Some American history, sitcom style.
Lady Godiva / was a freedom rider /
She didn't care if the whole world looked
Joan of Arc / with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked
And when the country was falling apart /
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up
And then......
There's Joe.
Joe Biden released a video this week in which he announced that he is, as expected, a candidate for the Democratic nomination to become President of the United States.
The pre-pre-pre-pre exit polling on his entry into the ring, race, battle or whatever predictably overly sensationalized description American culture has come to expect of the electoral process, tends to place him in one of the, also predictable, two choices American politics seems to have available these days.
Lovers love love love love love.
Haters hate hate hate hate hate.
Takes a committed, if not just a little naive, optimist to resist falling victim to the cynical suspicion that we...are never ever getting back together.
But that's kinda who we, the people are now, aren't we?
One side versus the other. Them vs. us. Fer us or agin us.
If American politics, or just everyday life in America, for that matter, were a poker game, there would be no time wasted on pointless pursuits like betting, or seeing the bet and raising, or checking or bluffing or calling a bluff.
Every hand would be "I'm all in...oh, yeah?....well, I'm all in, too....oh, yeah, whatya got?....oh, yeah? whatta you got?"
And, lately, what every body seems to "got", doesn't amount to a pair of twos.
Which makes the notion of how much "winning" was promised a while back as hilariously ironic as it is darkly tragic.
But the sociological perspective on this whole "you, no, you, no, you, no, you" bicker and bitch business is the stuff of term papers and masters' theses and therapy sessions.
For our purposes here, let's just say that if you're the kind of person who likes a little leg room in your life, make sure and book your journey through life for the foreseeable somewhere in the middle.
Lots...and lots...of room there.
Meanwhile...then there's Joe.
And with the official, if predictable, entry of Biden, the, likewise, predictable questions pop up like a verbal version of Whack-A-Mole.....
...is he too old?....is he too out of touch?...is he too creepy and/or handsy to be taken seriously?.....he's run and failed numerous times, what makes this time any different?....is he the only candidate who can defeat Donald?....doesn't this coming election require someone new and fresh and dynamic and not someone who is symbolic of an earlier, now arguably, obsolete time?......
It's worth noting, at this moment, that there's something very telling about the fact that the most readily, and often, asked questions, and not just about Biden, spring from the well of murky, dirty water as opposed to any pretense of seeking the cool refreshment of fresh, clear, new water.
Water, for those who are metaphor challenged, represents ideas and directions and visions of a better life for me and mine and you and yours.
Old saying about how we, the people, tend to set others up just to knock them down. In the updated, re-booted version, some streamlining is apparent, given that the process now often tends to skip bothering with the set up and simply goes for the knock down from the get go.
And ironic as it might seem, coming from where they come from so much of the time, a lot of your average, everyday we, of we, the people fame, profess to be tired...and tired of being tired....of political campaigns that offer nothing but trashing of the other side.
Ask not, what your candidate might do to actually make America better and safer, even greater. Ask what kind of shit the other guy is pulling that can be used to knock them off the podium and send them back to being a cable news contributor where they belong.
How about what will you specifically, exactly and, in simple sentences we can all understand, do, for example, to make America safer including, but not stir up the fires of fear and bigotry limited to, border security.
Well, first, if you're thinking anything like "yeah...that makes sense....it's a fair question....what specifically and exactly, would you do?"....
..hi, welcome to America. First time here?
Quick Cliff Notes explain on the whole politics thing.
We don't do specific and exactly and simple sentences.
Ain't nobody got time for that.
Mostly because any candidate that, even however well intended, gives that approach a shot is going to disappear in the preference polls faster than McRibs come and go off the big menu board in the drive thru lane.
Politics, all politics, actually, but American politics, in particular, is about scoring at least 5.1 out of every 10 votes. Put more practically, six out of every ten voters have to like what they hear. In order to do that, of course, it is critically necessary to tell pretty much all ten of those voters what they want, even need, to hear.
And if you're telling ten out of ten people what they want and need to hear, I'm gonna go "all in" and bet the farm that you're not telling the truth to all ten of those people.
Because the truth might set you free. But it will put a bullet right between the eyes of a candidacy faster than you can say "I will build a wall...and Mexico will pay for it."
Meanwhile, then there's Joe.
And that list of questions that is already raining down and around cable news and social media like April showers, and/or pollen, on the hood of your car.
There is, turns out, though, one question that I'm, again, willing to go "all in" on and bet will not be asked as this election plays itself out.
A question that's actually user friendly. Because it's a question you only have to ask....
...yourself.
And when will I tell you what that question is?
You have to ask?
Hi. Welcome to S.E.P.
First time here?
Once upon a time......
