August 29th, 2008

The last e-mail I read last evening, sneaking into my home-office after returning with my son from his evening hockey practice (yes, we start winter hockey in August in Cleveland!) and before heading upstairs to our sitting room to nestle in and watch Barack Obama’s acceptance speech without distraction, was this e-mail from our managing partner, Doug Parker:

<< I’ve had three discussions with prospective clients in the past 24 hours about what we think about all the “real” references in the campaigns and speeches >>

So I tuned into Obama’s performance not only as an interested citizen, but as a watchful handicapper.

Rather than try to call this contest here and now, let me first share my thoughts on what kind of contest this will prove to be. It’s going to be a boxing match. And this heavyweight battle in particular: Apollo Creed versus Rocky Balboa, 1976.

The Thursday night spectacle had all the trappings of Apollo Creed: the Grecian pillars, his larger-than-life image onscreen as a backdrop, the polished favorite gracefully proceeding down the long walkway to assume the center ring, immersed by his adoring fans. Next week we’ll see Rocky Balboa suddenly pop up in Minneapolis and enter the ring: gruff, unassuming, hard-nosed and broken-jawed, the Bush-whacked underdog battling against all odds.

Our two presidential nominees both bear witness to the fact that people today thirst for authenticity.

Democratic voters rejected John Edwards long before his adulterous news knocked the phony out for good. And Hillary? A split decision on the tears and on the Clintons themselves (no one in either party really wanted to see Bill back in the White House) left Barack the last one standing. The candidate perceived as most authentic clearly won the Democratic nomination. (And his choice for V.P. is now Obama’s street-smart corner man, with references to Scranton, PA as yet another appeal to being real.)

The Grand Old Party similarly rejected the all-too-slick Mitt Romney, who said he “saw his father march with Martin Luther King.” (I’d have used the hyperlink I had bookmarked for the video of Mitt explaining Webster’s seventh definition of “saw,” but YouTube took it down; it’s a secret where it now is is.) Ditto fast-talking Rudy Giuliani. The homespun Mike Huckabee hung around for a few surprising rounds, but like all the other Republican candidates, he proved no match for the real war hero and patriot John McCain. Again, the candidate perceived as most authentic clearly won the GOP nomination.
So who will win? Let’s examine this contest in five rounds, corresponding to our five genres of authenticity.

• Natural authenticity: Obama speaks so naturally, yet McCain is so raw; the judges score it a draw.
• Original authenticity: Obama as the first black candidate of a major party; this round clearly goes to Obama.
• Exceptional authenticity: McCain’s story as a Vietnam P.O.W. and sticking his neck out on “The Surge” like he did; Obama can’t touch him, this one goes to McCain.
• Referential authenticity: Speaking on the 45th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech; Obama, it’s not even close.
• Influential authenticity: Bottom-line, it’s Obama’s calling for “Change” versus McCain’s resolve to defeat “the enormous threat of radical Islamic extremism”; this final and critical round goes to McCain. (If you object, remember it’s not about “the war in Iraq” — I myself was against going in — but the appeal as real. McCain scores here. Alternatively: Change what?)

Apollo wins in the movie Rocky, although everyone knows the fight was really a draw. The amazing thing about Rocky was that the drama transcended any issues of race. In this sense, the film presciently portrayed the post-racism election of 2008. We’ll have a winner declared, but this presidential election too will actually be a draw. Count on late-night/early-morning results on November 4/5. Either way, we’ll have a real Mr. President. God bless America.