The Profitability of Hope

I recently saw a political cartoon depicting two presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, out at sea. Clinton rows her boat miserably while Obama breezily walks on water. “Show off,” Clinton says.

You can hardly blame the media for drawing such Messiah allusions (a CNN.com reporter points out that “Barack” comes from the Swahili word for "one who is blessed"). Many Americans would say that for the past six years our country has been markedly unblessed. Bush’s most recent approval rating hovers at an embarrassing 32%. His unpopularity seemed to sweep across the country like the Wave sweeps through the audience at a sports event. Bumper stickers have cropped up: “Defeat Bush.” “No One Died When Clinton Lied.” We’re looking for something promising. We need this.

We forget that the difference between nominee A and nominee B will be negligible. They are options, and that is what we don’t have right now. So we look ahead. We like the drama. We like hearing that Delaware Senator Joe Biden called Obama “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean.” It keeps us buying papers, renewing subscriptions.

But is it too much, too soon? The media have started the narrative about who will be our next president, but can they keep it up for the next year and a half?

Gore might have the right idea. So far he has denied that he will run, but if he hangs tough and announces his nomination after the drama abates—with a Nobel Prize and Oscar nomination under his belt, no less—he could win more than just the popular vote this time.

Rachel Healy