Wheelhouse : Bare knuckles
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/Editorial/61478/
When Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to a freewheeling, Lincoln-Douglas style debate recently, she came across as a little desperate. A politician with so much at stake offering to debate an opponent sans moderator is the rough equivalent of a man on trial for murder taking the stand in his own defense.
It’s a last-ditch move, one that’s only considered after all else seems to have failed.
Clinton’s bravado in calling Obama out is also enough to make one wonder if she’s having trouble shedding the “ Hillrod” persona she unveiled during a much-ballyhooed appeal to professional wrestling fans a couple of weeks ago. Maybe she had so much fun taping the spot for USA Network’s “ Monday Night Raw ” that she’s decided to trade her pantsuits for kilts and conduct the rest of her campaign in Rowdy Roddy Piper mode.
If so, Obama would be wise to make sure there are no folding chairs on any stage he and Clinton jointly occupy.
But Obama is having none of this Lincoln-Douglas free-for-all talk, and that’s probably a wise decision. Even after Clinton’s recent win in Pennsylvania, Obama still has the look and feel of a favorite.
Forget for a moment all the talk of delegates and the popular vote — neither candidate can win the nomination that way. But if the superdelegates who ultimately decide this choose Clinton over Obama, they risk alienating countless new voters and the most dedicated, driven element of their party. They risk deflating a movement.
If they go with Obama, they risk deflating the Clintons. Obama seems to think that will be an easy choice — and provided he can stay a rhetorical step ahead of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s probably correct. So why should he submit to a no-holds-barred encounter with Clinton, a “ scientific” wrestler of some note when it comes to the squared circle of politics ?
He’d be crazy to do it — but that doesn’t make it any less a shame that Clinton’s dream of a lessscripted confrontation with her opponent is likely to go unrealized.
A lot of people were turned off by the sight of Clinton and Obama — along with Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain — shamelessly pandering to the pro wrestling crowd. Include me in that number. But somewhere between the rasslin’ -inspired caricatures that emerged that night and the too-scripted personas we’ve been fed over the course of this race, there are a pair intelligent, complex people on the Democratic side of this race — one of whom may wind up leading the free world over the next four years.
A freer-flowing debate would give voters their best chance of finding that revealing middle ground. A toe-to-toe war of ideas — one with no referee to step in and break up the clinches — might actually offer a glimpse of the real Clinton and the real Obama, or something close.
Mike Tyson once famously said that everybody has a plan until they get hit. Well, presidents get hit. This country gets hit. Wouldn’t it be interesting, informative to see how those who would lead us react when the script goes out the window ?
I think it would. So much of political campaigning at the national level is pure artifice. Voters aren’t asked to support a candidate as much as they’re asked to endorse a product, one carefully packaged and marketed for maximum appeal. Not surprisingly, the candidates / products and their handlers / pitch-men are loath to risk “ re-branding” at hands of an opponent. From that perspective, even the stilted debates we’ve grown accustomed to are dicey propositions.
Desperate or not, Clinton had a good idea here. But like her 3 a. m. ads — which, if McCain is smart, he’ll borrow for the general election — it’s an idea someone else will probably have to advance. Mc-Cain vs. Obama, perhaps ? Well, we can dream. Mike Tyson also once said — after losing a match — that he was going to “ fade into Bolivian. ” But these days, politicians have to be staring “ Bolivian” in the face before they’re willing to risk a real fight.
• • • John Dilmore Jr. is opinion page editor of The Benton County Daily Record. His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached at johnd @ nwanews. com.