Dwight D. Eisenhower

'There is a spiritual hunger in the world today - and it cannot be satisfied by better cars on longer credit terms.' - Adlai E. Stevenson (1952 / Democratic Presidential Candidate)

'I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center.' - Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952 / Republican Presidential Candidate)

Can you imagine Barack Obama uttering the first quote? What about John McCain as the deliverer of the second? Neither is a stretch, is it?

A recent business event at which gifted political pundits Tucker Carlson and James Carville squared off for some lively chat about the upcoming election brought this thought to light. It was Carville, a Hillary supporter who now puts her prospects of becoming the Democratic nominee as akin to drawing to a 16 in blackjack, who noted that an Obama - McCain duel resonates with nothing so much as the Stevenson vs. Eisenhower election of 1952.

Certainly there are some mammoth differences---most significantly, at the earlier election the Democrats had controlled the presidency for two straight decades---but one gets the gist of Carville's observation in the elevated populism of the highly educated Obama and the iconoclastic centrist tendencies of former military-man McCain.

True political history fans will note a number of nifty in-fighting parallels in the respective nomination processes of Stevenson/Obama and Eisenhower/McCain, but there are certainly far more compelling cultural kinship ties between 1952 and 2008. One can see the correspondences in the entropic drag of unpopular ideology-driven wars (Korea, Iraq) and in the bullying domination of 'right-thinking' political forces (McCarthyism, The Patriot Act). And surely the bogeyman of terrorist attack that is paraded before us on a daily basis today is somewhat resonant with America's first test detonation of a hydrogen bomb, 30 more times more powerful than the Hiroshima A-bomb, in November of 1952.

Quite thrillingly (if one is an astrologer) the strongest cosmic tie between the two years is to be found in the identical placement of the nodes of the moon. Now as much as I'd like to get all astro-pedantic here, suffice it to say that the moon's nodes, which astronomically have to do with orbital inclination and intersection, are an essential calculation in any horoscope cast by a reputable astrologer. These extremely powerful points are said to deal with evolutionary direction, from the south node (where we have been, what we know, and where we are most comfortable) to the north node (where we must go, what we must learn, and where we are challenged to grow).

Right now, as in 1952, the nodes are suggesting that mankind is confronted with a choice on a path between a south node Leo foundation and a north node Aquarian destiny. Without intending this to sound judgmental, one may think of Leo as representing every human endeavor that grants preeminence to personal predilection and self-satisfaction. Aquarius, the diametric opposite of Leo, is emblematic of selfless social consideration and preeminence granted to the requirements of the collective.

Now it has rarely been a smart bet to push all of one's chips onto the self-sacrificing community-mindedness square of the humanity craps table. This is especially true at an astro-historical moment that emphasizes how familiar and comfortable (south node) it feels for humanity to be selfish. When one factors in the sheer anxiety of the times, how can anyone be blamed for worrying about numero uno?

The answer in 1952 was, of course, to go on a frenzy of production and consumption and baby making...and to elect as president a retired general who history suggests would rather golf than govern (although some historians celebrate the generally laissez-faire Eisenhower for not breaking anything, including the peace). It is now fashionable to disparage the values formed with the advent of Ike's election as selfish but, dammit, everybody was war-weary, anxious, and ready for the pay-off promised by victory in WWII - The Big One. It was about time for life to provide a nice car, and a decent payment schedule, and an interstate highway system to facilitate suburban living and personal adventure.

So where do we go this time around? Does a less promising environment for economic growth force our hands? Do we have to become socially-concerned citizens because we've run out of stuff...or maybe even the desire for stuff? Is social concern where we have to go inevitably, whether we want to go there or not?

Now a truly wise person might suggest that the issue of the nodes is not a case of either/or but, rather, one of both. May we not simultaneously be wise stewards of our personal desires and our social obligations? Is the hybrid car a sort of religious object?

Anyway, the suggestion here is that McCain may be best understood as a symbolic step back towards Leo, and that Obama may be a symbolic step towards Aquarius. But don't count out Hillary just yet. As Tucker Carlson was prepared to concede, "Hillary Clinton is the toughest person who has ever lived...she's been attacked for everything since 1978 and she's still a game fighter who expects to win."

What else would you expect from a Scorpio?

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Steven Mark Weiss is an award-winning journalist and the author of SIGNS OF SUCCESS: The Remarkable Power of Business Astrology (Amacom, New York, 2008). The cosmically curious may learn more at http://www.stevenmarkweiss.com or http://blog.stevenmarkweiss.com

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