The Literary Art of Presidential Politics

[McCamy Taylor]

You, too, can put your bachelor degree in English Literature to use predicting the results of presidential elections! Here is how. Last winter, I wrote three journals in which I attempted to describe the epic models which the candidacies of the three major Democratic contenders were following. They were (Warning! Corsi alert) :

Obama as Messiah: The Myth of the Birth of the President

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2615969

Barack Obama is even more qualified than Jimmy Carter, the hick Georgia peanut farmer and Jack Kennedy, the energetic young Catholic, to serve as an agent of change. Like the heroes Rank describes, he fits the model of hero as redeemer to a T. Though clearly a man of the elite now----he has a Harvard law degree, a million dollar home and a job in the U.S. Senate---he has lived the other side of the dream. Broken family, third world exile, nonwhite, non citizen father and stepfather. While other candidates offer up plans or time tables, Obama offers up himself, his life story as sufficient reason to believe. He is Barack Obama, and therefore he can tear down the old, and in its place something new must spring up.

Mother Hillary

We have no queens in the United States, but we have goddesses---who are often reviled as she-demons, modern day Liliths by leaders of the status quo. Mother Jones, born Mary Harris in Cork, Ireland is one such. Persecuted, prosecuted, called “the most dangerous woman in America” for the crime of attempting to organize workers, including child laborers, she said “Whatever your fight, don’t be ladylike.”

Snip

Isis, the Egyptian goddess was married to her brother Osiris, god of agriculture. Her brother Set, god of animal husbandry, killed Osiris in a fit of jealousy and dismembered his body and hid the pieces. Isis reassembled the pieces and conceived a child, Horus by her re-animated husband, Osiris. Horus killed his wicked uncle, became the new god-king, and Osiris became the god of the dead. In addition to being an obvious source of the Abel-Cain myth (except from the point of view of farmers not shepherds) and a forerunner of Mary iconography, this is a tale about the miracle which the love of a good woman for her man can perform. So the forces of evil conspired to murder your husband (or his reputation)? No problem. If his wife is a goddess, she can resurrect him---and his presidency again. All she has to be is stick with him through the bad times as well as the good.

Snip

In other words, though the patriarchy is currently in the ascendant, it watches over its shoulder, always afraid that its value system----dualistic, confrontational, egocentric---will be supplanted by the “feminine” principle which it fears.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2663582

John Edward’s Body: An American Saint

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/119

The saint, on the other hand, endures many trials. His children die. His wife gets cancer. He faces midlife crisis. His faith is tested. He is reviled by the press. His very life becomes disposable. Like John Henry, a machine appears that will take away his livelihood, and he ends up sacrificing his own existence in order to save the American worker. Like Joe Hill, he is framed for murder and executed to stop his activities as a union organizer. Like John Brown, he must become a murderer and then allow himself to die, in order to convince others that slavery is a form of intolerable violence. Even if he does not die a physical death, he lives like an ascetic, pushing himself beyond the limits of the flesh---36 hour marathon campaign stops fueled by pure passion.

Snip

When the corporate media assigned John Solomon to pen his Edwards is a Phony narrative for the Washington Post in advance of the presidential campaign season, it drew left wing voters’ eyes to the candidate. “Hmmm,” they thought. “The corporate media is attacking Edwards. Is he the real McCoy?” The studied way in which the mainstream media blacklisted him, the myth of the Two Man Race between Hillary and Obama served to further cement Edwards’ reputation as a saint under attack by the nation’s corporations. And then, when he came in second in Iowa, and the press continued the Two Man Race farce, suspicions were confirmed. John Edwards was a media martyr.

And only saints get martyred by the American press.

Anyone familiar with Christian iconography will recognize these three archetypes as Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist. We all know how this story ends. Jesus “wins”. Mary assists him. John the Baptist dies.

The candidates represent three other archetypes, ones which Robert Heinlein described as the three basic stories. The first is The Brave Little Tailor . Think David versus Goliath or High Noon . One brave soul, usually a man who dares to face insurmountable odds and who triumphs. This represents the basic human emotion of anger or aggression, and this type of story is the most popular among American audiences. The second is Boy Meets Girl . This can be romantic love or altruistic love or any other kind of compassionate emotion. This comes a close second to The Brave Little Tailor in the U.S. If you want your novel, play or screenplay to be a success be sure to have some underdog triumph and be sure to include a love interest (sexual or not). The third is The Man Who Learned Better as seen in such Shakespeare plays as MacBeth. The emotion of loss or grief is at work here. For some reason, this story is more important in other countries than it is in the United States.

Based upon the Heinlein story archetypes, Obama’s candidacy was The Brave Little Tailor (with a dash of Boy Meets Girl ) making him the clear winner from the start. Hillary was Boy Meets Girl (she stood by her man), so she came in second. In the U.S., John Edwards’ hard luck martyr story made him The Man Who Learned Better , the rich lawyer whose eyes were opened again and again. And again. Man, all that disillusionment gets depressing after a while. And in a country with a strong puritan ethic, its makes people wonder if he had it coming. Remember that the heroes of Gone With the Wind were not Melanie and Ashley, who suffered so piteously. The stars were Scarlet and Rhett, who stole, murdered, lied and came out ahead. Richard Nixon, who resigned and partially atoned for his sins will not be remembered more fondly in the U.S. than W. History will recall Nixon as a man who was whipped and W. as a man who beat the odds.

I wrote these assessments of the campaigns in January, 2008. As I expected, Edwards was thoroughly defeated by the press. Even the so called friendly press, like Lawrence O’Donnell at Huffington Post kicked him when he was down. Later, when his extramarital affair was discovered, reporters were gleeful. Here at last was something to justify, in retrospect, all the abuse they had already heaped upon him. If only they had reported on the Downing Street Memos with such fervor.

Also, as I expected, Hillary Clinton joined forces with Barack Obama once he became the clear winner. This was inevitable. The Holy Mother always backs the Son Triumphant. She would not be the Holy Mother if she was the kind of skank bitch who would attempt to crib death him. And whether or not Hillary Clinton really is a Goddess, she is determined to live her political life as one. Many scoffed at the suggestion that the team of Clinton and Obama would be greeted by the American public with approval. But what is not to like about Jesus and the Mother Mary? It is an all time favorite story.

Way back in January, Barack Obama was already the winner, though it would be a while before the voters of America realized it. Once they knew his story and saw him demonstrate more political lives than a cat, your average American (Christian) voter recognized all the signs of leadership. Read Otto Rank's The Myth of the Birth of the Hero if you have not already. It should be required for anyone who is serious about politics.

[D-Lee]

1. Very enjoyable post

Rank and Jung are very good on archetypes ...

[truedelphi]

2. Will be reading the Myth of the Birth... as you suggest And what a great

And glorious post. Insightful, but sounds like you had fun too.