Losers sometimes win

One thing this presidential election is going to produce is more losers than we have ever had: Democratic losers, Republican losers, even a libertarian loser. This may be the only positive thing to come out of a two-year slog to choose a new president. It is just possible that the losers will do more for this country than the winner.

Regardless of what you think about global warming or Al Gore, you've got to admit that the old boy didn't go home to play golf, lick his wounds and hang out at the country club. He had an issue that was important to him, and he got busy working on it.

With his high profile, money contacts and political supporters, he had a wealth of resources with which to tackle whatever he chose to do. He got our attention and a Nobel Prize and Oscar. Not bad for a loser.

John Edwards also put his oar in the water on an issue of importance to him by establishing the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina. Whatever you may think of his motives, his efforts will bring in others to make their contributions through the center he created. North Carolina has suffered more than most states from the outsourcing of manufacturing (especially furniture and textiles) and the decline of tobacco. Creative thinking is needed to figure out how ordinary Americans can earn a decent living without manufacturing. The University of North Carolina is well positioned to be a part of the solutions. Like Al Gore, Edwards had the political resources to make it happen.

When this election is finally over, I am anticipating that a good number of the losers will follow suit and mobilize their supporters to work on some problem on which they think they might be able to make progress. Just think what could happen if these losers, cut loose from the constant need to campaign and make sound bites, could channel their energies toward real solutions for what ails us. Conservative solutions, liberal solutions, libertarian solutions: this could be the best thing that has happened to this country in decades.

One thing we can be sure of is that all the candidates want to leave a legacy. They want to be known for something. Shrinking violets do not run for president. You've got to have a pretty big ego to think that you are just the perfect person for the job. Denied the presidency, they are not going to change into totally different people who don't want schools and airports named for them. They are going to have to look for other avenues to make names for themselves and leave a lasting legacy. I say we cheer them on, all of them.

It could be argued that both Al Gore and Jimmy Carter made more solid contributions to the country after they lost elections than when they won them and held high political office. Life is funny that way. You can get what you want only to find out it was not what you thought it was, and you can have a setback that turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you. There is just no telling.

For the sake of the country, I am hoping that 10 years down the road, every single loser in this election will have accomplished so much good for the rest of us that he or she can truthfully say that losing was the best thing that could have happened. With this crowd, the accomplishments will have to be pretty spectacular; failure to occupy the White House is not something that can easily be made up for in their minds. But it is possible.

In the earliest days of the republic we had the benefit of a whole group of gifted individuals who created a government and a nation from colonies that didn't necessarily get along that well together. They had different histories, religious proclivities and struggled among themselves for power.

Is it possible that in this crucial period when we are threatened with some many unprecedented problems that the people running around the country trying to get elected will turn out to provide the creative energy necessary to get us through the most challenging time since at least the Civil War-

Patricia Hunt is a Mary Baldwin College chaplain and Staunton resident.