Day 20

Another good day! Not much to report on the medical front--just another day of waiting. I spent most of the day working on teaching and administrative tasks, but I was able to spend some time in the hospital room tonight where Myla continued to be all smiles. I really need to update her main picture here on the blog. That was taken before she had learned to light up a room with her beaming smile.

Tonight, we watched the NBC/MSNBC news coverage of the New Hampshire primary. I can't help but wonder if the NBC group is pulling for Hillary because when she finished second to Obama during the Iowa Caucus, the same talking heads blabbered on incessantly about Huckabee and his victory. For the most part, the Democratic candidates were but small blips on the radar of Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews. Olberman going on and on about Huckabee? I've seen odd things before in my life. This was one of them. But tonight...oh tonight...it was a different outcome, and a vastly different treatment. Did anyone else notice this shift in emphasis? Maybe it was just me. Often, it is just me. But really, I never heard a single word tonight about how Chuck Norris finished in the voting. Odd.

So, I just started an introduction to public speaking course yesterday at Indiana University Kokomo, and I can't help but wonder if any of my budding rhetorical scholars listened to Obama's concession speech or to Clinton's victory speech. How could they pass up this opportunity to hone their analytical skills by watching speakers deliver a string of soundbites written by others? Such wishful thinking on my part, I know. But if I'm wrong about their motivation and engagement with the democratic process, then my students can prove me wrong by posting their insights as a comment to this blog entry. Imitating Ben Stein on Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "Anyone know what this means? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone have any thoughts?"

An especially ripe line for analysis was Clinton's statement that went something like this: "I listened to you, and in so doing, I found my voice." (Cue the raucous applause and the sight of placards frenetically thrusting upward). I'll have to discuss this line in my class tomorrow morning. :) If there was ever a line written by a political speech writer, that was it. Look no further. It's beauty is due in part to its strategic ambiguity. It sounds good, but what does it really say or mean? On one hand, it sounds as if Hillary has no voice of her own, and that she is just reflecting the views of the collective "you," which I'm assuming is the populace of New Hampshire. And given that New Hampshire is 96% Caucasian, does this mean that Clinton's new voice overlooks other segments of the population? I know, I know. I'll back off. It's just that this one line intrigued me. If I were Rush Limbaugh--and I'm not--then I'd be all over this line during tomorrow's foray into "excellence in broadcasting."

Yep, it's campaign time again, and for a C-SPAN junkie like me, this is a good time to be alive. Even Myla would smile to that.