Saturday, August 28, 2010

August 28, 2010

    With folks gathering for two rallies today in Washington
- Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" and Al Sharpton's "Reclaim the Dream" - I
thought I should write about it.  Then I read what John Lewis wrote in USA
Today.  No one could have said it better.
 
    Here's the link, if you're interested in reading his
words:
 
 http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-08-26-column26_ST1_N.htm


Friday, August 27, 2010

August 26, 2010

Ninety years ago today the 19th Amendment became law. Women got the right to vote--the largest act of enfranchisement, the New York Times points out, in our history. I think they've done pretty well with it.
 
     I mean, we had some fine presidents when it was just us guys--Jefferson and Lincoln, and so on. But we also had the Polks and the Fillmores and the Garfields--quite a few of those. Since the women got to play, we've had Herbert Hoover--well, nobody's perfect--but we've also had some brilliant men--Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman (just think about the decisions he had to make--should he drop the first atomic bomb, should he send US troops to Korea, and so on), Lyndon Johnson (great domestic success but also the disastrous decision to send half a million troops to Vietnam), Dwight Eisenhower, and yes, Barack Obama who has had, I think, a pretty good run so far.
 
        . It hasn't worked out quite as well with mayors in some cities, of course, but nobody's perfect.
 
     Looking back, it's hard to remember what all the fuss was about. But a fuss there surely was. When Congress passed the 14th Amendment after the Civil War, giving blacks the right to vote, Republicans carefully added the word "male" saying states couldn't deny voting rights to "any of (their) male inhabitants."
 
     Progress comes, at least sometimes.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

August 25, 2010

 
 
     It's Wednesday, the day after primary elections, so there must be results, right?  And they'll tell us stuff, right?  Well, I'm not so sure about that last part.  Depends on which state you look at, pretty much.
 
     This is an anti-incumbent year, right?  No, not in Arizona where veteran Republican senator John McCain won his primary against former congressman and talk show host J.D. Hayworth.  Hayworth called McCain a "shape-shifter" but that shouldn't have startled anyone;  it's something McCain's done before.  A funny result in Arizona--Ben Quayle, son of former vice president Dan, won his primary with just 22.7% of the vote. Ten candidates were running.
 
     In Florida Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek, the establishment candidate, beat a self-financed billionaire Jeff Greene.  But the Republican Marco Rubio won, maybe because he's part of both worlds--former speaker of the Florida House, but also a Tea Party stalwart who chased GOP Governor Charlie Crist out of the primary. Crist will run as an independent this fall.  Florida should be fun come November.
 
     Alaska?  Too close to call.  Senator Lisa Murkowski, whose dad held the seat before her, trails Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. There are enough uncounted absentee ballots to change that.
 
     Bring on November!  I can hardly wait.  
 

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

August 24, 2010


 
 
     California, I suppose, has always seemed exotic to the rest of us Americans.  It has movie stars, a terrific ocean, deserts, mountains and some fairly strange politicians too.
 
     The current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a Republican who gained fame not as a politician, but as a body builder turned actor.  Many Republicans don't like him much.  Ronald Reagan, of course, was an actor before he became governor and then president.
 
     This year the governor's race is a contest between dynasty and dough. 
 
     Democrat Gerry Brown represents the dynasty.  His father, Pat, was first elected governor way back in 1959, more than half a century ago.  He served two terms.  His son Jerry was first elected governor in 1975.  He served two terms too.  You might think his son would be in line now, but no.  Jerry, now in his seventies, is running again.  Is the campaign slogan "It's mine!"  I'm not sure but it could be.
 
     Dough is the Republican, Meg Whitman.  She has spent more than 100 million so far--had to get the nomination, of course, and plans to spend another 50--though there's more if she needs it.  I have no idea who'll win this one, but if some pollster asks you,  "Finest politics money can buy?" at least you'll know the answer. 

