Whatever…

Words

Words matter, of course. I can’t remember which of the two Democrat presidential candidates said that, but nevermind. To them, to most, probably all politicians, words matter as leverage, bargaining tools, links, placeholders, self-revelatory prompts, a kiss.

How else might words matter, really matter. To the novelist, or to the genuine historian - as opposed to the politician/historian, the pundit/historian, the celebrity/historian, none of whom is an historian, really, at all - words are not merely tools. They are the facts. They reveal what it is their author wishes to create or describe, and they are that thing. It’s like the painter, whose oils are the symbols of his vision and they are the vision itself. They don’t merely represent what the writer is trying to get across; they are what the writer’s intention is.

Barack Obama has emerged as a man of powerful words. Hillary Clinton, in considered counterpoint, has sometimes disparaged words and offered herself as a woman of action. Actions speak louder, she says loudly. Words are key, he says, contradicting her and quoting some important words written and spoken at defining American historical moments.

Mrs. Clinton’s words don’t stand for her. They are not her conception, the way a novelist’s words are. They are not the things, the ideas themselves, the way the genuine historian’s words are. Her words lever support, sprinkle an inducement here, another there.

Similarly, whatever Mr. Obama believes, the words he has used recently to distance himself from his pastor of two decades seem no more than handy tools, necessary, at the exigent moment and doubtless heartfelt, given the fix he finds himself in, to break his political fall and lever himself back up on top.

Words matter, and everyone is entitled to them, just as everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. But, in political speech, it’s not in his kiss.