Hope

This isn’t my usual blog post dedicated to all things advertising and marketing. Well, maybe it is but not in any traditional sense of it. Today, I’m thinking about the current dichotomy between optimism and pessimism/hope and fear.

What got me thinking about this was juxtaposition yesterday of news stories about the pessimism regarding the economy and the optimism of the Obama presidency. The two seem so opposing yet they seem to be surviving at the same time and I have to wonder why.

Less than two months ago the US and, really, the whole world stood still for a couple of hours and took in the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. Anyone watching, and even those that tried to actively avoid watching, couldn’t help but be struck by the shear numbers of people paying attention and the overwhelming sense of hope and happiness this event engendered. The reasons for the happiness varied for sure: change from the previous administration, change in political parties, a major race hurtle jumped to name just a few. But regardless of the reason, the underlying reason seemed universal: hope that things would be better.

Now contrast that with the talk of the economy. Or perhaps it’s the economy through the lens of politics. The talking heads on yesterday’s news programs discussed and disagreed about the amount of debt run up, nationalizing vs. not the banks, earmarks and the divide in Congress. However, one thing they all agreed on was that at the very core of the problem and the key to correcting it is confidence. Corporate confidence. Consumer confidence. People need to believe that we will get through this and eventually (not necessarily tomorrow) it will be alright.

So if the solution is to build and instill confidence, then why is everyone in the media (and a good many in government/politics) continuing to belt out nothing but the negative? How does someone like Rush Limbaugh get away with saying that he hopes the President fails (i.e. he hope the economy and thereby all the citizens fail) without everyone getting angry?! In all the conversations I’ve listened to, I’ve only heard one person (Erin Burnett of CNBC) actively try to inject a few positive signs. It makes me question whether these people really want to repair the economy or if these people are so cocooned that they don’t understand that what’s happening isn’t political theory it’s people’s lives.

The election of Obama and the worldwide reaction to it shows that people still have hope. And it’s that hope we have to tap into if we’re going to solve the problems we’re facing in the world. Don’t get me wrong, we can’t ignore the problems we must discuss them if we’re going to find solutions. However, we also have to hold on to hope and actively pursue it. We have to change the definition of hope from a passive to an active verb – hope is actionable not just wishful. And we have to enforce that hope to others (or maybe sell is the nicer way to say it) so we can push the politicians and media to work for solutions verses trying to gain from promoting the problems.

I believe it’s possible … at least I hope it is.