"Joy" Is Running Out

I remember the last time "joy" was used as a campaign slogan. Or ploy, if you want to get cynical about it.

It was 1968. The purveyor was Hubert Humphrey. It might just have been the attitude he wanted from the start. Or it might have been something else.

Ex- isn't the only person running for office who's tried to get people to look over here instead of consider what might be aspects of his candidacy that might condemn him to defeat. Happens, in fact, quite often.

In 1968, the Democrats had lots of reasons to try to get people to look the other way. In August, they'd waded through an awful, chaotic, divisive national convention that included a riot in a nearby park that included tear gas and hundreds of arrests; a party hack at the front podium accusing the police of "Gestapo tactics" in the streets; and a 'no decision' on whether or not to support the withdrawal from a war that had already cost the nation more than 25,000 lives. In other words, a complete mess.

Humphrey, then the Vice-President, received a nomination more of less by default, since President Lyndon Johnson, who had supposedly withdrawn from running for another term that past March 31, had seriously considered changing his mind, swooping into the convention, and reclaiming the front-runner status. His control of the Democratic Party was that pervasive. He could still hover anywhere he wanted to.

Humphrey didn't even have the overall support of his own party back then. He began the campaign a full 16 points behind Richard Nixon, who was about to undermine Humphrey with secret negotiations with North Vietnam so he could take credit for getting the country out of the war--not Johnson, who tried a bombing halt just days before the election. North Vietnam didn't engage in progressing negotiations, choosing to wait until Nixon, hopefully, took office.

In the meantime, Humphrey's emphasis on the "joy" of politics and campaigning helped bring him closer and closer to Nixon, who sat on his lead the rest of the way. As we know, Humphrey just about caught him, coming within half a percentage point. He failed, though, partly because of George Wallace's independent candidacy, which freed six southern states from their traditional Democratic mooring.

All that looks to insert itself into this campaign, only two months from concluding now. Ex- will look to unravel that tonight at the debate--if that's what you want to call it.

Because he won't be debating. He'll be destroying, ruining, catastrophizing. His exaggerations and lies will stand on their own. Many on the other side can't wait to hear them--again. They've long ago succumbed to being misled. They've already disdained the possibility that America can find a better place in the world without him running it. Harris may try her best to discount his endless nonsense, but will only partly succeed.

The country that he wants you to conclude is genuine is false and wrong and hopeless. And yes, it can become that way--if he's allowed to be at the top of the decision chain for another four years. It would get there in a hurry now, because he can't wait to get back at those who have written and spoken against him, and he knows something about the mechanics of doing so. He would also hire sycophants who are slavishly loyal and pliant to his every wish.

If Harris' "joy" survives tonight in any form, she will win and perhaps even pull away. But he is frighteningly persuasive. His very presence overwhelms some people despite the phoniness. Force and power are all he knows--but they work.

We stand at that brink. I wish the country well.

You, too. Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark