Scarlett O’Hara and foreign policy

Patricia Hunt
Published: May 16, 2008

I keep picturing Hillary Clinton as Scarlett O’Hara in that iconic scene in “Gone with the Wind.” Scarlett has returned to Tara after the war. Her mother is dead. Her father has completely lost touch with reality. The remainder of the household is starving. She goes out into the ruined field and digs for food in the ground before rising up full height to proclaim, “As God is my witness, as God is my witness, and they’re not going to lick me! I’m going to live through this, and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again – no, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill, as God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
I challenge anyone to watch Vivian Lee silhouetted against a dark, rosy sky declaring her determination to survive and not be moved. Yet I am ambivalent about Scarlett and Hillary and all those other people I have known who have been beaten down only to emerge tougher but hardened in a way I am not sure I admire or trust.
Scarlett O’Hara did survive, but she was manipulative, conniving and ruthless. On the positive side, she saved her family’s plantation and she kept the wolf away from the door. Her folks did not starve, largely because of her efforts.
I have seen Scarlett over and over again. I have seen her in business people who survived dog-eat-dog competition and early reversals to emerge triumphant, rich, powerful, but with shrunken hearts and anesthetized consciences.
I have seen schoolteachers who have taught one too many students who not only didn’t want to learn but wanted to make the lives of teachers a living hell. The eyes grew cold, the mouth set, the anger stored in a hard ball in the gut.
I have seen “senior ministers” of large congregations who have had to shmooze so many people, be winsome and flattering and theologically correct for so long that when they finally get their dream job, they turn into virtual dictators. They are no longer willing to suffer fools gladly, and anyone who fails to see things their way is a fool.
I have seen ordinary working women and men so put upon by bad bosses and poor working conditions for such a long time that they become hard and even mean.
These people look as if their skeletons are made of steel. They have extraordinary strength, but it has come at a cost. They have become warriors. They have passed crucial tests, but there is no laying down of arms for them. Their world is a battlefield. Human interactions are contests of strength and will; the prize is power over others. The one with the biggest weapons wins. In their vow never to be hungry again, they want to corner the commodities market.
There is much to admire in such people. I would want them next to me in a foxhole. They are like mother lions protecting their young. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley. There is little they will not do in the pursuit of what they have decided is the good, the thing that needs to be done. The ends justify the means. They believe the world is a jungle, and only the strong survive.
There is a lot of Scarlett in Hillary and John McCain. They are more like each other than either of them is like Barack Obama. Their policies clearly differ, but their life experiences have given them an eerily similar understanding of how the world works.
Barack Obama is betting that power may lie as much in our diplomatic skill, our cleverness, our intelligence as in our weapons and standing army. On a micro level we believe that is true. We don’t approve of people who try to run the lives of their families by fear and brute force. We don’t approve of employers who do that either. But when it comes to foreign policy, we are not entirely trusting of other ways of going about it. We follow the same rules as street gangs: any challenge to your power requires swift retaliation using force.
Is there any other way? We tell gang members there is, but do we believe it when it comes to our dealings with other countries? After Vietnam and Iraq you don’t have to be a pacifist to wonder if we need to expand our repertoire of options. Can we become smarter and more nimble, less predictable and more creative than we have ever been before? Can we find a new path that does not ask us to sacrifice our better angels just to survive?
Patricia Hunt is a Mary Baldwin College chaplain and Staunton resident.