塞翁失马 焉知非福 (another political post)
One of my favorite Chinese chengyu is quoted above. In pinyin, it’s “sai4 weng1 shi1 ma3, yan1 zhi1 fei1 fu2” or “when the old man on the border lost a horse, who could tell that it was a blessing?”
It was cited at the end of the movie, Charlie Wilson’s War, in a somewhat simplified form, to suggest that “winning” in Afghanistan might not be an unalloyed blessing. You can get the whole story here.
So how might the results of last night’s primary be a “blessing in disguise”?
One of the things that has impressed me about Obama is the respect he’s shown his competitors, something that’s not been matched by Clinton, who’s disdain seems evident every time they appear together. That’s been coupled by a flagrant distortion of his record and statements, which he chose not to respond to during the last week. Hillary Clinton is very good at playing a victim, so responding to her attacks is not going to be easy. But I think that if he finds a way to do so, he will have either demonstrated or developed a political talent that will serve him well in the future.
The one thing I like about the US primary process is the way in which it provides an opportunity to learn and to develop some skills and a team that will be useful in the future. So it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.