Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: "What is the most valuable thing in the world?"
The master replied: "The head of a dead cat."
"Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?" inquired the student.
Sozan replied: "Because no one can name its price."
Go Figure. I have had a ball reading the diaries and comments the past couple of days. I had a cold so I was bedridden this past weekend. I do have say this week entertained me. From the Hillary so-called meltdown to the Obamamians going absolutely ballistic over her attacks, as if no other politician in history ever went evil on another in an election.
Well, today is another day. The Oscars went on as planned, and my wife said it was the worst ceremony show she's ever seen. My grandkids made me tea and honey and served me in bed yesterday. The best part of the day was when everyone left me alone and I actually dreamed of sandy beaches and 80 degree sunny weather.
In the real world, if I was 18 to 45 years old, I would probably be part of the growing cabal trying to outdo each other over who is angrier at the candidates. I've seen harsher campaigns so it doesn't faze me too much. However, I am shocked how things changed from what I thought would be a walk in the park for Hillary. I figured her main competition would come from John Edwards or Al Gore. Gore probably thought like I did and never wanted to go through the torment again, Edwards proved to be a great populist but a terrible fund raiser. Well, you can't be everything. Obama surprised the hell out of me. Looking at it from my vantage point, he is impressing me more than any politician I've seen in my lifetime. Everyone tries to relate his meteoric rise to JFK. No way, JFK had a family that was destined for power. His father was an ambassador to the court of St. James and his elder brother was earmarked for the White House. No, Obama, an African American born from a broken home is a story that just blows me away.
Historians will write about the 2008 election in the future, but what are we to make of the past 4 months while we are still in the middle of all the minutia. I have my opinions, but those opinions are probably wrong. One opinion I have is that the anti-war anger and energy is now being channeled into Obamamania. I think in the end, Hillary's war vote as well as her vote on Iran will be her undoing. I don't think it's health care, I don't think it's plagiarism or experience. It's the war. We are now entering the 6th year of our engagement and we are still bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. Hillary offers us no specific plans for bringing our children home. Obama is the embodiement of what Bobby Kennedy stood for in '68 to all who want an end to our war-mongering ways.
On October October 11, 2002, I remember I made a pledge that I would never support any of the 29 democratic senators who voted for the AUMF authorization bill in any presidential primary. I didn't vote for Kerry until the general election. Even though Edwards apologized for his AUMF vote, and if he was still in it, I would still not vote for him because of my pledge. I live in PA so I don't get to vote in the primary until April 22. Hopefully by then it will be all over. I am not one of those so-called Hillary haters. I like her. I respect her intellect and her political activism. I like the fact she's a woman.
Since it is now a two person race, it's easy for me to decide. Obama did not support the AUMF vote, regardless of whether he was an Illinois state rep or not. Hillary voted for it. I can't support her for that very pledge I made. However, there is one other main reason. I personally do not believe in oligarchies. There are more people than just a Bush or Clinton that have the skills to lead our nation. After 28 years of two families being at the pinnacle of government power (I am counting the 8 years George H.W Bush was VP as well), it's time for a change of government. I feel badly for women who are striving so hard for empowerment, however, there are young men and women in harms way placed there because she was part of a decision to enable Bush to sent them there in the first place.
One thing the Bushes and Clintons have in common is the lust for power. It does seem like the Clintons and Bushes have an affinity for using military power the same way they run for office. I see similarities in the way both families are capable of using their power to undermine the will of the electorate, like GWB using the SOTUS to put him in the WH and Clinton's plan to force super delegates and pressure pledged delegates to switch to her, in addition to reneging on the agreement not to seat the MI and Fl delegation. Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton could have been addressing our current generation to a tee.
As far as her temper tantrum over the weekend, I am somewhat miffed as to why her handlers let her come off as a scolding grandmother dressing down her grandkid. Even my grandmother, at her worst, didn't look like that. I don't knock her campaign for going after Obama. That's desperation politics and she would have been conceding if she didn't do it. However, someone has to stand her in front of a mirror and practice her negative talking points so at least she doesn't look like my aunt Louise ready to swing a baseball bat at someone. I understand politics. Obama hasn't won this thing by any stretch yet, and who knows whether her tantrum over the weekend won't be successful. One thing is for sure, if she loses all the primaries on the 4th, someone high up in the democratic party will speak to her and Bill and try to get them to gracefully bow out. If she refuses and goes on, then the electorate was right to go with Obama. If she doesn't bow out, then I think there is something funny going on between the Clintons and the McCain campaign. After all, the leaders of both campaigns are executives in the same lobbying firm. Who knows? People are trying to make sense of how Obama came from so far behind Clinton and now is poised to be the first African American to be a major party nominee for President of the United States.
In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.
O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.
O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.
"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."
The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.
In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you."
The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.