With Venus as our Guide

The defeat of Wisconsin's efforts to recall its governor on Tuesday sent the analysis world into overdrive.  You could barely hear a news program yesterday that didn't feature someone--or usually someones--spouting off about the significance of this election.  What did it portend for unions? for Obama? for union-bashing governors? for Republicans and Democrats?   All we know for sure is that BIG money played its role successfully, and this shouldn't surprise anyone.

On the same day as the election Venus glided dramatically across the sun, visible practically everywhere in the United States.  On a walk that evening, I dared to glance directly at the sun, wishing I could see the tiny dot on its historic journey.  The fierce glare that met me reminded me that I couldn't.  Some things never change, I thought: you can't look at the sun, plain and simple.

But everything else around us changes.  "You can't step into the same river twice," the Buddhists teach us.  What was true yesterday is not true today, and the presidential election doesn't hinge on Wisconsin.  Analysis and spin don't advance the conversation; they're distractions.

What can we learn from the tiny black dot advancing in the sky?  Life goes on, stay the course, don't give up.  Let Walker govern, so be it.  Now let's turn to the job of re-electing the President.  He's the best hope of keeping hope alive.