Carville quickie

Maggie says:
At the last minute, I found time to catch James Carville yesterday at the SUB. (By the way, read 'Burque Babble's hilarious ode to Carville's "vivacious drawl" here.)

Carville is many things:

• Possessor of that, okay, vivacious drawl that makes me miss home like a punch in my stomach, even though I know absolutely no one who sounds like him in North Carolina.
• Miraculous (or horrendous) romantic partner, depending on your view of how the hell he makes his marriage to Mary Matalin work. I, for one, can't even hear her voice without seething; waking up beside her each morning would be absolutely out of the question.
• Curious authentic-or-commodity persona trapped in that strange space of having become someone larger than yourself.

Anyway, time was short for me and for Carville, and luckily he split before I had to. Listening to him is a bit like tuning into the golden days of "Crossfire." I doubt anything said yesterday was new or fresh or different than what he's said anywhere else, but he has classic one-liners to spare, and the captivated expressions of everyone around me suggested that even if his spiel could've been done anywhere, they loved seeing him do it in person.

Carville started off with something we should all be saying, and that's that the media-created myth of upcoming big Democratic wins is, in fact, a myth. This is an important point for anyone apt to get swept away in the hype that Congressional takeover is as inevitable as more war casualties. Believing we're bound to win makes us lazy, makes us stop doing the important work, and makes us stop connecting with real people over real issues. The more self-congratulatory we get, the more we forget that personal victories aren't the point. What matters is what's at stake, and that's the opportunity dangling in front of us right now.

Carville briefly mentioned "love of country," and this is something I truly love hearing him talk about. To me, "love of country" Carville is the real deal. Lines like "Heather Wilson is on the Intelligence Committee and she actually admits it?" are not. Campaign talk and packaged lines aren't my thing; authenticity is.

Carville differentiates Heather Wilson and Patricia Madrid as a "servant of power" versus an "agent of change." This is potentially powerful stuff, and the turn I hope Madrid's campaign will take to get the vote out. Power discussions are full of authenticity. So is Carville's point that "We are a better country than this."

Fun one-liners and all, I couldn't help but feel a little bit empty rushing away from the event yesterday. In the world of political stars talking to political insiders, we're insulated through and through. Yet the point is what's happening outside that room, and we can't forget that.

Making folks laugh is a bonus, but making them believe is what's most important. Politics is more than a game, and when we play it on the surface but forget the core, we only hurt ourselves.