Audio Attitude

The Obama love fest is over. Things are back to normal again. Move along, people. Nothing more to see here. Or is there?

Only a few weeks ago television’s talking heads were gathered around the piano over at the pundit’s pub singing the chorus line to an Obama victory. The words had something to do about Hillary needing to win big in Ohio and Texas or she be finished. She did not win big. In fact, the numbers are about the same as they were before that election. So why is Clinton so happy? Why is Obama on the defensive?

Remember how our parents influenced our opinions about everything from what will poke an eye out to what is right and wrong to whether or not there is a Santa? Decades of social psychology research confirm the power of the situation to influence our opinions and choices. We intuitively know this but still think we are immune – that somehow our view of reality is clearer than other people’s. Yes we are good at spotting obvious ploys to change our opinions, but bad at recognizing influence in our surroundings.

The situation has changed in the presidential campaign. The context now is one in which the Republicans are pretending to be delighted with McCain as their nominee. In fact they seem so happy the President broke into dance.

So what changed? We still cringe at an awkward President. The delegate count remains close. There was no big victory or defeat in Ohio or Texas. Was it the well-timed red telephone at 3 a.m. campaign advertisement by the Clinton campaign? Maybe. What happened to the inevitable Obama and the big new tent of enthusiastic Democratic voters? The tent remains. What changed is we turned an election into an erection.

Hollywood writers came back from their strike acting all cool like a bunch of delinquents returning from a school suspension laughing hysterically and pointing to the big tent in the pants of the Obama-loving media. The red-faced news media grabbed at anything in reach to cover their wood for Obama, and are now trying to prove their love for Clinton – not with quivering need, but with an old fashioned bouquet of hyperbole and a greeting card filled with all the right words.

The context now is one in which Bill and Hillary are wise parents who know to keep the family together with them at the head of the table they need to control the context. Scolding parents wanting their rebellious kids to come back to the fold eventually must smile and say to the kids “I love you, come home for dinner and you can stay in your old room as long as you like.”

The Clintons are looking forward to the family reunion in August. In fact, they want us to bring our new boyfriend Obama who we never mind standing for because he gives good oral. He’ll be welcome in our family – we might even have some work for him at the family business.

Texas influenced the situation not by giving us a decision, but by giving us Dallas, now starring Bill and Hillary Clinton. Come home to Southfork where the men are always the scoundrels and the matriarch gets the final word. Bill Clinton grins widely as he drawls how “unstoppable” the Sue Ellen, um, sorry, Hillary – Barack ticket will be. Come to think of it the resemblance between Bill Clinton and J.R. Ewing is striking. Let me see… Bobby is John Edwards. Obama must be Ray, the nice dude who tried to get along with everyone but who never quite fit in.

Be honest Obama fans. I bet you imagined a President Hillary and Vice President Obama dancing in your previously hopeful heads. At first it upset you. You almost gagged at the notion. But the more you think about it, the more you see the possibility. Maybe it is viable, you reason. And the more you see it as viable, the more you see it as inevitable. And the more you see it as inevitable, the more you want it to just happen so you can get back to your routine of complaining about Washington and taxes and working long hours for the crap you buy, which you don’t need, while the rich get richer and poor get written off the show.

The Clinton campaign knows how malleable a shamed press can be, and know if they repeat their view of reality well enough and often enough, the press hearing all the words in the echo chamber start thinking of the noise as fact rather than what it is – spin bouncing off the walls in the cavern of corporate media.

So, in a real sense, facts become truth just by edging our imaginations away a little bit at a time. To control the outcome all you need is control of situational nuance. A few well-placed campaign ads, a few mistakes, relentless acting as if your vision of the future is the only truth, patronizing your opponent as nice but naive, and then you can beat the hope out of anyone in American politics – or as it still seems.

Not long ago Americans started imagining a Obama as a viable candidate for president. Just when they started to imagine an actual President Obama the damned red phone rang at 3 a.m. and Obama had to call Hillary for advice (see Saturday Night Live for added comic timing). Keep in mind our college students wore diapers when Americans started picturing a President Hillary Clinton. The Hollywood writers are back in time to make fun of our cute little hope. In a moment of adolescent embarrassment having been mocked for our puppy love we become shamed into submission while the opponent pushes the political equivalent of Viagra.

Hillary Clinton doesn’t actually believe she is more ready to become President. But if she says it enough, it will evolve into fact. Perhaps it now has. Hillary wants to be our mom. And dad wants us to come home. As long as our parents are able to deal with the world’s big problems we may give up our foolish optimism, dumb down and stop being so precocious.

Maybe the thrill is gone. Maybe we miss home cooking. Hillary is counting on it. She’ll bake us cookies. Well, maybe not cookies, but I bet she lets us sleep in while she runs the country and talks on the red phone. Now is decision time. Pennsylvania and North Carolina may well be Obama’s last hope to get a decisive lead. Will he capture America’s imagination to the extent we picture him as the President and see ourselves active in our government’s decisions? Probably not in the current situation. But situations change. It isn’t over yet.

Most parents would say the way to get kids to grow up and move out is to teach them independence while there is still hope. There is that word again. Hope. I hope my fellow American citizens clearly glimpse a picture of something else. So this election is not about which candidate is ready on day one, as the Clinton campaign wants us to think. Not at all. This campaign is about the readiness of American citizens on day one to manage the responsibilities that come with freedom. This campaign is a choice to finally stop our griping about politicians not doing their job and instead choose the opportunity to do the work ourselves. It is the only hope to re-establish what once was clearly a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, so help us God.

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Hat tip to E.J. Dionne for noticing the historical context in all this current commotion. His article is a must read.