by Mary Lyon, From The Left -- World News Trust --
This campaign has me feeling as though I'm totally schitzo. I'm a
two-headed monster. No -- double that. It's not merely Hillary Clinton
and Barack Obama sitting on my shoulders, battling each other for my
head, my heart, and my vote. There's also a second war raging within my
own head and heart. It's me versus me, and I'm guessing Hillary is
struggling with much the same conflict. It's tearing her campaign and
her public persona from stem to stern, and it's leaving me feeling as
overloaded as the Coen brothers at the end of Oscar night.
Hillary Clinton doesn't seem able to decide which Hillary she wants to
be. Neither do I -- about her or about myself. The media in the last few
weeks has covered her mainly from the "can this campaign be saved"
standpoint. What should she do to reverse what appears to be an
increasingly inevitable pro-Obama trend? Should she go negative or
positive? Swords or olive branches? In one venue she's reaching out to
shake his hand, noting how honored she is to share the stage with him.
In another she's shaking a fistful of papers at him like some strident
school-marm and hollering "shame on you, Barack Obama!" As of the
Democratic Debate in Cleveland, Ms. Congeniality returns, with measured
arguments and renewed gentility. He's consistent. She's up and down
and sideways. It's making me a bit seasick.
I don't know which way to go, either, Madame Senator. I think I can
sense that fire roaring in your gut, the indignation over what you've
witnessed over the past seven-and-some miserable years. The progress
you and your husband achieved amid great adversity during his
presidency has been turned on its head by the arrogant, deceitful
wrecking crew that stampeded in after the two of you left the White
House. And now, you're seeing the Invincibility Cloak you wore a year
ago rendered thread-bare. I can guess how earnestly you believe that
you have the ultimate skills to bring to the ultimate job, and how you
yearn to contribute them. You genuinely want to do good. It must be
awfully hard to take the high road, especially when so many of those
surrounding you must be telling you to go scorched-earth. Most of the
time any more, I want to go that way, too. To borrow from your spouse --
I feel your pain.
What the battering of the Bush regime has left me with is a deep,
roiling anger. It actually goes farther back than that. I've watched
since the Reagan era as the Republican juggernaut has gained momentum
and gradually shifted the tectonic plates of American politics for the
worse. We've been shoved, as a nation, farther toward the strident, the
negative, the combative, the hostile, the regressive, the in-yer-face.
Perhaps that's why Hillary's fiery campaign persona seems to be so
off-putting. Maybe in a small way it's symptomatic of what ails our
nation on a larger scale. As a liberal, the viewpoint I hold so dear
has been painted with poison, demonized and marginalized -- for far too
long by now. Newt Gingrich's little book of words and phrases that he
handed out to all his GOPAC pals during the '80's in order to win the
language wars and manipulate public perception has done its job
alright. It's gone way beyond vilifying my political party to the point
of repackaging ME, too, as a bad guy. Gingrich and his friends didn't
have me in mind, certainly, but the effect has been the same. I've
watched the devolution, and I've taken it very personally.
I want to hit back and hit back hard. I want to hit so far below the
belt that even Larry Flynt can't find the nether-regions. I want to be
the Princess of Punishment against every individual who steered us down
into this national sinkhole, and all their well-meaning but thoroughly
gullible and misguided followers -- the "19-percenters" who reliably
fall for the fear and smear, year after year. But that's the hurt
speaking. At this point, we Democrats should be about conciliation and
healing. I recognize that in my higher self. So why do I want to keep
with the brickbats? To see them suffer as I have suffered, over the
derelict direction the arch-conservatives have taken us? To force-feed
them a taste of their own medicine so they'll learn how it feels to be
on the receiving end? And would that make any difference?
Hard to say. But I know what SHOULD happen.
Perhaps this really is the dawn of a whole new era -- OUR "Morning in
America," when we begin to pull our tortured nation out of the muck of
fear, lies, and inner torment. The organized ugliness we've endured for
so long has to stop. We Democrats aren't supposed to be cloning it in
our own image and likeness -- especially when we seem so adept at
proving we're not as good at it as the Republicans are. At this point,
I don't think going negative will help Clinton win many converts, nor
will it help us as liberals and Democrats if we stay at each other's
throats. Perhaps it's time to take a cue from the way Obama is gaining
ground as the heat turns up. He keeps his head, almost a zen master as
he blocks, bobs, weaves, and deflects Clinton's every incoming jab. I
wish I could do that, get over myself and my yearning to lash out and
seek revenge. I hope we Democrats can do so as a collective,
particularly as we move through the rest of this very key year. We have
to remember that Hillary is NOT the enemy, nor are her true believers.
Rather, the adversary is the GOP ticket we'll face once we settle on
our own nominees.
It'll take me awhile to get beyond the emotional battery I've felt
under the "leadership" of the Bush regime and its armies of scheming
enablers, wrongdoers and character assassins. They've rendered us all
walking wounded, and boy, would a large part of me ever love to return
the favor. We need the best of both our two chieftains -- Hillary AND
Barack -- and everybody behind both of them to win back the White House
not simply for the Democratic Party but for all the rest of us, not
just the pirates, the corporatists, the corner-cutters, the cronies,
the extremists, the have-alreadys, and the have-mores.
My higher self is still working on taking full command for the sake of
this greater gain. I'll be wrestling with this long after we Dems stop
wrestling with each other.
***
Mary Lyon
is a veteran broadcaster and five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who
has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio
Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations
including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional
media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal
activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and
helped spearhead a regional campaign, The Power 18," to win the right
to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes,
responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and
support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to
OpEdNews, Mary writes for Democrats.us, World News Trust, and
WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting
expert, having written and llustrated the book "The Frazzled Working
Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood.