No One Ever Died from Paper Cuts

After telling us that the media have been too soft on Barack Obama, the pundits now want us to believe that two words -- "bitter" and "cling" -- are major gaffes that may sink his campaign. Is this really credible? Presidential campaigns follow a familiar arc. After a long winter's nap, public interest wakes up for the first primaries of the season. Once a candidate has been picked, everyone takes the summer off, and attention isn't paid again until a month or so before the November elections.

By nature, politicians would love for everyone to listen to them every day of the year, but in fact there's a law of diminishing returns. We are in the tune-out phase of the campaign. The Clintons are trying to inflict death by paper cuts to Obama in the face of mounting apathy. "Bitter" and "cling" aren't news. Obama doesn't hide his education and intelligence, even if they are dubbed elitist. While the Clintons try to pretend that their own $100 million income makes them working class heroes, the polls move incrementally up and down. The bald fact is that Obama's integrity has registered with almost everyone he might attract, and the Democratic party has silently given up on Hillary.

When political interest reawakens in the fall, two major narratives will fight it out. Obama's narrative is "Let's go back to being the America of our highest ideals." In other words, he stands for the politics of altruism. Sen. McCain's narrative is "No surrender." He stands for national pride and a refusal to back down. On the surface it would seem that the Obama's stance is more powerful than McCain's, but in fact the race is likely to be tight. America's national identity is such that losing any war feels abhorrent -- the Republicans are still trying to turn Vietnam into a conspiracy of liberals and hippies who "prevented us from winning." On the other hand, our national identity sees itself as ever-renewable, capable of recapturing our idealism whenever we will it. In reality there are many forms of bias, prejudice, hidebound self-interest, and inertia that fight against renewal.

We are going to have to sit around for a while in the political doldrums, watching the candidates inflict paper cuts on each other. Nobody will die from it, and then once September rolls around, something dramatic will occur. The fight over national identity will be one of the turning points of the twenty-first century as reactionary nationalism makes a desperate call for the troops to rally.

Click: www.intentblog.com

www.deepakchopra.com

Comments

[negressdaily]

I have to disagree. I think that Obama's gaffe in San Francisco will come back to haunt him. Suggesting that it doesn't have the potential to inflict major damage really wishful thinking. It's hard to think of a worse thing he could have said, other than "black power." Most of the US is composed of whites who, yes, cling to 2nd amendment and dogmatic religious views. The words are being against him by Clinton and Mccain and are likely to inflict wounds much more serious than mere papercuts.

[gopindrag]

Do you compose your thoughts as carefully as you compose your words?
"Suggesting that it doesn't have the potential to inflict major damage really wishful thinking."
Maybe you'd like to buy a verb.
"The words are being against him ..."
Clinging to those two verbs? Disinclined to turn them loose?

[earlyearlyearly]

Ask yourself this. Why is the MSM and every repub pundit out there propping Clinton up and pushing for her to grab the nomination using their tactics of divisiveness?
They know they can beat her in Nov.
















repub pundit out

[Goldie9]

Just wait a week or so, and the mainstream media's focus will be about some "gaffe" that Hillary or Bill makes in trying to stretch the truth again! Too bad they do not make as big an issue of what McBush has to say week after week, whether it's "make Bush's tax cuts permanent" or "there will be more wars, my friends"...

[FJRinLA]

ONE OBAMA SUPPORTER BEGS TO DIFFER

Well, I know that John Kerry and Al Gore are still alive, but given his weight gain and seclusion the paper cuts almost killed Al Gore and we know they cost both The White House.

My argument hinges on two primary pillars:

1. Taken alone, no, but the cumulative effect of these paper cuts can add up and kill a GENERAL ELECTION Presidential Campaign if they are picked at incessantly in the right states.

John Kerry on the SailBoard was a papercut....

"I voted for it before I voted against it" was a papercut...and on and on.

2. "Cling" and "Bitter" are not the major gaffes: it's the gross "generalization"" and perceived "elitism" that are the major gaffes.

And they can be fatal in states like MO, MI, .......honestly if played right by the REPS they can be fatal for Obama in any state that REPstrategists deem it necessary for it to be fatal for Obama.

The anti-dote, and it must be taken now, not AFTER a loss next TUES, is to issue a detailed and specific, sincere Obama apologize for these two aspects of his comments, then tackle this economic divide head-on for the rest of the campaign by plunging himself into middle America.

[Titonwan]

Nothing short of a witch's potion will rid us of the Clintons. I have come to despise thy name. I will never vote for John Mc100years, but I like him a whole lot better. Barack in '08.

[FJRinLA]

Thanks for that.....I am an Obama supporter and you are exactly what Barack needs. If he doesn't get your vote, he has no chance of winning.

So please advise me: why is it that you like Mc100years "a whole lot better"?

And what, if anything, would need to happen for you to feel better about supporting Barack?

Inquiring Minds want to know.

[rzan]

Thank you, Dr. Chopra, for your note of sanity regarding this campaign. It really is incredible that two words, "bitter" and "cling" would incite such response.

[wingman1]

Beautifull articulated piece. Well said, that self-help guru/spiritual teacher/pundit/good guy :-[)

[entopticon]

Good to see this insightful piece from Deepak Chopra.

