me hopeful to see kids under ten years-old excited about a presidential candidate.
If hope is represented by the flame, cynicism is expressed through cold water. That's why it's so difficult to run a campaign on a platform of hope. Because when met with the cold water of cynicism, the flame of hope is quickly extinguished. That's why the tide of the Democratic race turned against Obama the moment the Clinton Clique began accusing Obama of using "just words" to inspire people. Without belief, hope is just a platitude. All it takes is someone to suggest that the hope peddler is full of shit for people to question the hope peddler's authenticity. Just ask Moses.
In his boxing heyday, Muhammad Ali devised a clever technique called, the "Rope-a-Dope". In case you're too young to remember, here's how it went. For the first half of a fight, say six rounds, Ali would back up to the ropes, cover his pretty face with his gloves, and take blows to his body from his challenger. Then, once he sensed that the punches were landing a little lighter, coming a little slower, Ali would emerge from the ropes and finish his opponent off. Check out the documentary, "When We Were Kings" (a really great film) and see how Ali pioneered the technique against George Forman in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" bout, in 1974.
We're facing times potentially as dire as we faced in 1932, the height of the Great Depression. In that election, Americans put their faith in Franklin D. Roosevelt to lead them out of the darkness. While he came equipped with a plan, The New Deal, FDR knew that none of his plans would work without the alliance and inspiration of the American people. Hence his "Fireside Chats'. That's why, as much as policy, we now need hope. A wing and a prayer wouldn't hurt either.
In the face of Clinton-style, cynical politics, I'm thinking that Obama could use a strategy session with Ali about now. We're in mid-fight. It's time for the Hope-a-Dope!
Craig Gordon
Sing, Muhammad, Muhammad Ali
He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee
Muhammad, the black superman
Who calls to the other guy "I'm Ali catch me if you can".
-Johnny Wakeland
