Falling out of love

I've been a contrarian for as long as I can remember and will most likely always be one for the simple fact that a majority of the people have been wrong about a lot of things throughout the course of history. Early man believed that natural disasters were brought about by some entity outside the world as punishment for their misdeeds but we eventually discovered that these disasters are the result of nature, not divine intervention.

Everyone once believed the earth was the center of the universe and people who dared to challenge that "obvious truth" were imprisoned and sometimes executed for religious heresy until we discovered through scientific investigation that the earth was not, in fact, the center of the universe, the sun is. Everyone thought the earth was flat until it was proven to be round.

Seventy-five years ago, some state constitutions in the South defined African-Americans as being "less than human" by specifying in their state constitutions that they were only a "percentage" of being fully human. Fifty years ago a majority of people believed that a woman's role was to be barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen until we discovered the incredible talents women had to give the world.

That's why I've never paid too much attention to opinion polls. Because an opinion is like a nose, everybody has one and just because we believe something, even if a great number of us believe it, doesn't make it true. So whatever the opinion numbers say, I usually get on the minority side of the numbers, at least until I've had time to research it, think about it and develop my own "opinion".

I've never been very much into "hero" worship either. I'm never that impressed with someone simply because of what they've accomplished or how other people see and define them. We'll all human, we all make mistakes, we all have deficiencies. Some people excel in some areas, but to "fall in love" with someone because of their accomplishments; like a movie star, or athlete, or politician, is something I rarely do.

Having said that, I have to admit to briefly having a fling, "falling in love" if you will, with Barack Obama. I've written in this column before that I believe him to be the most inspirational speaker since John F. Kennedy and, when that's all he's focusing on, I still believe that. However, I watched him the other night at a rally in Texas and he was trying to accomplish too much at once.

In doing that, I saw a side of him I had rarely seen before. He tried to talk policy and be inspirational at the same time and it didn't work. His speech lasted forever and, because it did, he lost a lot of his audience.

People have flocked to his campaign because he inspires them, not because he's a policy wonk and when he tries to be one, it tends to fall flat. We've had a clear choice in the race for the Democratic nomination since day one. Obama's inspiration vs. Clinton's policies. I liked it like that and I hope it goes back to that.

It presents Democrats with a clear distinction between the two candidates. We tend to like one or the other but not both. Some people criticize Obama's lack of experience but Abraham Lincoln served only eighteen months as a Representative before he was elected President, so I don't focus on his inexperience. I have supported him since even before he became a candidate, both personally and financially, because he inspired me and I haven't been inspired by a politician in a long, long time.

So, I kind of fell out of love with his candidacy while watching his interminable speech to his supporters the other night. I still like him, will still support him and will still vote for him, but his humanness and his frailties were exposed the night of the speech and I suppose it's good that they were. At least for me.

If we put people on a pedestal, pretend they have no imperfections at all, and believe everything they tell us, we are bound to be disappointed sooner or later. In politics AND in love.

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Several of you have asked me this week if I had heard back from Democratic Headquarters in Lincoln in response to my question about not releasing the vote totals for the candidates in the Red Willow caucus held a couple of weeks ago. I received a response the day last week's column came out from Eric Van Horn, Field Organizer for the Nebraska Democratic Party. His reply was, "There was no reason NOT to release the numbers." That's what most of thought at the caucus and I appreciate the State Party officials for confirming it.

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-- Hendricks' book, "Thoughts About Love: You Take My Breath Away" can now be purchased at The Book End bookstore and Accents Etc. in downtown McCook at 307 Norris Ave. The phone number is (308) 345-4065.