Baseball Patience in Politics
"And I have a feeling that it [the bin Laden tape] could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing." - Walter Cronkite on Larry King Live, October 29, 2004.
Bill Moyers: ...I think if Kerry were to win this in a - in a tight race, I think there would be an effort to mount a coup, quite frankly. I mean just like...
Bill Moyers: I - I mean that the - the right wing is not going to accept it.
Joe Klein: Except for the fact that they don't control - they don't control the military, they don't control the intelligence community. What they control is Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and, you know, one side of the table on Crossfire.
- Exchange on the Charlie Rose Show, November 2, 2004."But the big problem the country now has, which is going to produce a serious discussion of secession over the next 20 years, is that the segment of the country that pays for the federal government is now being governed by the people who don't pay for the federal government... Ninety percent of the red states are welfa" - Lawrence O'Donnell on the McLaughlin Group, November 5, 2004.
Despite a thrilling World Series where the Boston Red Sox managed to become the champions of baseball after an 86-year hiatus, baseball has garnered a decreasing share of the national attention. Though attendance has grown steadily over the years, there is now so much more competition for spectator and fan devotion. Not only are football and baseball at both the collegiate and professional levels popular, but NASCAR racing draws more fans each year than professional baseball, football, and basketball combined. With all due respect to these other diversions, it is a shame that the ethos of baseball has receded in the national psyche. The loss has made it more difficult the pass on the civic virtues necessary in a democratic society based on liberty constrained by personal discipline.
In baseball, even the best teams loose a third of their games, while the worst teams win a third. As the baseball player, manager, and philosopher, Casey Stengel observed, "...that's baseball. Rags to riches one day and riches to rags the next." Baseball teaches a patience that would be salutary if it returned to American politics - a patience to think of the long-term, for there will be many wins and losses on the way. In a power-balanced republic like the United States that oscillates fairly regularly between moderately Conservative and Liberal parties, there is little reason to be excessively morose and down-heartened at an election loss. There is, therefore, little reason for angry the recriminations and vitriol that seems to have spewed from supposedly responsible people on the Left after loosing the recent presidential election. Sure, Democrats seems to have lost a little footing, but their political ailments are not terminal. It is a time for regrouping, re-examination, and retrenchment. It ought not to be an excuse to lash indiscriminately out in uncontrolled fury.
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