What do Jesus, Moses and Harry Potter all have in common? It's not a devoted following, although that might also be a shared trait. Rather, it is the fact that the stories of all three fit a particular model for the hero-myth. Proposed by Arnold van Gennep and familiar to Religion 1 students, all three of their lives were divided by "rites of passage" into three phases: a pre-liminal, or pre-transition period, a liminal, or transition, period, and a post-liminal, or post-transition, period. This structure can be seen in pop culture, not only in the aforementioned example but also in things as diverse as the Star Wars trilogy, Tolkien and VH1's "Behind the Music." But perhaps the best place to find liminality in a culture where we worship celebrity is in the lives of the political figures that are routinely lauded. In particular, Howard Dean is the classic example of a would-be hero who is "betwixt and between."
Regardless of whether you see Dean as the savior of the Democratic Party or as the harbinger of its doom, the path of his ascendance and descent from fringe candidate to front-runner back to one of four viable candidates has been fascinating to watch. In his pre-liminal period, he was still a former governor of a small state virtually unknown outside of his region. When his grassroots and internet campaign began to gain momentum, however, he lost his anonymity, and became a figure of ambiguity.
This ambiguity was, and still is, the defining character of Dean's campaign. He is a liberal candidate who must appeal to a country that is becoming increasingly centrist. He is a man of science who is ultimately hoping to defeat a man of faith in November. Like many other liminal figures, he may appear to be from an agricultural region but actually comes from the halls of privilege -- in his case, New York City and the Ivy League. He is a practiced orator who still seems to experience a large number of gaffes while speaking. Maybe that primordial scream after the Iowa Caucus was due to the dissipating of social confines associated with liminality. Or maybe it was a cry of frustration due to remaining in a state of uncertainty and chaos.
According the rites of passage model of heroism, the only way to escape from this uncertainty and chaos is by undergoing a series of tests and tribulations. Dean already seems to have weathered his fair share of controversy. His status as the Democrat most averse to the war in Iraq brought him much opposition. Ill-considered statements such as the notorious Confederate flag quote made him the target of criticism, as we Dartmouth students know all too well. So far, Dean has surmounted these hurdles, but with a depleted war chest and increased support for his opponents, Dean's resilience seems to be lessening.
The seven primaries this Tuesday in Missouri, Arizona, South Carolina, Delaware, North Dakota, Oklahoma and New Mexico could well be Dean's last major test. Because of superdelegates, convention members who can arbitrarily support whichever candidate they choose, Dean still leads Kerry by 19 delegates. If he does well on Super Tuesday, and then again in Michigan four days later, Dean might be able to emerge into a "post-liminal" period where he is once again clearly defined as the front-runner. However, with Kerry ahead in five of the ten states according to an Associated Pess poll on Jan. 31, Dean's chances look slim.
In the examples looked at in Religion 1, liminal figures always seem to emerge triumphant at the end of their particular rites of passage. Their identities have been reformed, and they usually are able to become great kings and leaders.
For Howard Dean, this may not be the case.
Whereas these mythical figures often had superhuman powers and divine aid, Dean has only himself and the not-so-divine endorsements of people like Al Gore with which to rise again to the top. If he succeeds in doing so, he will have the clear identity of presidential nominee to aid in his quest for the White House. If he fails, he will remain an ambiguous figure in history. Regardless of his ultimate fate, however, Dean's rise and fall has been a fascinating thing to watch, and a clear example of the fact that we are so desperate to find political heroes that we will anoint a savior before he triumphs.
