Winning and Losing

Now that Obama has answered the question the vice-president raises, there are a new set of questions to which I will seek answers in Denver and they center around winning and losing.

My guess is that today the mainstream media will be utterly focused on what this selection means for November. It is a question of great interest. When God passed out talents and gifts, prophecy was not in my pile, so I can’t pretend to have any special insight into what this means for the outcome of the Presidential election. Moreover, since I enrolled in political philosophy and theology classes instead of quantitative statistical analysis classes, I can’t claim any unique insight in regards to how the science of human behavior can help us answer this question today.

What I can do, however, is go back to an exercise I learned in the back alley in childhood, and seek to discern how the Obama/Biden camp and the Clinton camp handle winning and losing. As I walk around Denver, as I deliberately listen in on conversations, as I watch how the insiders of both camps conduct themselves, and listen to what they say off camera, I will constantly be asking myself the question, “What kind of winner or loser are you?”

Will I see the humility befitting of both, or will I see egotistical triumph or a deep desire for revenge?

While these are important questions for Obama, Biden, and the Clinton’s to answer, since I don't have a pass that allows me access to them, I will look to find the answer in their devotees.

People will undoubtedly ask if Obama can unify the party? It’s the wrong question because it assumes too much. The question is, what kind of winner will Obama and his delegates be, and what kind of losers will Hillary and her delegates be? It is a question that will be answered in literally thousands of moments over the next week, and the way it is answered will provide more insight into the outcome of November than anything that is said today.

Someone once said something memorable about how “Hell hath no fury …” He was certainly speaking about losing, but he was also saying something instructive to winners.

In just 36 hours I can begin to look for answers in the faces of people in Denver.