After the Race for the White House

"America has spoken... and spoken clearly." Sen. John McCain spoke these immortal words during his speech after Election Day. The faces of his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin and the small crowd gathering around the stage displayed the enormity of the disappointment for the Republicans’ defeat in the race for the White House. While Sen. McCain gracefully congratulated his opponent on his victory and thanked his supporters for standing by him every step of the way, a crowd of more than 250 000 gathered in Chicago city center to welcome America's first African American president on the stage. And when he made his appearance, the crowd went nuts - flags and camera flashes, cheers and tears. He was exalted like a celebrity the world has never seen before. Indeed America has spoken clearly.

 

But happens now? All the excitement of the race and the election is now behind the candidates, there is a new face in the Oval Office and a puppy in the White House. Pres. Obama is already preparing for his second run for the Office and Sen. McCain is back in the Senate serving the state of Arizona. And they are still hide'n Biden. But what about Gov. Palin? We all know and I certainly hope that she will not disappear off the political dashboard. She has only just begun! She scrummed away from commenting on 2012, but her face on the ballot that year certainly doesn't seem far-fetched. This election was all about race. Maybe the next one will be all about gender. In my opinion, this is what Gov. Sarah Palin should do next: go back to Alaska and play POLITICS.

 

Participate - Sarah Palin must do everything in her power not to fade away. Even in the Obama-regime, she should remain actively involved and participate in state and national politics. Not only will that give her more experience and keep her up to speed with the political world, but it will also keep her name and face fresh in the minds of her supporters.

 

Observe - Sarah Palin should observe the political scene. Far away in Alaska, which hardly plays in the front row of politics, she can sit back and observe the political scene, atmosphere and play. She should pay attention to the things Obama does that upsets people, new policies that Americans dislike and pounce on them like a fat kid on a cupcake. She should miss nothing! That way, she will have ample material to build a campaign on come 2012.

 

Learn - Sarah Palin made it clear that even though she was a wonderful running mate, she still needs to learn about national politics. This is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, it gives her room for improvement, and this is exactly what she must do. Learning from fellow politicians, such as John McCain, learning about foreign policy, the national media and Republican politics will prepare her for a real fight in 2012.

 

Invest - Sarah Palin should identify key individuals that will support, strengthen and promote her candidacy for president. By investing in people with power, influence and popularity, she can stabilize her support base and expand her supporter count.

 

Train - Sarah Palin should train herself in the art of being a good politician. I still believe Obama won only because of his ability to deliver a perfect speech. It might be politics, but it works. Sarah Palin should train herself in the art; how to persuade with a simple speech, how to face the media when they put you on the spot, how to deal with criticism and how to influence even the highest ranking political figures.

 

Identify - Sarah Palin should focus on her identity. The hockey mom, the pit bull with lipstick, the supportive governor, and the advocate in the White House - everything that people associated her with and liked her for. By remaining the person who they got to know her as, will make her an individual people will identify with and support.

 

Communicate - Sarah Palin should communicate at all levels. Part of what made her so popular is her ability to speak to you and me, ordinary people. Communicating with Americans, those who really matter, will keep her alive and fresh in their minds and in their votes. Communicating with them as if they were her equals, will boost her popularity and foster a I-will-vote-for-you-again-relationship.

 

Subway - It is a strange term, I know, but with subway I mean hat Sarah Palin must, in all of the above, not become another Barack or Hillary. People liked the freshness of Sarah Palin. She should play like a politician, but not become one. In other words, she should be like the subway; people should know that she is there and that she is working, but they must never know just how hard. That way her comeback for the 2012 ticket will be just as refreshing in comparison to the same old faces of Washington politicians.

 

That’s why I think Gov. Sarah Palin should go back to Alaska, strengthen her base and play POLITICS. And if it helps, she already has my vote for president, come 2012.

 

ECDJ

 

 

 

Not a single street of gold

I was the only one left in the tomb then. I sort of liked it, in a way. It was so nice and peaceful. Then, all of sudden, you’d never guess what I saw on the wall. Another ‘Fuck you.’ It was written with a red crayon or something, right under the glass part of the wall, under the stones. That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you are not looking, somebody’ll sneak up and write ‘Fuck you’ right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in the cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it’ll say ‘Holden Caulfield’ on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it’ll say “Fuck you.’

 

- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye , 1994 Penguin Books, p. 183 -

  

 

I was only 21 when I was fortunate enough to take a trip around Europe , visiting almost every country in Western Europe and spending a shitload of Euros on some stuff that just ended up in a box in my closet. I went to Europe mainly because I needed to be completely alone and on my own for some time to deal with the turmoil of my heart and burden of my mind. Other reasons played a role too. I did not want to live in Africa for the rest of my life. I wanted some adventure, some new direction, something different. So partly I launched a search for the perfect city in where I would like to settle some time in the future. Honestly, I could not find any. Every single place I went had its fair share of shit. No place was ever perfect. 

