In the dome of
the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., there is a painting called The Apotheosis of George Washington. The
significance of this work of art cannot be underestimated. At the very least it
represents a tribute to Washington for denying himself the crown and opting
instead to become a chief executive officer of our newly incorporated USA. He
would be the President, and he would serve a restricted term, to be replaced in
an institutionalized election that ensured a continually revolving wheel of
democratic and republican virtue. After all, a true republic is at its heart a
democratic institution. Thus, the US bypassed the fate of being enslaved to the
whims of a demonic monarch or dictator, and simultaneously ushered in the
contemporary world of modern nation-states with constitutions and human rights,
and so on and so forth. Many people do not realize that before America existed,
master-slave relations were the norm everywhere in the world since the dawn of
time. The first time in human history in which a new country and society had
been officially christened as a constitutional republic in which all people had
been created equal was in the USA – that is the proud history, and the true
significance of America in the community of nations in contemporary history.
About the Already-Accomplished Apotheosis of Hillary Clinton
Why would I
connect Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency to that painting of
George Washington? Because this campaign has gone where no campaign has gone
before. In the past, the presidential campaign would take place, and the day
after the election, everyone would dust themselves off, pick themselves up from
the floor, or get themselves down from their high horse, and just carry on.
That is not going to happen this time. So much has transpired in this campaign alone
that the election itself and the subsequent four-year term of the presidency
will seem anti-climactic by comparison. Usually we wait for the election day to
anoint the next President who will carry the mantle of a democratic republic,
and who will brush shoulders with the aura of Washington, if only to borrow Washington’s
halo for a short time in history. But, not this time.
It was always
assumed that the election of a woman for President would signal that we had
officially become equalized. This is now a tattered myth at best. The truth is
that we will never acknowledge ourselves to have become fully equalized.
Instead, 500 years from now, every faction of possible identity-politics will
have formed and announced that it is not going to take it anymore. And once
they become politically awakened, they never fall back asleep – they just
become moldy and outdated at some point in the future. Hillary Clinton does not need to
become elected President to prove that we have an equal opportunity society for
women and men.
On the level of
society, women will never claim they have achieved equality because that would
be the same as relinquishing their new-found political power just for being
women. On the level of the individual, Hillary Clinton is quite obviously
talented enough to be the President of the US and whether or not she is elected
has nothing to do with that. We all know that in the US a black man or a white
woman could be elected as President and there is no longer any reason to believe
that most white people would rather lynch a woman or a black man than elect
them President.
The point is that
we all know very well that we are capable of electing almost anyone for President. It is only the politicians that will never tire of claiming their day in the sun as the first identity-politics
candidate of their kind … one day someone will try to claim to be the first
lesbian Samoan-American Presidential candidate in history, but Hillary Clinton
has already elevated herself above this level of identity-politics. Everyone
knows that she has the steely-eyed, psychopathic, intestinal fortitude of a
Hannibal Lector. Hillary Clinton routinely looks danger in the eye, and smiles,
as if she were greeting Mary with her little lamb whose fleece was white as
snow.
(Magnificent, charming smile) Well, that’s
not what I heard Mr. Comey say, Chris.
Hillary is
tough as nails. She may be stiff, snobby, staged, and unlikable, but that only
means that what she consistently represents is someone who is utterly
professional, impeccably calculating, brilliantly organized, and just
narcissistic enough to maintain perfect self-awareness of her right to be there,
in that moment, no matter what kind of hell is breaking loose all around her.
Any merely
mortal human - male or female - could never hope to have that kind of reserve of conviction
and the prowess of vision to be able to consistently chisel themselves up to the
next level of public success against all odds, again and again. The most
incredible thing about Hillary Clinton is that she has succeeded to this point,
to coming within a silly millimeter of the presidency, in spite of being her
own worst enemy. She is indefatigable and that is a great quality to have in a President.
Hillary Clinton
no longer has anything to prove. What could she do to prove she is more than
she is right now? Her very survival and the strength of her campaign have
legitimated her right to flaunt that Mona Lisa smile in debates, or to act
haughty and self-righteous when she appears on stage for rallies - like Elvis
greeting throngs of admiring women, only they are not throngs of admiring women.
They are just little people who each possess one tiny little portion of little
people magic in their hands: they can vote.
Could you expect
any male presidential candidate to ever out-do Hillary Clinton? We should hope
not. Who could have amassed more money in their spouse’s – the ex-President's –
foundation? Could any man be ready to double-dip on another bid to install the
package deal of husband-wife that could possibly occupy the White House more
times than any single person ever could? Could any man be more entrenched in the
establishment power base of political power in Washington D.C. and media power
in New York City? Clinton has soared to the top of the food chain in American
politics and she has done it in spades in a way that no man ever has.
Hillary Clinton
has already been apotheosized by the American people because no other woman
ever got so close to being officially apotheosized, and the difference is now
so close that it matters not. In reality, Hillary Clinton has already been
apotheosized, she is already larger than life, she is already in the history
books forever, and there is precious little that anyone expects her to do from
here on out that would glorify, change, or improve her image - win or lose. That is how
strange and different this presidential campaign has been. It is as if the
whole mess has already been slugged out in social media, and each of us prides ourselves in already knowing all
we need to know, no matter what the outcome of the election is.
Likewise, we
will next time we take a look at the already-accomplished resurrection of one
Donald. J. Trump.
-End
of Part 1 of 2-
