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This very motto is something that was uttered by the ‘Body Pump’ instructor at my local gym a few weeks back. I know it sounds funny. Control is Power. [At the time, I was doing a set of 'Good Mornings' that required that you lift slowly to gain maximum benefit.] The statement made me go, ‘Hmm…’ the instant I heard it. I sort of forgot about it for a while, but it has recently started coming back to me, like an injury left unattended to. The more I think about it, it makes sense.

Control is Power.

[Power is NOT Control.]

If you want to get something done. Homework. Exercise. A chore. Something long pressing that needs to be done. Control yourself. You can do it.

Or if you don’t want to do something that should not be done. Saying something that should not be said. Doing something that should not be done. Control yourself. You don’t need to do it.

Control can manifest itself in a number of different ways.

Using control of yourself to control a situation.
Thomas Jefferson: Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Here is a different take.

Using control to well, potentially, lose control.
Ancient Samurai saying: Warriors take chances. Like everyone else, they fear failing, but they refuse to let fear control them.

We could fall into the trap of hedonism, self-indulgence, and generally sloth-like behavior. But in a world where some degree of production is required in order to maintain one self, it’s probably best to use control…as in controlling when to engage in self-indulgent behaviors and when not to ;-).

To make a long story short: Obama’s candidacy is doing damage to Clinton’s chances of winning in the general election if she is to be the Democratic nominee. Her downfall will lead to a McCain presidency, but the problems of the Bush administration will linger into McCain’s term. Therefore, in 2012, Obama, with a heightened national profile, will be ready to claim the presidential mantle.

Facts:
Ronald Reagan served two controversial terms as President. 1980 and 1984. By the end of his term, people were ready for change. The national debt was skyrocketing. Unions were being threatened. Gays were ignored.

However, because of a sense of familiarity with the Republican Party and a weak Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, George H.W. Bush secured the nomination and won the 1988 presidential election. His own term was hampered by lingering problems from the Reagan adminstration, namely, the economy.

Then came Bill Clinton. 1992.  The rest is history.

Theory:
Barack Obama knows he cannot win the 2008 presidential election. The Clinton machine is a juggernaut whose armor is being weakened by Obama. However, like a true warrior, it will not be defeated. It will do whatever it takes to win here and now. Obama does not have to do that because his political future is not over no matter what happens.

This is Hillary Clinton’s last chance to run for President. Period. She knows it. Everyone knows it.

If Obama is able to raise his own national profile in a positive manner and lower Hillary’s likeability through tit-for-tat debates (those tend to favor him because it shows that he can get into a duel with a supposedly higher profile candidate and that he won’t put up with BS), he will enhance his own 2012 electability.

If she is dragged down by the Obama campaign, she will fight back against him, increasing her negativity ratings, thus making it more likely that McCain (the presumed Republican nominee) will gather independent votes disgusted by her tactics, and therefore, he will become the President.

2012:
McCain is haunted by the failures of the Bush administration. The situation is Iraq is still unstable due to McCain’s ‘play it out’ theory. Obama’s stance against the war in 2002 looks even better. By now, he is an 8-year senator having given major speeches on every possible issue and having scored significant legislative accomplishments.

Enter a still-young 50-year old Obama. Game. Set. Match.

Caveat:
McCain tends to agree with Democrats on high profile issues such as climate change and campaign finance. If he is able to get some measures passed through Congress, then his own national profile will be brought up big time. However, he has an 83 percent lifetime conservative voting record, so the chance of major issues being agreed upon by the Democrats and McCain is relatively small aside from the two issues mentioned. But the PR he receives from climate change and campaign finance, not to mention border security, might propel him through the 2012 re-election process.

I identify with unity in a different way than Senator Obama does. Senator Obama equates unity with bringing people together to solve the problems of America. I see unity a little bit more turn-by-turn as opposed to a straight path. Here is what I mean.

When I went canvassing for Obama in New Hampshire on Tuesday the 8th, I ran into an Edwards supporter who told me, ‘One way or another, we’re going to be working for the same team.’ This, of course, means that with Edwards presumably dropping out after Feb. 5, many of his supporters would come to join Senator Obama’s campaign. However, the joining of two campaigns does not make the two groups of supporters automatically in step. It does not SOLVE problems. What unity in this case does is merely elucidate the problems, or rather, differences between us.

Example 2 is when I was holding Obama signs at the polling places. Of course, it’s common knowledge that a skinny Indian kid holding an Obama sign will not make you vote for him (maybe it might make you NOT vote for him :p), but that wasn’t the best part of the sign-holding. The best part was talking to McCain supporters next to me, albeit for a brief period of time, and just seeing who they were. They weren’t fundamentally different human beings (those Ron Paul supporters on the other hand…j/k…). They were just men who had different ideas about how the country should work.  I didn’t agree with many of them but a decent conversation ensued and all of us walked away happy and supportive of each other.

I’m not so blind as to think that many of these ideas may be better than what Senator Obama is proposing. But it merely goes to show that I am simply his supporter because what I can do as a human being is elucidate differences and bring them out into the open. It takes a true revolutionary to take those differences and do something with them.  Maybe it’s Obama.  Maybe it’s someone else.  Time will tell.

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In the meantime, I just got back to Philadelphia. I think this will be a lot better semester than last. I normally write when I’m feeling extremely happy, bored, angry, or whatever. But now, everything’s just fine. No sense of excitement or a rush of happiness. Everything’s just fine. I think that right now, this is the best way to enter the semester.

Sometimes I psych myself out too much and almost enter the first class of the semester expecting to hear, ‘From Needham, MA, a first year grad student, SHARDULLLE SHAHHHHH…’ And the crowd goes wild. Unfortunately, that dream hasn’t come true yet. But just wait, when I become a professor one day, it will happen for my students.  Want to know what I mean?  Well…

For a political speech, this is the most baller intro that I’ve ever seen.  Cue: Chicago Bulls entrance.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tydfsfSQiYc (just watch the first 20 seconds - “A 6′2” force for change”)

Okay, maybe it’s a little too much, but come on, I’m sure for a few seconds, you thought it was cool. At least I did.

Anyhow, the overhyping of this upcoming semester is not going to happen. I already feel better writing this knowing that you know what, I will conquer this semester not because I won’t screw up, but because I know that I’ve gone through this once and I will do it again.

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Go Patriots.