Well, if this is a presidential election year, we must get silly. Appears that way. The most entertaining bit of intramural fisticuffs presented thus far is a notion that Hillary is throwing the 2008 election because she is a concubine of the GOP via the mid-wifery of the Democratic Leadership Council. On which, she and her husband are the leading power brokers. And somewhere along this descending moral path, Hillary Clinton lost her soul.
Then another idea floated, quite sincerely, is that the real overarching plutocracy is riding herd on all political processes, having baited us with hope, then switched the presidential gameplan, insuring Hillary (the cunning) Clinton a win over Barack (the pure) Obama--our major mainstream media being an enabler of rotten, besotted Illuminati derelicts who have tapped her to further their evil world conquest agenda. (I do believe in the coming of a whole new order; I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and the demons to show themselves.)
These scenarios almost make me pine for Boss Tweed and Chicago's old Mayor Daley. At least we all knew were we stood. Behind the eight ball, to be sure, but it is the unknowing that is driving us over the edge, as I see it. Somehow, even in misery there is the comfort of certainty; tomorrow will offer much of the same disjointed cosmic joke.
I have indulged my own creative prognostication because it is number one--fun. And number two--I don't want to be left out of this game of oneupmanship; makes me feel empowered.
So here I go: I think Obama will win because his middle name is Hussein, which gives him an affinity with Arab oil tycoons--the sheiks and emirs--who have staked claims to much of the world's resources. I think he will be an excellent good-will ambassador and placate their fears that the Christian West has no designs on them other than their sticky energy goo. No matter that the goo is contaminating the planet and killing off half the known species. It is still a viable money-pit for smart entrepreneurs and savvy investors. These people live in the moment; they have no time to contemplate their navels or explore their conscience. That is for losers.
This quote from Hilliary is up on the site featuring bios of U.S. first ladies: "Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever is the right balance...For me, that balance is family, work, and service." (Very non-threatening)
But what I am wondering is when it was exactly Hillary lost her soul? Was it when she, as the first student at Wellesley to give her class commencement address, said: "The challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible"? Or was it while after graduation, she advised the Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge? Or when she joined the Nixon impeachment inquiry as a staff advisor to the U.S. House?
Did she lose her soul after becoming first lady of Arkansas, chairing the state's Educational Standards Committee and co-founding Arkansas's Advocates for Children and Families, also sitting on boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services, as well as the Children's Defense Fund? Did it go missing as she advocated for increasing children's health care insurance and for expanding their access to immunizations? ( All these positions were held without personal remuneration; hardly in it for wealth enhancement.)
Perhaps she lost her soul when as first lady of the nation, she continued to fight for the rights of women and children globally, visiting over 80 countries in outreach for positive change. That must be when it disappeared--her soul. (There are other achievments I could also name. She was quite good at aiding farmers and small rural communities in up-state New York as a junior senator and fought hard for 9/11 responders who were ignored by the Bush administration.)
I am not a soothsayer, nor do I have any pipeline to higher metaphysical spheres. I just look at the facts in a logical, systematic way and usually--not always--bring to bear a certain distant empirical observation. She has made many imprudent political choices which, under the microscope of presidential campaigning, are being used to pillory her and negate positives. Put anyone under such withering scrutiny and they will be found wanting. We are not going to get perfection; can we just settle for competency?
But I can't find Hillary's missing soul. Is there anyone out in the greater world who can help me find it? It's a mystery awaiting resolution. Before the next important primary event. If it can't be found, she must still be wearing it secretly, behind that big, politically-motivated smile.
