John Kennedy made the phrase famous, since then it has become part of the lasting rhetoric of American politics.
On Jan. 20, 1961, Kennedy, having just been inaugurated as President, stood at the podium on the East Portico of the nation’s capitol and delivered his acceptance address. Memorable among his lines was this moving statement: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed…”
He could have stopped right there and left for the White House with Jackie to start unpacking, and already his presidency would have left an historic phrase that will always be a natural for historians and headline writers. Sixty-three years later the words have lived on: The headline for PBS’s coverage of Joe Biden’s farewell address at the past Democratic convention was: “Biden passes the torch to Harris on emotional first night of the convention.”
USA Today expressed a similar sentiment: Biden to Bid Farewell, Pass the Torch to Harris in Final DNC Speech.
By coincidence, the quadrennial American presidential election is also the same year as the Summer Olympics when there are visions of young studs carrying a torch to light an Olympics fire as though to cast light on the world. Then there are the relay racers passing their batons to the person ahead, each hustling in the pursuit of victory.
Passing the torch is a great image to glorify the up-and-coming; yet there is one group of people who might feel left out of the glory: the ones who have been carrying the torches all along. Though overlooked, they bring the benefits of experience, knowledge and memory. Better than anyone else, they know where the curves are in the road and the bumps. They know about great new ideas (and that some are old ones recycled) and remember that they had many ideas themselves. They recall much of what others might have forgotten.
They also remember when they were like the ones who are behind them pursuing the torch and how that made them want to run a little faster.
We have seen this election year that for physical reasons sometime frontrunners need to drop out, but not all torch carriers are created equally.
Some are oblivious of the finish line and just want to run the extra miles.
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