I am intrigued by the art of politics, the craft of political storytelling, and the theater of political campaigns. I am by no means well-versed in ancient Greek drama, but even a smattering of familiarity allows one to notice archetypes when they occur in modern storytelling.
The most striking example of this was Barack Obama’s appearance on Wednesday night. The setting was, well… Olympian. He stood in a marble Temple to Democracy, and the camera angle - slightly below eye level - had us gazing upon him as if from below.
His speech checked all the required boxes: Criticism of Trump, (an elevated “disappointment” in PBO’s case), empathy for struggling Americans, and praise for the Democratic candidates. But in the “elective” part of his message, he spoke from the Olympian heights of The Constitution — to remind us of our ancient heritage, and our sacred obligation to protect it for future generations.
Hillary Clinton spoke to us from her home, right down here on Earth. She looked us in the eye, as one mortal to another. She too, hit the required themes, but like the heroine of a Greek tragedy, she warned us against human folly: Americans who made the wrong choice in 2016, or failed to choose at all.
The other thing that I noticed was the repeated attention given to the late Beau Biden. It seemed to be a bit more than family sentiment would call for. I suspect that it served more than one purpose:
To show us another of Joe Biden’s wounds - the source of his great humanity.
To blunt further attacks on Hunter Biden.
To create connection between the elderly Joe Biden
and white male voters of Beau Biden’s generation.
But perhaps, in the realm of archetype, Beau Biden is “Fallen Achilles”, the lost hero, whose civic qualities we must strive to honor and emulate.
For the record, I don’t feel cynical about any of this. I think that all of these presentations were conceived by geniuses and crafted by experts. It will be ghastly fun to watch the GOP’s crude attempts to ape them next week.
One question remains. Which hero-archetype does Joe Biden himself fulfill? Is he Odysseus, returning from exile to “clean house”? Is he Pericles, come to banish the corrupt Cimon from Athens?
Perhaps others who are better-read than I could elaborate.