Fighting a war for the words of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

[Op-Ed Columnist Surprise Me Most By DAVID BROOKS NYT: September 8, 2008
From voters, the demand is: Surprise Me Most. For candidates, the lesson is: Weirdness Wins. Last winter, Barack Obama succeeded by running a weird campaign...
But over the course of the spring, Obama’s campaign got less weird...
But by campaigning in this traditional way, Obama ceded the weirdness edge to McCain...
But remember: Weirdness wins. Surprise me most.]

[Op-Ed Columnist: A Glimpse of the New By DAVID BROOKS NYT: September 4, 2008 ST. PAUL
Political parties usually reform in the wilderness. They suffer some crushing defeat, the old guard is discredited and the pain compels turnover and change. John McCain is trying to reform the Republican Party before a presidential defeat, with the old guard still around, and with a party base that still hasn’t accepted the need to transform...
Through it all, he communicated his burning indignation at the way Washington has operated over the last 12 years. He communicated his intense passion to lift government to a plane the country deserves. He did note that he has fought to change the Republican Party during its period of decay. And he diagnosed that decay Thursday night (to the tepid applause of the faithful).And this passion for change, combined with his proven and evident integrity, led to the crescendo of raw energy that marked this convention’s conclusion. His policies are still not quite there yet, but McCain has the heart of an insurgent.]

[Op-Ed Columnist The Education of McCain By DAVID BROOKS NYT: August 19, 2008 McCain’s long-running rebellion against the stupidity of modern partisanship...
The man who hopes to inspire a new generation of Americans now attacks Obama daily. It is the only way he can get the networks to pay attention...
And the inescapable fact is: It is working.]

The presidential election campaign in USA is entering its last leg, and the kind of issues and intrigues that are at play in this most mature democracy is worth observing and analyzing. It offers us ample insight as to what precisely needs to be done at present if we are fighting a war for the words of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Neither innocence nor eccentricity is of much help. Instead, a poised and persistent “surprising” a la an “insurgent” will perhaps enable us to reach a breakthrough. [TNM]