Most people misunderstand Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. They see Hamlet as indecisive, melancholy and afraid to take action. They see it as a play where the suicidal lead character walks around not doing anything while people around him suffer and die. If we pay the price of a ticket, we usually want the main character to be decisive and bold; even though to take action 'against a sea of troubles' will almost certainly be fatal. We want heroes.
In my reading of the play, though, Hamlet is active and heroic. First of all, his only knowledge that his uncle/stepfather is guilty of regicide/fratricide comes from a ghost and, as Hamlet says, 'The spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape'. He needs more proof.
Hamlet, then, is not weak and melancholy, but on an intelligence gathering mission and has to do so right in front of his worst enemy, his uncle Claudius. He needs to be clever to survive, to 'play the game' a bit while he creates his plan. Once he has his proof that his uncle Claudius is guilty, he swears - and this is the turning point in the play - 'From this time forth, my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth'. He risks it all and eventually pays the price. So what does this have to do with President Obama?
I voted for President Obama, like so many others, on the hope of change, of recovery in terms of both national pride and economic policy. Like so many others I'm a little disappointed in the fact that the president hasn't been more aggressive in his administration, hasn't swung his presidential weight around more forcefully and his economic and energy policies haven't done enough to assuage a restless nation in difficult times. But maybe that's the 'Hamlet' principal at work...
President Obama may be thinking that he'll be better able to affect big changes in eight years than four. Like Hamlet, he's operating in full view of a strong opposition, and those next four years are so critical that he's willing to bide his time in light of the bigger picture to prevent anyone running a serious threat against him in 2012. But with Osama's execution we might have seen the 'preview' of this next act.
Killing Osama bin Laden is the 'my thoughts be bloody' decisiveness we need in a president in light of the current state of the world. Maybe it's the foreshadowing of a powerful 'play' after the virtual intermission of the 2012 election; the 'denouement' which will lead to decisive and sweeping action on immigration reform, 'slaying' Bush's tax cuts for the rich, aggressively prosecuting those who caused this economic disaster, and finally start us on a real road to economic reform, including gas that costs less than $4 a gallon.
Let's hope that our audacious belief in the 'change' candidate of 2008 pays off in the final scene; after all, the price of admission to this national economic tragedy has already been too high. But let's not put this all on the president and 'not keep anything for ourselves'.
This week I'm going to look at ways I'm being indecisive, things I haven't taken 100% action on, things where my thoughts have been less than 'bloody'. I'm previewing the appointments for the coming week, checking my list of 'want to' and making sure that I'm living by 'My thoughts be bloody (not literally) or be nothing worth'. I'm going to have a week of consequence, a week that matters.
You can read more about this concept of 'bloody thoughts' in my book, The Hamlet Secret, but don't wait for it to arrive in the mail before you get committed to taking action in your life, before you 'take arms against a sea of troubles', whatever they may be.
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The tragedy here rest in the fact that leaders are what they produce. Obama's only goal seems to be the production of a second term. He has stood in firm support of little, attacked his base as over demanding, and demonstrated a total lack of regard for progressive approaches to economic solution. While he talks of intent to bring about progressive change, his actions are those of one unable or unwilling to commit himself to leading such change. He has shown himself to be the Great Copitulator, overly eager to compromise for the sake of gaining the ability to claim accomplishment. This is particularly true when it comes to economic issues.
While it is probable that he will gain a second term, I hold little hope for anything different should that come about. He is simply the lesser of evils candidate, full of nothing progressives can count on except surrender on key issues.
My usual question to anyone is 'ok, now what ACTION are YOU going to take', but I see from your mini bio that you've been a teacher and a veteran so you've obviously been 'up to something' and I thank you for your work in both roles. I still think we made the best (only) choice in 2008 and the 'lesser of evils' will probably be true in 2012, but is it enough?! Glad to have some strong voices showing up on this post.
James.
Then too, Hamlet was merely prince of Denmark, not expected to be leader of the free world ( as we so often boast of our presidents).
"ridiculous attempt at analogy"? Ouch. Are you mad at me? I welcome your comment and could argue that Hamlet existed in a political time, with intrigues, policy discrepancy, disloyalty, intrigue, cultural and social upheaval, in a nation poised to create a new identity. If you read it closely you might find more similarity than you noticed the first time.
My best to you and I hope to read something you post on HuffPo some day,
James.
"He may be" and "we might have" sound like wishful thinking. "Let's hope" definitely is. They form no prudent basis for electing a President of the United States--nor for re-electing one.
We wanted two fewer wars; we got an additional one. We wanted a public option; Barack Obama personally took that off the table. We expected a Democratic President, true to his word, to don "comfortable walking shoes" and support collective bargaining rights for all American wage earners; he's done nothing of the sort. We wanted the Patriot Act scaled back or repealed and Guantanamo closed; we've gotten neither. Full us once: shame on him.
We now know that Barack Obama, for all his intelligence and charm, is just another Blue Dog. I, for one, won't vote for a Republican or identifiable Blue Dog in a national election.
"Hamlet" is an important play. President Obama's record, by contrast, is a sad reality.
You are the voice of many like you and it's difficult to see that this disappointment is spreading but I still hold out that we can keep our voices strong, hold for the best and be as active as we can to make sure that we call for the results we voted for in the first place.
I hope we don't lose you in the next election and that hold YOUR president accountable.
Thanks for writing,
James.
Now I'm curious what would have been censored . . . All the same, whatever we do or don't agree on, there is so much to be done, REAL action, and we can do it without waiting: check organizations to volunteer, grow our contacts with others, speak up for what we believe . . . 'Get Bloody!'
Does that mean we can count on you to be active and engaged in getting out the vote in 2012?! Are you going to get 'bloody' and be in action on something? We need lots of action, lots of activists.
Cheers to you,
James.