{"id":10877,"date":"2021-06-15T19:11:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=10877"},"modified":"2021-07-06T01:38:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T01:38:47","slug":"a-reminder-great-politicians-still-sell-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=10877","title":{"rendered":"A reminder: Great politicians STILL sell hope…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PHOTO:<\/p>\n

Chris Matthews<\/a>\u00a0did<\/strong> “abruptly resign<\/a>,” but his truth still remains:\u00a0\u201cGreat politicians sell hope<\/strong><\/a>…”<\/em><\/p>\n

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I just got back from a lightning, one-week mini-vacation. First to Rockville Maryland for my grandson’s wedding, then to Pigeon Forge Tennessee for a family get-together. (Including a day-visit to Dollywood<\/a>, illustrated at left.) I got back home late last Thursday (6\/10\/21), and over the course of a Recuperation Weekend, checked on my blogs. My last post on this<\/em><\/strong> blog – “(Some of) the music of my life<\/a>” – happened back on May 20, 2021. So another<\/em> blog-post is long overdue.<\/p>\n

Looking for an easy past-post to review, I went back to June, 2015. There I found\u00a0\u201cGreat politicians sell hope<\/a>,” a post based on a 2007\u00a0Chris Matthews<\/a>\u00a0book,\u00a0Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Chris himself has run into some hard times since then. Some<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0of the gory details are in the notes, but suffice it to say that even though he had to resign under a cloud, what he said in his 2007 book still rings true. The truly great politicians still<\/em><\/strong> sell hope…<\/p>\n

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Now, about that idea that “Great Politicians Sell Hope:” When I first heard Matthews make that claim – back in 2015 – I thought,\u00a0\u201cWhat rock have you<\/strong> been living under<\/a>?<\/em>\u201c But in his book Chris noted that\u00a0our best presidents \u2013 including John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan \u2013 were able to \u201csell themselves\u201d by giving Americans a sense of hope for the future.<\/p>\n

So back In 2015 I asked, “What happened? What happened to those presidents who gave Americans a sense of hope for the future?”<\/em> But since then one big thing happened. (And maybe two or three.) After four tumultuous years of Trump, Joe Biden’s election seemed to offer a glimmer of that hope. And despite ongoing conservative guilt by insinuation<\/a>\u00a0TV ads – that they were Socialists, creeping or otherwise – Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock\u00a0painted Georgia blue<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But we digress. Back to the Chris Matthews book. The 2015 post told how I reviewed it, which led me to think this: “Maybe\u00a0today\u2019s\u00a0politicians<\/em><\/strong> seem especially nasty because so many\u00a0voters<\/em><\/strong> they\u2019re trying to\u00a0woo<\/a>\u00a0are turning nasty.” Maybe today’s politicians just reflect the “nastiness that seems to have taken hold of a large part of our population.” Then came this quote:<\/p>\n

C. P. Snow<\/a>\u00a0believes that Western society has become an\u00a0argument culture<\/strong>\u00a0(The Two Cultures<\/a>). In\u00a0The Argument Culture<\/b>\u00a0<\/a>(1998),\u00a0Deborah Tannen<\/a>\u00a0suggests that the dialogue of Western culture is characterized by a warlike atmosphere in which the winning side has truth (like a trophy). Such a dialogue virtually\u00a0ignores the middle alternatives<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That quote came from a link in the post, and seems as good an explanation as any, and especially the part about ignoring “middle alternatives.” Today’s politics\u00a0do<\/em><\/strong> seem to trend to the extreme, and in the process avoid any middle or compromise alternatives. On that note, the Amazon blurb for Tannen’s book said “in the argument culture, war metaphors pervade our talk and influence our thinking. We approach anything we need to accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides.” Rather than the traditional American\u00a0spirit of compromise<\/a>…<\/p>\n

\"FormerHowever, not that<\/em><\/strong> long ago even great political\u00a0arch-enemies\u00a0Tip O\u2019Neill and\u00a0Ronald Reagan<\/a>\u00a0– at right – could meet over a drink when the day’s battles were over. And Ted Kennedy could do the same. Even though the two were political arch-enemies, Kennedy admired the fact that Reagan \u201cknew how to manipulate symbols for his causes yet\u00a0could sup with his enemies<\/em><\/strong>:\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s absolutely professional. When the sun goes down, the battles of the day are really gone.\u00a0 He gave the Robert Kennedy Medal, which President Carter refused to do\u2026 He\u2019s very sure of himself, and I think that people sense that he\u2019s comfortable with himself\u2026 He had a philosophy and he\u2019s fought for it. There\u2019s a consistency and continuity at a time when many others are flopping back and forth. And that\u2019s an important and instructive lesson for politicians, that people admire that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is another way of saying O\u2019Neill, Reagan<\/a>, and Kennedy all personified that\u00a0traditional American\u00a0spirit of compromise<\/a>: “If politics is the art of the possible, compromise is the artistry of democracy…\u00a0In a democracy, the spirit of the laws depends on the spirit of compromise.”<\/p>\n