A friend and colleague of mine in the broadcasting biz appeared in the doorway of my studio and asked if I had a moment to chat.
He shared that he had been offered another job and was struggling with the decision making process. He went on to explain that, in addition to dealing with the always challenging issues of any kind of major life change, this particular choice was complicated by the fact that the job being offered was not in broadcasting, his profession since he was old enough to have a profession, an occupation that he had enjoyed and in which he had excelled for a long time.
He had, meanwhile, made no secret, at the time, that he was going through a season of discontent with that profession, although he was honest in offering that he couldn't tell whether he was burned out on broadcasting itself or was merely dissatisfied with his current gig. The job he was being offered, again, was not in broadcasting, but it held the promise of reasonable money, some new challenges and, perhaps, even some new beginnings.
No one who knows me at all thinks for a second that I'm ever at loss for an opinion, let alone words, but, most who know me well would also tell you that I'm not inclined to simply draw and shoot with those opinions, especially when it comes to important issues and, in this case, important decisions. And, knowing my friend as I do, I knew that he wasn't asking so much for direction or even a suggestion as to how he should decide as he was looking for a perspective.
Which is exactly what I gave him. Not an answer. But a question.
And, metaphor and analogy enthusiast that I am, I offered up a point of view on his occupational crossroad by putting it into a context to which I knew we could both expertly relate.
Love and marriage.
Pretend, I said, that you've been married to someone for a very long time. Let's say that while the marriage is not unbearable, it's not particularly happy anymore. Maybe you're going through what optimists call a rough patch, and cynics call a living hell, or maybe the marriage is really just a body waiting to be pronounced dead, but, you're a grown up who understands that making a major life change involves pretty much turning your life basket on its side, if not upside down.
Now, you meet someone. They have captured your fancy, wet your whistle, they ring your bell, shake your tambourine, make you smile and, for the first time in a while, make you think that maybe, just maybe, you have another chance to realize, not just happiness, but enthusiasm, excitement, new day, new dawn, all that stuff your brain feeds you when you're suddenly smelling roses after having been in the horse stall for so long.
Your current gig here in broadcasting, and maybe your whole feeling about broadcasting, is, of course, the horse stall. And that job offer is coming up roses. You don't know what to do. Should you stay or should you go?
That's a reasonable, and obvious, question to ask in a situation like this.
It's just not the right question.
Only you can know what you want, what you need, what it will take to make you feel hopeful, where there has been hopelessness; energy, where there has been malaise and fatigue; even joy, where there has been joylessness, no one can tell you what it's going to take to make those things happen for you.
But when making the decision as to whether to endure the horse stall a little longer and see how things turn or make the move and pick the roses..or....endure the horse stall but keep looking for just the right garden and just the right roses, the answer is to be found in the answer to this question.
Is what, or who, you're being offered going to be better?
Or just different?
Better, obviously, is improvement.
Different, meanwhile, could go either way.
Better is about an improved quality of life and, ideally, a path out of darkness.
Different, on the other hand, could be a stairway to heaven...or a highway to hell.
And, more importantly, better is a state of being that, ideally, lasts a lifetime.
Different is a novelty. And novelties wear off.
In marriage, the "other man or other woman" might be the answer to a prayer, the love of a lifetime.
Or Glenn Close, complete with boiled bunny and remarkable prowess with a butcher knife.
When it comes to making political decisions, "the other man or other woman" might lead the way out of darkness.
Or.....
It's reasonable, even wise, to ask questions when it comes to choosing candidates for public office. And, if recent history has taught us anything, it's taught us that being informed, educated, knowledgeable about candidates, who they are, what they are, where they stand and what they are really offering has become critical at this point in the timeline of American history.
Not being bothered to do the due diligence of really learning about those who are running and making those informed, educated, knowledgeable decisions on Election Day is a luxury that we, of we, the people fame simply cannot afford and indulge at our own extreme peril.
My friend was looking for an answer to a lot of questions, one in particular, should I stay or should I go?
We, of we, the people fame, are looking for answers to a lot of questions, many more to come, to be sure, but not asking the one question that really hits the nail.
And it doesn't matter, necessarily, whether the question is being asked about Bernie or Pete or Kamala or Amy or Tulsi or Kirsten or Elizabeth or Seth or Beto.....
...and then there's Joe.
It's a one size fits all kind of query.
And the answer, all other answers aside, makes all the difference in the world.
Is having them as President of the United States going to be better?
Or just different?
Better is state of being.
Different is a novelty.
Novelties wear off.
And, turns out, we have the advantage, such as it is, of knowing now what happens when we, of we, the people fame, decide not to give "better" its due at the poker table and go "all in" on "different".
For no other good reason than it's different.
Better is a state of being.
And then...there's Donald.
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