[chlllfactor]

Senator Obama is intelligent, articulate, and courageous. Would any of us have been brave enough to do what he has done?

He was well aware of what was coming. The racist attacks, the micorscopic examination of everything he said and did, the problem of getting people to think and to examine what issues were really important to them, and the clear understanding that he could hold up under the pressure and give us the first grass-roots president since the days of great leaders like John, Bobby, and Martin.

i do not think he expected to be knee-capped by the candidate in his own party. Yet, through it all he has proven himself to be a leader - a leader with vision and the skills to carry his dreams for this country to completion. He is our leader. The leader of 'we the people.' he belongs to us - you and me.

[RabidRightRebel]

Hillary must be so proud.

Imagine being the first attack wave for the rabid right Republicans. I guess this is just the sort of goal that she was aiming to achieve with her own attacks.

Just in case any Hillary supporters are reading this, please think long and hard about whether you can continue to support a candidate that would orchestrate this kind of attack on a fellow Democrat.

[donaldw6]

Lord knows, we love to pick words apart here at HuffPo. Although I'm not certain, my guess is we're reading a perspective on Indecision2008 from someone who doesn't live for politics the ways some of us do, and it's useful to get perspectives like that from time to time. I don't think Mr. Chopra is entirely correct, but he probably does represent the feeling of a lot of Americans who are less involved, and I think his warning regarding reactionary nationalism is very apt.

How do we prevent the uninvolved millions from being swept up at the last minute by a call to arms against Iran or some new enemy? (Note: Is it elitist of me to refer to them that way?) I think we're just going to have to keep getting out the message, fight with our paper cuts as best we can, and try to keep Obama as fresh as possible for the stretch run. After the last seven years, we know McCain's not about to go gentle into that good night, and we've got to be ready for almost anything.

Mr. Chopra is certainly right about one thing: This will indeed be a turning point of the 21st century.

[rzan]

Just for your information, it is Dr. Chopra. He is an MD.

[rationalthought1]

I feel this IS a battle for our national identity. First, the Dems are having their Armageddon.
With each passing day it feels more and more like getting the Clintons out of our system is like kicking heroin or going through some kind of national exorcism. Once that occurs, there will be a clear decision we will be called on to make that will determine the direction America will take. Its a real crossroads: one way, fear....the other way, hope.

[PeaceChristBwithU]

God Bless you, Mr. Chopra, for this post. I found myself feeling down today, after looking at hours of mindless coverage of this story (together with the fundamentalist sect and the video of teenage girls beating on another teenage girl). I kept thinking - does it come down to this? There are hearings now on war and torture. How about the mortgage crisis? Our economy is tanking. Another soldier died today. Our planet is dying. Thank you for such a good post on a day I really needed it.

[scepticalobserver]

Mounting apathy? Democrats trailed Republicans in Bucks Co., Pa. by 3,000 three months ago and now they lead by 20,000. It's a nationwide trend that says one thing to me.
We're not apathetic. We're pissed off and tired of media pundits telling us what to think. An example would be a pundit explaining what a candidate just said and what they meant, like we're a bunch of dumbasses.

If Obama would do like FDR and hold weekly fireside chats, he could completely bypass the Corporate media. The people are ready to act. They just need someone who can unite them, in spite of the media's opposition.

[racetoinfinity]

I like your Obama weekly "fireside chats" suggestion, to bypass the Corporate media. We know now that he is the only one of the two Dem contenders with integrity.

[Liss]

I think this is on the money - Obama's not going to lose his lead because he said something inartfully - it's shocking how much the media is making of this.

[jeg]

Replace "shocking" with "depressing", and I'll agree 100% with you.

[RealistDem]

Im coming close to shooting my television set in the morning watching Morning Joe. God I wish Scarborough would just be honest and say "Im a republican shill, I want John McCain to win the general election, Im going to go off on this bitter thing for 2 hours and help Hillary Clinton keep the democratic race going, it only helps John McCain who I intend to vote for in November". At least that would be honest.

Im and Obama supporter, Ive never had a fucking latte, im beer drinking, union member and the pathetic generalization these talking heads make, its a wonder they get 6-7 figure salaries. Whens the last time they fretted over paying a bill or set foot in a friggin Walmart. I love media elitists telling us about middle class outrage. Something they know nothing about, and you dont get it be looking at polls, we live it.

[Nyland8]

Ironically, while you assert that nobody ever died from paper cuts, I've been saying since the last week of March that Rodham's campaign is suffering the death of a thousand cuts. Little by little, drop by drop, ever since the first Iowa caucus, the Rodham campaign has been hemorrhaging - unabated. There has never been a day Obama hasn't led the race - in States, in popular votes and, most critically, in pledged delegates. There has never been a primary day that he hasn't outdistanced Rodham in the delegates needed to win. Inch by inch he's moved further and further and further in front. Even on what was allegedly her big comeback day, 3/4/08, he came out ahead in delegates. There has been no single fatal wound, there has been no knockout punch, he has landed no crushing blow to end this combat.

But long before August, someone should draw the curtain on this grotesque burlesque.

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