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Which brings us back to that\u00a02015 “hope” post<\/a>. It\u00a0went way<\/em><\/strong> long – almost 2,000 words – and talked about things like George Wallace repenting his racism, and how\u00a0Harry Golden<\/a>\u00a0handled the troubled years between 1942 and 1968. (Years which included\u00a0McCarthyism<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0Vietnam War protests<\/a>, and the\u00a0Civil Rights Movement<\/a>.) And how through it all, Golden “kept a sense of hope and a sense of humor.” And how\u00a0Carl Sandburg<\/a>\u00a0once wrote that it must have been someone like Golden who was \u201cin the mind of the Yankee, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote:\u00a0 “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.” (Words that I try to live by…)<\/p>\n

And finally, that\u00a02015 \u201chope\u201d post<\/a>\u00a0started and ended with the wisdom noted in the\u00a0cartoon below, that in \u201cbad times or hopelessness, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response than to complain about the situation<\/em>.\u201d And to the article,\u00a0Better to light a single candle<\/a>. And that great bloggers \u2013 like great politicians \u2013 should also<\/em><\/strong> work harder on \u201cselling hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is just what I’ll keep trying to do…<\/p>\n

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The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Chris Matthews abruptly resigns from MSNBC following controversial comments<\/a>, with the subhed, “The anchor apologized for sexist remarks before unexpectedly signing off.” See also\u00a0Chris Matthews resigns from \u2018Hardball,\u2019 apologies for inappropriate comments<\/a>. (Both from March 2020.) The gist of story is summarized in the Wikipedia article, including:<\/em><\/p>\n

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In October 2016, political journalist Laura Bassett appeared on Matthew’s program to comment on sexual assault allegations against then candidate\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>. In February 2020, Bassett alleged that prior to that program, Matthews made inappropriate remarks about her makeup, clothing, and dating life. As she was having her television studio makeup applied, Matthews purportedly asked her: “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” Bassett claims that when she laughed nervously and said nothing, Matthews followed up to the makeup artist with: “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

All of which seems pretty tame these “A.T.” days (After Trump), compared to both comments and actions by recent politicians. (And tame\u00a0as well to some comments I used to make when I was young<\/strong> and obnoxious.) The article added, “Following his resignation, Matthews garnered well-wishes from professional colleagues in the news media and others, including from Congresswoman\u00a0Tulsi Gabbard<\/a>, who noted Matthews’s willingness to “criticize the neocon pro-war agenda.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Another note: In researching this post I temporarily got\u00a0Chris Wallace<\/a>\u00a0mixed up with the Chris Matthews, the actual author of “Great politicians sell hope.”\u00a0<\/em>In the process I discovered recent stories about Chris Wallace<\/strong>, including\u00a0Fox News’\u00a0Chris Wallace\u00a0Confronts Mike Pompeo on Trump Admin Not Being Tough on Russia<\/a>, and\u00a0Chris Wallace\u00a0Challenges Pompeo: You \u2018Had Almost a Year\u2019 to Prove Lab Leak Theory<\/a>. Which means I may be doing a new post on Wallace himself…<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: \u201cargument culture.\u201d The full title of\u00a0Deborah Tannen<\/a>\u2018s book is\u00a0The Argument Culture: Stopping America\u2019s War of Words<\/a>. Tannen wrote an earlier book,\u00a0You Just Don\u2019t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation<\/a>\u00a0(1990). According to Amazon, in that earlier book \u201cTannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower – \u201cstupid darkness\u201d – cartoon image is courtesy of\u00a0You Stupid Darkness! | Kurtis Scaletta\u2019s Site<\/a>, with links to\u00a0comics.com\/peanuts<\/a>, \u201cone of the most amazing but little-known Internet resources.\u201d\u00a0 See also\u00a0lightasinglecandle.wordpress.com<\/a>, and\u00a0The 5 Greatest (newspaper) Comic Strips Of All Time<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also\u00a0Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness \u2013 Quote<\/a>, and\u00a0Better to Light a Candle Than Curse the Darkness | Psychology Today<\/a>. The former noted the saying may be attributed to numerous sources, including – but not limited to – Eleanor Roosevelt, Confucius, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, and\/or Charles Schulz. The latter offered\u00a0three ways to overcome anxiety and find greater hope:\u00a0“As we face the COVID pandemic, political unrest, economic challenges, and multiple crises, many of us are feeling anxious, uncertain, lost in darkness.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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Chris Matthews\u00a0did “abruptly resign,” but his truth still remains:\u00a0\u201cGreat politicians sell hope…” * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * I just got back from a lightning, one-week mini-vacation. First to Rockville Maryland for my grandson’s wedding, then to Pigeon Forge Tennessee for a family get-together. (Including a day-visit to Dollywood, illustrated at left.) I got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10877"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11037,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions\/11037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}