Category: 
by Hector N. Fertig
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
- President Barack Obama (Inauguration Speech)
The idea of choosing hope over fear has a decidedly positive, optimistic feel to it. As with most other people, this phrase washed over me as part of the greater euphoria of the day. We WERE fearful. We ARE hopeful. We weathered the storm and the future looks bright again. When I asked Obama supporters about what I saw as troubling policies, I was frequently reminded: “You have to think positively; trust that things will work out in the end.”
Hope over fear. By sheer coincidence, I had an opportunity to witness this epic battle on a small scale recently. I had gone to a local card club with a college buddy and we split up to play different games. When I went to find him later on, he was in the middle of a hand of Texas Hold’em, sitting on two pair and looking very uncomfortable as he waited to see the River card. His opponent looked equally uncomfortable but of a different flavor. As I took in the situation, my friend was raised and he volunteered, “I’m screwed. I’m pretty sure he has a Straight, but I have to call because… what if my card comes up?”
As I watched the hand play out, I also got a glimpse of the psychology behind Hope (my friend’s) and Fear (his opponent’s). The distinction between the two is not about optimism or pessimism, it is about where you see yourself when you become subject to events beyond your control. Play incorrectly, irresponsibly or foolishly and you find hope that the last card can fix your mistakes. Play wisely and correctly and all you find is fear that your efforts will be wiped away by chance. To a large extent, I think this encapsulates the view of the Right: “If you work hard and avoid foolish mistakes, you won’t need to hope for good luck because you’ve set yourself up to succeed.”
A change in one key detail illustrates the view from the Left. If the dealer is working against you, you may believe that regardless of how wisely you play, you have no hope of winning as the deck is literally stacked against you. If it is announced that the dealer is going to be replaced and the game will be restarted, the fearful person may suddenly become hopeful that their situation is bettered through an even playing field.
And so we come back to Obama’s original phrase. During his campaign, many people who felt the game was stacked against them all along saw him as their chance at a fair game. On the other hand, at the time of his election, many hard-working people (who felt that the game was fair all along) were watching their years of effort disappear as the stock market crashed. The result is the brilliance of Obama’s statement: HOPE over FEAR. It doesn’t matter what you HOPED for (an end to intolerance or a return to normal markets), what you FEARED (ongoing corruption or acts of terrorism), that sometimes FEAR is preferable to HOPE or that the HOPES of some will be the FEARS of others!
To be sure, the Left agrees with his policies more than the Right, but he seems to be playing the middle just enough to keep his popularity sky-high. It is as brilliant a political promise as I have ever seen – at once unfulfillable and irrefutable – whose true meaning will only be known to historians! Paraphrasing Joseph Heller:
[Obama's promise of hope over fear] did not exist… but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridicule or refute, to accuse, criticize, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit at, rip to shreads, trample upon or burn up.
