There are moments every therapist knows well. These are times when clients reveal what is really in both their hearts and minds, without knowing they are doing so, and from this kind of authentic but unrealized disclosure, solid work grows.
This kind of thing also happens on political stages and stumps, and in interviews. I vividly remember a fantastic New Yorker article that focused on Michael Bloomberg soon after his election to his first term as mayor of New York. (I have tried to find the piece and have even telephoned The New Yorker to track it down [my call was not returned], but I have had no luck. Can a reader help me?) I recall the mayor revealing in this interview that there were only two jobs that really interested him: mayor of New York and president of the United States. I then recall him quoting his sister as asking him why he did not select the presidency. In this very reavealing moment, Bloomberg foreshadowed what we all learned: how much he would have loved a chance at a presidential nomination.
On Wednesday evening, during her speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave us another "music in one's words" moment, though she will deny it and is on record as refusing to answer "hypotheticals." Rice was exceedingly poised and articulate as well as resplendent in pink, wearing fabulous but tasteful (and very large) diamond stud earrings and a pearl necklace. ("Where they real?" both clients and friends have asked. The consensus is that they were. Very!) She told the story of a little girl (herself) who grew up in the segregated South. She could not be served a hamburger at the Woolworth counter, and yet her parents made her feel she could be anything she wanted to be, including president of the United States. To wild applause, Rice then exclaimed that this little girl then became Secretary of State. If that longing to reach the very, very top pinnacle possible were not in Rice's head and heart, if a very large part of her did not want her hat in the ring, she would have left the reference to presidency out of her compelling and uplifting, teleprompter-free speech.
Though Hillary Clinton strongly denies any current interest in running once again for the presidency, it has been reported that her trusted advisor and friend, Mark Penn, urged her to say "yes" to President Obama's offer to appoint her Secretary of State. Reportedly, Penn counseled that this office could be her stepping stone to the presidency. Hillary has achieved national and international respect, praise, and recognition for her focused work, constant efforts, and her integration of hard and direct stands and deep sensitivity and compassion for those who suffer throughout the world. Her efforts are tireless, her supporters vast. She has earned and deserves her rock-star status all over the world.
With this in mind, none of us should be surprised if the 2016 ticket becomes the true Year of the Women. Now wouldn't that be something -- Hillary Clinton, our Democratic candidate, and Condoleezza Rice, our Republican choice?