To the extent that his brand of populism is viable, it is dependent on the kind of cross-racial appeal to common economic despair that Henry Wallace understood nearly seventy years ago.
While reactions ranged from depressed indifference to a qualified sense of relief, the victims' families did echo a common sense of despair.
If Weis and Carr have anything in common beside the despair of this season, it is a familiar coaching paranoia that seems comical in its obsessive secrecy.
He suggests that in the modern age, the most common kind of despair is that which is in ignorance of itself.
And far too many people in far too many places live through the daily crises that challenge our common humanity – the despair of an empty stomach; the thirst brought on by dwindling water; the injustice of a child dying from a treatable disease, or a mother losing her life as she gives birth.
There were also three different parent advocates from around the state, each of whom had chosen a different pathway to organizing and mobilizing, after initially experiencing that common sense of despair about their schools and desire for change.
Common themes of despair include red and black roses, macabre pictures, candles and any decent (not cheap looking) decorations designed for Halloween.
On Sunday, Queen Noor of Jordan spoke to graduating seniors about the importance of public service, and reminded them that poverty and despair were common throughout the world despite technological advances and a booming economy at home.
They often hung out together because they had so much in common: feelings of helplessness, despair, guilt, confusion and a belief that true happiness is beyond reach.
The two nations do have something in common: both have felt the despair of being shortchanged in the World Cup.
It's such a common cycle of hope and despair that it has become a familiar industry joke.
