In terms of our five-element story model the Dem primary
story is now entering its fourth element – Awareness. It got there step by
step.
Both Hillary and Obama have Passionately motivated their
base voters – how passionately is clear from the record turnouts. They have
each presented a coherent point of view around which their constituency can
rally. Hillary’s and Obama’s policies are essentially the same, so things are
more about identity politics and style than usual, but given that they are both
“historic firsts” their position as Heroes was pretty much of a lock.
As Antagonists they have slugged
it out across 20 long – sometimes endless – debates. We have seen Hillary tear
up and Obama shake his head fetchingly with that dazzling, “oh shucks” smile he
has and most true Dems have opened their hearts to both of them. So much so
that the biggest applause line at the Texas debate was for the suggestion that
they join together in a “dream ticket.”
Yeah right, dream on. Emotions come from
struggle and to see the real, raw emotional price politics extracts it is hard
to beat this clip of Rep. John Lewis talking about how much harder it was to shift
his support from Hillary to Obama than to face the racist beating he took
leading the Selma march in the 60s. It should be required watching in any Civics class. Check
it out here.
But you can only stay emotional for so long. The rush of
adrenalin passes and if you are lucky it is followed by a strange and watchful
calm. That is where things stand right now for Dems. Hovered on the edge of a
dawning awareness. Awareness is a mental process but as viral marketing
campaigns prove it is not necessarily a rational one. Watch closely, we are now
entering the time of the tricksters
When analyzing the passion and stories of these two individuals, I find it useful to look at Hillary as a politician (or the wife of one) and Barack as a rock star.
In terms of actual substance, his core message (advertising and boiler-plate stump speeches) is pretty lightweight.
Any policies ideas he does mention have a Santa Claus quality to them. They’re “new” in name only, as they’ve been tried before during the vast government expansion of the last century.
In other words, it’s not really new and fresh. But he’s different from Hillary in that regard only in style and form.
She makes a more believable antagonist.
How long can he sustain the emotion he’s engendered? Hard to say. Perhaps until people start realizing he’s actually a politician, and not a superstar.
It can go on for quite some time, though. After all, the Beatles still have diehard fans – and they broke up decades ago.