Friday, August 20, 2010

August 19, 2010


 
 
     Hallelujah!  Not a word I lead with often, but appropriate today.  The last American combat troops are leaving Iraq.  Not the last troops, of course.  Some 50,000 will remain training Iraqi forces and staying, I hope, mainly out of harm's way.  It's not the end but it's the beginning of the end.  Hallelujah.
 
     The war has lasted longer than World Wars I or II.  George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq in March, 2003, more than seven years ago.  4400 of them died there. What for?  Well, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a bad man.  He'd invaded Kuwait. The first president Bush drove him out of it.  His son invaded the country, perhaps because it was supposed to have weapons of mass destruction.  It didn't.  So the question of remains:  what for?
 
     But even bad things come to an end.  We are, last long last, leaving.  Shed a tear for the dead, the wounded and the scarred - and smile at the men and women coming happily home.  Even those left behind will come home eventually, we're told.  So, smile and welcome them home.
 
     One foolish war ending, or so it seems.  One to go.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

August 19, 2010

 
     Hallelujah!  Not a word I lead with often, but appropriate today.  The last American combat troops are leaving Iraq.  Not the last troops, of course.  Some 50,000 will remain training Iraqi forces and staying, I hope, mainly out of harm's way.  It's not the end but it's the beginning of the end.  Hallelujah.
 
     The war has lasted longer than World Wars I or II.  George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq in March, 2003, more than seven years ago.  4400 of them died there. What for?  Well, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a bad man.  He'd invaded Kuwait. The first president Bush drove him out of it.  His son invaded the country, perhaps because it was supposed to have weapons of mass destruction.  It didn't.  So the question of remains:  what for?
 
     But even bad things come to an end.  We are, last long last, leaving.  Shed a tear for the dead, the wounded and the scarred - and smile at the men and women coming happily home.  Even those left behind will come home eventually, we're told.  So, smile and welcome them home.
 
     One foolish war ending, or so it seems.  One to go.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

August 17, 2010

 
 
     Congratulations, Mr. President!  You got it exactly right.  Of course, a day later, you got it all wrong, so I'm not sure where that leaves us.  All in a week's work, I guess.
 
     The issue, of course, was the proposal to build a mosque and Islamic Center two blocks north of ground zero in Manhattan.  In getting it right, the President recalled the First Amendment to the Constitution:  "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." 
Which means, I think, that a religious group can build a temple, mosque, church, whatever anywhere they choose as long as they afford the land and the
construction costs.
 
     But a day later, he backed off.  "I was not commenting and will not comment, on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there."  Aw shucks, Mr. P.--just when I was feeling hopeful about you.  Others of course were quick to comment.  What would we do without Newt Gingrich, who, according to Richard Cohen in the Washington Post, said it "would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum." 
Well, okay, Mr. Gingrich, I can live with that.  The sign would remind us of how easily evil can flourish in the world, of why World War II had to be fought and the Museum built.
 
     Cohen also quotes columnist Charles Krauthammer as saying it would be like building a convent outside
Auschwitz.  I can live with that too, but others couldn't.  Carmelite nuns took up residence there in 1984.  Their presence stirred up so much controversy that they were forced to leave.  I've been to Auschwitz and, coming out, you need to see something like a convent to remind you that goodness, too, exists here. 
 
     Anyway, I read somewhere that there's already a mosque in the neighborhood.  Why fuss about one
more?

August 16, 2010

It's come to this? A column about presidential skin? Well, yes, it has.

Once before when President Obama went swimming, photographers snapped his chest. "Fit for office," the New York Post reported. But that was then; this is now. On a trip to Florida this past weekend the President went swimming, but the White House kept reporters and photographers away. The only photographer was a White House photographer and the only picture released showed the president's head and neck. The rest of him was underwater.

Newspaper photographers object to seeing a White House photo in the paper for the same reasons a reporter would object to seeing a White House press release instead of a story he or she had written. Many news organizations won't use such officialphotographs. The Associated Press did not distribute the official photo of Mr. Obama's swim.

A White House spokesman told the New York Times, "We're trying to get you guys as close to him as possible as many times as possible," which is pretty clearly not true.

