This picture is a great shot my wife took when we were in Cancun. After years of being an amateur photographer, I marveled at how I was "out done" by someone who appears to have a better eye than me!
Indeed, the picture serves as an interesting metaphor for a certain Presidential candidate.
In Sen. Barack Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope", he recalls, at one point, what it feels like to lose an important race as a politician. Sen. Obama said in the book that he "still burns" from a loss to an incumbent Congressman, Bobby Rush in 2000.
No one likes to lose, and those in public office - often intoxicated from narcissism - have the most difficult time coping with a loss. Unlike private citizens who have private ways of coping with losing, politicians' losses "are on public display", he said.
And so, as I watched Sen. Hillary Clinton give her "exit speech" today, I could not help but to notice how humiliated she looked, almost disgusted or depressed as she was forced to support someone that she probably would rather excoriate. Sen. Clinton did not smile much, save when she spoke about her accomplishments and what she represented for women. At one point - and I thought it perfectly appropriate - I thought she was going to sob, only to be comforted by her husband, the former President Bill Clinton and her beautiful daughter Chelsea.
Sen. Clinton demonstrated what modern women often do in the face of adversity and defeat; she showed how women can be strong. Moreover, I thought that there was something very heroic today about her. Maybe it was the fact that she had come so far, only to lose. But heroes lose. They lose, while trying to do good for the community or a cause. Heroes don't always ride off into the sunset. The best films have heroes who beat the odds - up to a point - and die. I am thinking of William Wallace in Braveheart.
In her speech today, I saw a powerful woman, dealing with the very public loss to someone who will more than likely become the most powerful person in the world. To be sure, having the support of 18 million voters is phenomenal, but we know that the Democratic nomination - no matter what kind of delegate calculus you want to use - is arrived at by who has the most delegates.
Sen. Clinton painfully asked her supporters to support her as she backs Sen. Obama. There were some "boos" to that request, but in the end, this healing was necessary and she knew that it was one painful step towards closure that is critical for the party.
I have criticized Sen. Clilnton, at one point suggesting she suffers from mental disorders. But like Sen. Obama, politicians (all) have to be scrutinized. And the public ought to be more informed and opened about their likes and dislikes. We ought to hold them accountable.
In the end, the system worked.
Sure, the DNC will have to figure out what to do come 2012 in case other rogue states decide to violate the rules. You just can't have rules in place to punish states, only to have a meeting to reverse the policy! It has nothing to do with, in my opinion, "the right to vote"; it has more to do with implementing a policy regardless of the outcome. You break laws, there are consequences and I think that there are too many people in this country ( 2 races I can think of) who believe that laws are relative and should be modified to accommodate them.
In the end, I am glad that the Democratic party is finally moving towards unity.
So, even though Sen. Clinton's sun has set, the run for office, still, was a beautiful endeavor for someone who will remain a powerhouse in modern politics.
And that, as far as I am concerned, is what is important.
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