Squandering the Capital of Equality
Desperation, unfortunately, leads people to commit errors they would likely never contemplate in the pure light of reasonable self-evaluation. But when pushed against the hard wall of opposition threatening to upset a carefully-laid equilibrium, push really does lead to shove, and the result is a lamentable clarity too late to amend what cannot be taken back.Words used in haste lay waste peoples' reputations and aspirations. Or they serve to uncloak a meticulously laid impression, a mantle of high respect that is, quite simply, an empty facade. Where lies the truth only the bearer of that mantle knows, and even then, perhaps not quite.
In the drama that represents the U.S. primaries for the upcoming presidential election, much hangs on nuance, on declarations that will be parsed and interpreted, occasionally to the great detriment of the declarer's ambitions. Since all candidates for the Democratic primaries espouse similar values for the promises they declare with only slight variations on a steadfast theme, character and orientation take on greater significance to a public already wearying of the process.
As the process wears on, it is Barack Obama whose smile beams triumphant, and Hillary Clinton's that betrays the dilemma she now finds herself wobbling toward. And it's strange too, in a way. Mr. Obama appealed directly to the colour of undecided voters, proclaiming his solidarity with his black brothers and sisters. Ms. Clinton's partner in marriage and politics seemed only to mouth the obvious, that in South Carolina many African Americans would vote for Mr. Obama - because he is black.
A true enough statement, but a back-handed slap at Mr. Obama's universal appeal across race lines. Mr. Obama's persona and style and apprehension of the world he inhabits transcends black and white, goes well beyond what his predecessors represented. With the exception perhaps of Colin Powell's presumed candidature which never did materialize.
Both Jesse Jackson, a good enough man to be sure with decent credentials, but focused on the tradition of colour, and Al Sharpton whose demagoguery and own racial discriminatory tactics represented the worst possible bitterness of racial divisiveness, represented a specific demographic. In contrast to the campaign reflecting the vision and the heart of Barack Obama.
His oblique 'blackness' garnered him scant enough initial support from the black community. His transparent inclusiveness, his equal representation beyond the colour divide has persuaded a significant proportion of white Americans that he represents a trustworthy, viable candidate for the presidency. This too, among the voting public who agonize internally between the possible choice of electing the first woman, as opposed to the first black for the highest office in the land.
In the end, the choice will transcend gender and colour for the Democratic-engaged electorate. Voters indicated the repugnance they felt with the blaming introduction of stark colour choices, which so many had congratulated themselves upon leaving behind. Black voters who supported Hillary Clinton in recognition of their feelings toward former president Bill Clinton, and young white Americans whose message by Barack Obama of forging a new message of change for the country resonated.
America's dynastic first family of politics is itself divided in its selection, reflecting in part reaction to a disappointed allusion disrupting the hoped-for atmosphere of inclusiveness to prevail. Endorsations aside, it is the electorate, in their great good wisdom, allied with their fallibility as human beings, cemented by their personal expectations and experiences that will crown the winner.
And perhaps then, at least on the Democrat side of the equation, people will relax once again into an atmosphere more given to trust and inclusion than bitter accusations in memory of the past.
Labels: Political Realities, Social-Cultural Deviations, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 29, 2008
<< Home