Daddy said it, and he said it often. He said it within context and outside context. But for one reason or the other, he would come out with, “He who expecteth nothing shall not be disappointed.” I loved that saying even when I was too young to understand its meaning. It sounded downright biblical with that -eth suffix on expect and that “shall not” construction found in practically every one of the Ten Commandments.
In its original form, it was less a commandment and more a beatitude. “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” So said Alexander Pope, when he wasn’t throwing off other bon mots about damning with faint praise and how erring is human, but forgiving divine. Yes, that Pope fellow had a real way with words.
Whichever version comes to mind, we understand this maxim lives right next door to the one about not counting one’s chickens before they hatch. Before it became known as Murphy’s law, I’m pretty sure Mother was living with the belief that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Two related concepts that co-exist, creating an unending amount of tension and anxiety, but not necessarily disappointment. That one comes wrapped in expectation and strips down to show that disappointment comes right before the frustration that starts with, “Well, I should have seen that coming…”
A few months back, I hit on some of this in a somewhat different context, but it bears review as we anticipate these midterm elections. Early voting has already started in some parts of the country, and it starts here in Texas this coming Monday, the 19th.
No doubt the pundits and the prognosticators will be writing about, talking on television about, and otherwise getting in front of as large an audience as possible as often as possible in the days leading up to November 3. I try to listen, read, or watch only the ones who understand the limits of their knowledge and have not seriously fooled me in the past. (I’m looking at you, Nate Silver.)
We’ve established for the most part that we shouldn’t count those chickens, but are we allowed to count the eggs? Each of them won’t necessarily hatch a chick, but some of them probably will. So, let’s go down to the hen House of Representatives.
Now there are 435 seats there, and that’s far too many to look at individually. So, I’ll just put it like this. If we accept the analysis of the Cook Political Report, there are 21 toss ups in the House. Democrats need five of them to get the majority while Republicans need 17. You don’t need a degree in math or political science to see this bodes well for the Democrats.
If that should be the case, Hakeem Jeffries would presumably become the new speaker and would be the first Democrat not named Nancy Pelosi to hold that position in over 30 years. Should anyone even be interested in my opinion on this quite plausible outcome for next year, I could only say that some folks like Brussels sprouts and some folks decidedly do not.
Over in the Senate, both parties need four of the seven toss ups to get a majority there. The Democrats need to do some flipping, while Republicans need to do some holding on. It has been noted by many that the very presence of Kansas and Texas, excuse me, Texas and Kansas as toss up states is an indication of how strange this political season is proving to be.
Let’s just cap this off with a couple of asides. Sherrod Brown, running in Ohio, is the only one of the major party candidates in the toss ups that I’d like to have a drink with—not a beer, a drink. Also, I don’t know how far I could kick a lemon pie, but that’s about the distance I would trust the ever-concerned, always pearl-clutching Susan Collins up in Maine. But what about Texas?
Well, I’m pretty sure Clairee Belcher would say James Talarico looks like he was carved out of cream cheese. She might add that Ken Paxton seems to have been rough-hewn out of something entirely different.
In these last few weeks, anticipation is likely to give way to expectation. But this is politics, where few get what they deserve, others get what they shouldn’t have, and no one should expect anything. Except surprises.