White Houses always like to control events, control the words and pictures in which presidential events are reported to the voters. This White House is
no different.

When a reporter joked with the president that it might be good for him to be seen shirtless, Mrs. Obama quickly intervened. "No," she said. "It's not."

Friday, August 13, 2010

August 13, 2010

 
     Well, it's started.  I saw it first in Politics Daily, but they say they spied it earlier in Time Magazine's website yesterday--the idea that President Obama should dump Vice President Joe Biden in 2012 and replace him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  They quote former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder writing even earlier this month on Politico that she would help win back "middle-class independents" who have always  preferred her to Obama.  Politics Daily's Eleanor Clift adds that Biden "would be a natural" at State.  Straight job swap, I guess.
 
     Well, maybe.  It's been done before, of course.  Franklin Roosevelt, who was elected four times, had three VPs --John Nance Garner in his first term, Henry Wallace in his second, and Harry Truman during FDR's third and what he served of his fourth terms.
 
     Has Biden done anything awful as VP?  No.  Detractors speak of "gaffes' and there have been some. "This is a big fucking deal!" when Barack Obama signed the health care bill. "His mom lived on Long Island for ten years or so, God rest her soul. And although  she's--wait, your mom's still, your mom's still alive...your dad passed. God bless her soul."  And so on. But the fate of the republic will not rest on stuff like that. I remember him pausing thoughtfully during a Senate speech one day and then saying, "Of course, I have no idea what I'm talking about."  God bless his candor, I thought.
 
     But it's out there now and people will gossip about it.  Whatever decision the president finally makes--and he'll be the one who makes it--will probably depend less on Biden's merits or Clinton's but more, sadly, on the polls.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

August 11, 2010

         Poet T.S. Eliot famously wrote, "April is the cruelest month/  Breeding lilacs out of the dead grass...."  I'm not sure I ever quite understood that--breeding lilacs out of dead grass would be pretty cool if you knew how to do it.  And I've always liked April--flowers and spring and all that.  Anyway, Mr. Eliot is way wrong this year.  August is the cruelest month.  Or maybe July.  We're all melting here.      The Weather Bureau says that here in Washington we've had, so far, 47 days when the high temperature was over ninety degrees.  The average is 29 such days.  And summer isn't nearly over yet.  We have half of August to go and then most of September.  I remember the old "September Song:" "And the days gentle down...." No.  No gentling so far this year.  None.      There's a nice roof area in my apartment building--good place to relax, chat, have a burger or a beer.  Not this year, thank you.  Those pools on the roof may not be human sweat, but you can't be sure.  Anybody melted up there?  I won't go look.  I have a balcony too--last sat out on it in... was it April?      Washington always has hot summers, but I've lived here more than forty years now and this is the hottest one I can remember.      I know time passes.  I read that the the NFL will start playing exhibition games in a week or two--if players can stand it.  But for now this whole city can sob with the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, "I'm melting!!!!"   It's just true.
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Sunday, August 8, 2010

August 8, 2010

 
     President Obama says we are leaving Iraq--finally, finally.  I pray he will be able to do what he says.
 
     What he actually says, of course, is a little more complicated--that all US combat troops will leave by the end of this month--this month!  The 50,000 or so who will still be there will be charged with protecting US bases, property, etc., but not with going out and trying to shoot people.  If those who might want to shoot us hold off for a spell, the 50,000 may come home too.
 
     Why did we go there, all those years ago?  It's hard to remember.  Iraq was ruled by violent dictator, Saddam Hussein.  He invaded Kuwait at one point.  The first President Bush organized a coalition and drove him out of it.  Why not go further, that Bush was asked?  Because, he answered, it would destroy my coalition.  Right.
 
     But the second President Bush was more foolish than his father and went all the way.
He claimed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, but he didn't.  Some invoked the memory of 9/11 drawing a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam, but there wasn't one.  We invaded Iraq, Saddam fell and we've been stuck there since.
 
