The guys in the white hats aka "the good guys," live by a code that cannot be violated. Barak Obama represents a hero to many in this country right now, and though he repeatedly has denied desiring such beatification, favoring a we're-all-gonna-do-this-together mantra, it may be his mantle to wear whether he likes it or not. In that, he will be required to accept a great deal of responsibility and, to the frustration of his take-off-the-gloves supporters, continue to demonstrate restraint in the face of the most egregious attacks I've seen in a presidential election since the Bush camp went after McCain in 2000.
In the story-telling game we learn early-on that there are some very reliable structures inherent in the art that allow the writer to construct the basic characters and storyline, the bones of the story if you will, early in the process and with little effort. For example, to use a couple of extremely popular Good versus Evil films by way of illustration (yes, I could reference Aristotle and Shakespeare, but not today) we find the protagonist (Batman/Luke) and antagonist (The Joker/Darth Vader), aka, the Hero and the Villain.
Much storytelling throughout time has stuck to this very basic structure. It continues today and will outlive the Ages. George Lucas has been criticized for the simplicity of the original Star Wars as nothing more than a standard Greek classic in space. To his credit, Lucas knew his Jung and executed Campbell's hero-myth brilliantly. Thirty-three years later, the Nolan Brothers and David Goyer have been lauded by fans and critics alike for taking that same basic story and twisting it into something new and thrilling: This year's outrageously successful, The Dark Knight.
I believe Obama is the hero in this play of passion we're witnessing on the national stage right now. How do I know? All one need do is observe the actions and apparent motivations of both sides. The Obama campaign has primarily stayed on its message of change and hope for the future. They have responded in-kind on occasion, but for the most part he has stuck with his working formula in the form of rousing speeches of hope and vision for the future, and the job of reversing the crimes and missteps of the past eight years. As everyone knows by now, the negative ads playing loose with the truth and rabble-rousing speeches on the stump, especially from Palin, are largely the message from the McCain campaign. As Bush did 8 years ago, in the face of weak poll numbers and general deficit of new ideas for the nation's problems, they have decided to tread on the dark road of character assassination.
Now please don't misunderstand me here. In saying that Barak Obama is the hero I am not casting either John McCain or Sarah Palin as the villain. Neither of them are capable of true villainy. Especially not John McCain who has shown himself to be a true hero and not just in the Vietnam War. McCain was a man I admired throughout his congressional career. I always said John McCain was the GOP's Bill Clinton. It takes talent to equally piss-off people on both sides of the aisle and still get things done. Both of these men were masters of walking the centrist tightrope and I applaud them for their courage and determination.
In fact, I believe that if the GOP had bestowed the nomination on McCain in 2000 instead of Bush, he would have beaten Al Gore handily. No recounts, no hanging chads, just a clean victory. Remember, Al Gore was not the Oscar winning, Nobel laureate, righteous dude you see today. He was just ol' "Lockbox Al" trying to put as much distance between himself and Bill Clinton's sullied reputation as possible.
As for Palin, even though she's no former hero like her running mate, she's no villain either. Contrary to her current venom-spewing persona, she's really nothing more than a dim-witted puppet who's strings will be cut as soon as the landslide sends her back to her home office in the semi-frozen North. Though no villainess, Palin's particular brand of hate-mongering is frightening in particular because it incites and brings forth the old "angry mob" mentality that can only lead to disaster if left unchecked. Palin's words and crowd-firing theatrics, combined with no effort on the part of either her or McCain to temper the crowd's overreaction, do constitute evil in action, but of the kind that is born of desperation on McCain's part and ignorance, misguided self-promotion, and unforgivable irresponsibilty on Palin's.
So where's the villain? McCain, Palin and many who work side-by-side with them were seduced by the Dark Side just as was Anakin Skywalker. Just as the Joker tried to do to Batman. The GOP collectively, in the guise of people like Carl Rove and Steve Schmidt (though I'm sure that behind even those two tools stands a creepy little guy in a black hooded robe or a psychotic sociopath in smeared clown white), in the unbalanced rantings of Fox News "journalists" like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and now, Mike Huckabee, along with random right-wingers like The View's Hasselbeck and Rush Limbaugh. But all the villainy doesn't rest with their ilk. The rabid crowds of true-believers they stir up must accept their responsibility both for giving audience to fear-mongering and hate speech and for adding to hit with racial epithets and dissemination of disinformation.
Remember way back when Obama used the old saw "lipstick on a pig?" The cries of outrage from the right were deafening even though the likelihood that he meant it as a slam against Palin was a pretty big stretch. Over the past few weeks the McCain camp has thrown everything plus the kitchen sink in negative campaigning at Obama. The villain can get away with things the hero can't even consider. In this light, it would seem that even his opponents see Obama as the hero of the piece.
In storytelling if the hero takes an action that is un-heroic and like that of his enemy, if he dissembles villainous, and/or, most importantly, proceeds against his own moral code of honor, he is instantly and for all time judged to be fatally flawed and no longer worthy to wear the white hat. Once this occurs, no matter his track record, his assets or attributes, he must, and he will, fall.
As the finish line fast approaches, it's obvious that Obama beat them at their game by sticking to the high road and keeping his white hat out of the dirt.