 

A brilliant Afrikaans singer, probably the best one there is, is Laurika Rauch. She has a song called Hot Gates. In the song she lists dozens of cities all around the world, from every corner and every culture. It is all she does in the song, just list all these cities and then, at the very end of the song she sings: “... there’s not a city I’ve been told, where the streets are paved with gold.” Amen. There surely is not a single city on the face of this earth where the streets are paved with gold, not even a single street of gold. Maybe that is why some say things like that the grass is always greener on the other side, but that there is no place like home. Bullshit. All of it is bullshit. There is no good place, not home, not on the other side of the fence, nowhere. 

 

A place is what you make of it. See the best in it, and it will become the best. But don’t ever expect to find the perfect city or place. You might think you will find or have found it, but you haven’t, for it does not exist. Besides, when you least expect it someone will just sneak up on you and write ‘fuck you’ right under your nose!

 

ECDJ

Catcher in the Rye

"I don’t get hardly anything out of anything. I’m in bad shape. I’m in lousy shape."

 

Yes you are right, I am talking about that book your mommy never wanted you to read. Personally I have not read J.D. Salinger all that much, but I’m sure those of you who have read the Catcher in the Rye will agree with me that it is a masterpiece of unmatchable writing. I might have read this book when I was most depressed, but God knows the timing could not have been more perfect. Have you ever felt so lost, worthless and no caring that you actually become the lead character in the novel? I used to be Holden Caulfield. I used to be in Pencey. I swear this is how I felt back then. The book was a perfect read then, it is even a perfect read now.

 

Holden was irritated with almost everything in life, almost nothing appealed to him. He did not care the least bid about his future. He could hate a person just by looking at him, he hated the big-shots, he hated girls (not for sex though), he hated the movies, he hated money, he hated his brother, he hated his school, he hated being himself. I was Holden. I’m not going to bore you with all the why-I-say-so’s but I assure you that it is a book that changed my perspective on life and on people. It might have affected you in the same way, and if you haven’t read it yet, I’m sure that it will. I must have read it at least five times in one month and every time I read it I just got more involved and came to realize and understand myself so much better. The last time I read it, I was sitting with a highlighter simply marking everything that appealed to me in one way or the other.

 

Within the first three paragraphs of the book it reads: 

 

Besides, I’m not going to tell you my whole goddamn autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come here and take it easy.

 

Can you imagine feeling exactly that way when you read a book and this is one of the first paragraphs you read? It sent chills up and down my spine. It was like I have struck gold and did not want to share it with anybody. I carried the book with me everywhere. It was like a diary, you know, those ones that offer you a little piece of reading for each day of the month to help you through your boring and lousy days? Well, this was even better than that. It became the essence of my being.

 

Who could ever forget Old Spencer and Holden’s talk about life being a game and all:

 

‘Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.’ ‘Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.’ Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right – I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.

 

And what about the conversation Holden had with Sally Hayes? He impulsively asked her to ‘get the hell out of’ the city with him and drive up to Vermont , working his way from place to place, living in a cabin. He even told her that he wanted to marry her. Sally thought the idea was crazy, telling him that someone can’t just pack up and leave, making impulsive choices in life. She thought about money, food, her friends and family. She was concerned about the future and what would happen once she made the choice:

 

‘What’s the matter? Don’t you want to go with me? Say so if you don’t.’ ‘It isn’t that. It isn’t that at all,’ old Sally said. I was beginning to hate her, in a way. ‘We’ll have oodles of time to do those things – all those things. I mean after you go to college and all, and if we should get married and all. There’ll be oodles of marvelous places to go to. You’re just-’ ‘No, there wouldn’t be. There wouldn’t be oodles of places to go to at all. It’d be entirely different,’ I said. I was getting depressed as hell again. … ‘It wouldn’t be the same at all. You don’t see what I mean at all.’ ‘Maybe I don’t. Maybe you don’t, either,’ old Sally said. We both hated each other’s guts by that time.

 

At that point in the book I did not think that it could ever get more perfect for the way I was feeling regarding many things in my life. Then, just a few chapters later Holden had a conversation with Mr. Antolini:

 

Then he [Mr. Antolini] said, ‘This fall I think you’re heading for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or the other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started. You follow me?’ … ‘Once you get past all the Mr. Vinsons [referring to Holden’s minor issues], you’re going to start getting closer and closer – that is, if you want to, and if you look for it and wait for it – to the kind of information that will be very, very dear to your heart. Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them – if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.’

 

Read the book, if you have already done it, read it again. I know at least one person who ought to.

 

"Then, all of sudden, I started to cry. I couldn’t help it. I did it so nobody could hear me, but I did it."

 

ECDJ