    Leaving is much harder than getting rid of Saddam.  It still may not work. The Iraqis had elections last March and they still haven't come up with a new government.  So will the place stay stable as we leave?  Who knows?  Will we stay longer if violence recurs?  I surely hope not.
 
     But only time will...well, you know how that one goes...

Friday, August 6, 2010

August 6, 2010

       The pols get stranger and stranger. So does their English.      There's Sharron Angle, the Republican Senate candidate in Nevada. We first noticed her when she lectured reporters saying they should ask only friendly questions and "report the news the way we want it to be reported."  That's a brand-new definition of a reporter's job.  I always thought it was to report what the candidates were saying and, when they disagreed, to try to sort out the truth.      She has also said, it turns out, that government entitlement programs are a violation of the 1st Commandment:  "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."  "These programs," she told an interviewer, "are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And...what's happening in this country is a violation of the 1st Commandment.  We have become a country entrenched in idolatry and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government.   We're supposed to depend on God for our provision and our daily bread, not...our government."       I get a Social Security check every month but I've never had any desire to go down the Social Security building and pray.  I refudiate Angle's position.  Refudiate?  That's a word Sarah Palin invented recently.  I think it means "disagree with" but I'm not a bit sure.      Palin's other recent breakthrough was to praise Arizona governor Jan Brewer by saying she "has the cojones that our president does not have..."  "Cojones" is the Spanish word for testicles.  If Brewer, or any other woman, has them, that's big medical news of course.  But is saying a woman has them a compliment or an insult?  Beats me.     But if you're Spanish-speaking, it's probably not a word you want your five year-old to use.
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Thursday, August 5, 2010

August 5, 2010

     This column, as regular readers know, is usually about politics.  But not today. This column is about courage and a dream.      This week a fourteen year old Dutch girl, Laura Dekker, set sail for Portugal, where she will begin her effort to become the youngest person ever to sail solo around the world.  Her father went with her to her departure point, he said, because "we want to make sure the boat is completely ready."  Well yes, I'll bet he does.  The boat, by the way, is named Guppy and is 26 feet long.  To begin the journey she needed a court order overturning a child protection ruling.  She got one.      "I am not really afraid," she told reporters.  What will she miss most?  Spot, her dog.     Do you remember the old prayer--the books say it started with Breton fishermen centuries ago:  "Oh God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small?"  Sure works for Laura Dekker.      So I wish you well, young Laura.  I hope the ocean gods are kind.  I hope the seas and the journey are calm.  I wish not just "Bon voyage,"  a good journey, but an excellent one.  And, please, come safely home.     
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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

August 4, 2010

      Dan Balz reported in the Washington Post this week that a Gallup poll puts public approval of the Congress at 11%--an all-time low.  Congress finishes last, he adds, in a list of public confidence in sixteen institutions--eight points lower than health maintenance organizations, 11 points lower than television news, 14 points lower than newspapers.  By 2-1, Balz says, Americans say they'd like to vote for a Congressional candidate who's never been to Congress.  Wow--that's a lot of negatives!     The funny thing is, I'm not quite sure why.  Sure, it's easy to make fun of Congress--always has been.  I did it sometimes when I covered the place.  And sure, if you remember some of the great people who served in Congress thirty or forty years ago--Barbara Jordan, Phil Hart, Everett Dirksen, John Sherman Cooper, Pat Moynihan--it's easy to argue that today's Congressmen look a bit smaller on their stage.      Earlier Congresses coped with great issues--the Depression, war and peace.  But these guys have had big issues today too--two wars and a major recession.  We do seem to be leaving Iraq--all combat troops out this month, I read, and it's starting to look as if we might even leave Afghanistan sometime in the next few years.  And the economy is getting better--slowly, but it is.  This Congress managed to pass the stimulus package, the health care bill, financial reform - all big, cumbersome and important.      So sure, we should keep making fun of them--I think it's good for them--but maybe, just every now and then, a tiny ripple of applause as well?
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