40 Years in the Wilderness

Watching the "I Have a Dream" speech aired in its entirely yesterday on the Imus Show, the resonance of hope and possibilities in the crucible of this year’s political campaign, brought back painful reminders.

Forty years ago, the year Dr. King was assassinated, the year an outsider took on a sitting president of his own party only to be supplanted by an entitlement candidate who was himself assassinated—it’s tempting to say, Nah, we’ve gotten beyond those times.

Sadly, I don’t think so. Last night’s South Carolina debate did nothing to change my mind. Two entitlement candidates—the first woman, the first African-American—while the candidate with the ideas, the candidate with the agenda of economic justice gets short shrift from the media, prodding to quit by the shills with their pundit masks on.

I’ve been thinking that we’re seeing 1968 play out all over again. Hillary = Humphrey. And a bit of a role twist, since Edwards was in there first, but I see him more in the Robert F. Kennedy role, the focused, scrappy fighter. Obama, the elegant academician Gene McCarthy. And we know how that turned out. Nixon, anyone?

[Disclaimer, I worked on the McCarthy campaign as a college kid, I was in LA primary night, I was in Chicago for the convention, and a bunch of primary state pit stops along the way.]

We’re seeing way too much reflection of the past this year. The dividing-up of the Democratic Party by tactics that may give quick wins along the way and cost the national election. There’s still time to correct the course. The disenfranchised want inclusiveness, not niching…not who’s in, who’s out. That can happen in groups as small as a handful or as big as a political party or nation. And this time, we need to get it right.

The cynical Republican race-baiting and stirring of old divisions and distrusts is already in play. Likely-looking nominee John McCain spends MLK Day in Alabama in a dandy moment of “who me? nah, I’m a good ol’ boy” wink-wink-nod-nod. The Clinton campaign is pushing The Restoration, the Golden Years of Bubba, fudging the line of just who would be the president. Seems more like The Atonement to me.

The president who promised to be a uniter not a divider has managed to unite all the Republicans…they don’t want to mention his name at all. Meanwhile, the Fed cuts interest rates ¾ point this morning…how’s that workin’ out for your retirement, Grandma? And Life after People on the History Channel seems the more likely scenario for the aftermath of BushCo’s saber-rattling than his fairytale of a blissfully Peter Pan-ish centerpiece of democracy.

As the tectonic plates of the Democratic Party shift and quake, those of strong constitution need to keep their resolve intact. Change is never easy, and this year is one that promises change…or being sucked back down into the familiarity of the status quo. Fear of the unknown—will it trump the hope, the desire, the demand for change? That’s up to every individual. The choices are out there…even if you have to wade through the fog of the media’s best efforts to make this a boxing match, a horserace, a triviality of personalities instead of a reasoned examination of critical issues.

An epic battle, Edwards calls it. Not a one of us should cut and run.

Because once the primaries and convention are over, we will learn if this is No Country for Old Men.

There’s an epic battle getting to Election Day, never mind the challenges that await the new president.

One thing I expect: There Will Be Blood.