The Ohio and Texas primaries are
tomorrow. For the two contenders for the Democratic nomination, the
stakes can’t be higher. On the outcome of these primaries could
hinge the nomination. On that nomination could hinge the general
election. On that election depends the path of the free world for the
next crucial eight years. On one side, there is optimism, confidence, and
a rising awareness that the future rides with them. On the other, a
determined core of resilience that yet hides a desperate hope. In that
desperation, there resides a central belief that the tide can be turned by
reaching to the minds of the American people. Persuasion takes the form
of reasoned debate, a look at the facts, a rational assessment of reality, a
point by point answer to doubt.
But, in this election, as in most, that is the path to
defeat.
Hillary Clinton, a wonderful candidate, a hard worker, a
tireless advocate for the issues of the ordinary American has run into a
tsunami. It is a tidal wave of feeling, or irrational exuberance, of the
heart over the head. It is, in fact, the force of inspiration. No
rational analysis, no reasoned debate will win this election. The pundits
and analysts will talk all day about policy, white papers, positions on salient
issues of the day and detailed plans for the future. They will sagely
point out that in opinion polls and in one on ones, the voters have said that
they want the candidates to be specific on the issues, to outline their
positions, to delineate their plans. That is what the voters will say.
It is not how the voters will vote.
What the voters want is for the candidates to tell them that
they are in good hands, that the future is a bright one, filled with promise
and capable of fulfilling their dreams. They want to know the story of America in the
21st century and they want the candidates to tell them how the
ordinary American will fit into that story. They want to know everything
is going to be alright. Most people want to know that white papers exist,
that, in fact, there IS a plan. Do they want to delve into that
plan? I’m sorry, but I don’t think they do. The last
several elections have been won on “It’s the economy, stupid”
and “A return to moral values” and “we must stop the
terrorists”. Where were the plans with these things? How
detailed were they? What did they have to do with experience?
All elections are about the heart, ultimately. I think
we like to believe we vote with our heads, but I think we ‘feel’
the rightness of a candidate, and go from there. We like to feel that the
candidate is human. We like to feel that they CARE about us. We like to
think that they will take care of us, represent us well, serve as the guardian
of our dreams. It is a tall order for anyone, and impossible for the mind
to grasp. Not so for the heart. It is our emotions that tell us
that there is no inconsistency in these desires. It is our BELIEF that
all of this is possible that gives value to ourselves. And, in the end,
it is all about value.
Obama has done the best job, so far, of speaking to the
heart. Like I said earlier, Hillary did well in New Hampshire because, for a brief time,
people forgot everything about her except that she was real. When she
showed emotion, she spoke from the heart, and not the head. She connected to
the audience, who desperately WANTED to connect to her. She hasn’t
gone back to that dangerous place again. What Hillary COULD do, if she
wanted, is have a conversation with the nation. An intimate
conversation. A ‘fireside chat’. Without stridency,
without the trappings of the need to be ‘presidential’. With
Hillary, inspiration can come from who she really is. She could tell the story
of America,
as a story, for the next eight years. What will we be like in eight years
time? When that wonderful day comes, will we see the world be a better
place? How will that look for us? Will we feel that, once more, we
can stand with the purpose that has defined being an American for the last 225
years? Will we feel that, once more, we are the beacon for the world, a
city on a hill, a nation set apart? Will we feel once more our special
destiny that, deep down, has made us all proud to be Americans?
I believe that most Americans feel, at some level, that
something has changed over the last eight years. For whatever reason,
most Americans feel that we have lost that special place in our own heart that
make us proud of who we were. We have stepped down from the high ground
into the darkness of the forest. The candidate who will win this election
will take us from the forest to the mountaintop. That candidate will say, “We
have been in the dark, but there is a brightness ahead, and it is the light of
home. It is where we all reside, all of us Americans. It is a place
of beauty and idealism, a place of hope for the future and of faith in
ourselves. Within the hearth of our home burns the fire of our
possibilities, for it is our aspirations that draw us onward, that give value
and purpose to all that we love, and that fuels the strength and determination
that has forged our national character. All greatness comes from the
inherent belief in the nobleness of what we stand for, in the purpose of our
lives. Though we sometimes falter and slip from the heights to which we
aspire, in our hearts, we still believe that that height is where we belong”
The candidate who will win this election will never forget
that what America
wants is to be great. We may not say it, we may not shout it out, but we
feel it to the core of our being. And greatness in not defined in
military power, or economic wealth, it is defined by the value we give to our
dreams.
