How It Feels Sometimes

First Family

September 1, 2009

Photo: Annie Leibovitz

Bill Safire

Bill Safire died last week.

Although we rarely agreed on politics, I always read him, because he was smart, principled and, more often than not, right.

Maureen Dowd remembers her friendship with Bill Safire as a colleague at The New York Times.

He will be missed.

Dynasty's End

Wow!

To paraphrase the New York Times, it's really great to watch the First Lady rock some fashion looks!

Don't miss the slideshow part of the article.

The Queen's iPod

According to a report in the New York Times, the Obamas presented Queen Elizabeth with an iPod at a reception at Buckingham Palace.

There will be a lot of discussion about this gift in the British tabloids, but I think it was a very thoughtful gift.

Now the Queen has a second iPod to use at the gym.

A Night Out For The President

"Like basketball? There was Mr. Obama sitting courtside recently alongside astonished fans at the Verizon Center as he cheered on the Chicago Bulls in a losing battle against the Washington Wizards." (New York Times)

I'm trying really hard here not to make a lame mother-in-law joke, so let me just say that it's really nice to see President Obama out and about in the world:

Sara Jane Olson

"The first time I encountered the word 'kleptomaniac,' I asked my mother what it meant.

"She said, 'That’s what they call it when a rich person steals something.'” (Caitlin Flanagan, in today's New York Times.)

For those of us who lived through the scattered debris of the 1960s, the story of a radical extremist from that time who managed to evade authorities for decades still has a lot of resonance, and the issues of punishment and redemption are quite complicated:

"We should review, very briefly: Sara Jane Olson, née Kathleen Soliah, was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the ’70s militant group most notorious for both kidnapping the newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and espousing a philosophy at one with the age: “Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people.”

"Ms. Soliah robbed a bank in Carmichael, Calif., during which a mother of four was murdered, and a young pregnant bank teller was kicked in the belly and later had a miscarriage. According to Ms. Hearst, who has proved to be a reliable informant on the actions of the S.L.A. (and who was driving the getaway car), it was Ms. Soliah who did the kicking. Furthermore, bullets found in the dead woman’s body and scattered on the floor of the bank matched a gun found in a dresser drawer in Ms. Soliah’s room in the S.L.A. safehouse. Ms. Soliah was also part of a plot to murder Los Angeles police officers by placing pipe bombs packed with nails under two squad cars.

"Ms. Soliah was indicted, but then fled to Zimbabwe. Eventually, she returned under her new alias and married a well-to-do and highly respected doctor in St. Paul, where she became a pillar of the community and a mom of three straight-arrow children, and where she confined her terrorist activities to dinner theater. (She became an amateur actress, with a specialty in — God help us all — Shakespeare.)"

I recommend reading Caitlin Flanagan's entire Op-Ed.

The New Fireside Chat

Franklin Roosevelt used radio, the prevailing medium of the day, to communicate directly with the American people and to reassure them during the dark days of the Great Depression.

President Obama, appearing on Jay Leno's show this week, is attempting to do the same kind of thing, using the prevailing medium of this day (if in fact there is only one).

Time will tell if this approach will be effective, but a whole lot more people were watching and responding to his engaging style than had it been a "Presidential Address."

"Town hall meetings and West Wing news conferences do not convey the notion that the president is one of us. Making jokes on a talk show and drawing simple analogies for complicated issues -- which he did with great skill as a candidate – were a way to reassure and befriend viewers. The White House tapped Mr. Leno because he is viewed as the voice of the average Joe. At times, Mr. Obama managed to out-everyman Mr. Leno. “I do think in Washington it’s a little bit like `American Idol," Mr. Obama said with a grin. “Except everybody is Simon Cowell.” (New York Times)

Chris Rock Should Host The Oscars Again!!

Chris Rock is a worthy heir to George Carlin. He is a cultural subversive at a time when we really need one.

He speaks truth to power, as at The Academy Awards broadcast in 2005:

"He lamented Hollywood’s offerings for black audiences, and the camera cut more than once during the night to a stoic looking Spike Lee. And in what was (for me at least) the highlight of this year’s Oscar presentation, Rock revealed the serious disconnect the Oscars have with audiences. He took the home viewers, as well as those in the Kodak Theatre, across town to the Magic Johnson Theatre where he interviewed movie-goers at the cineplex. None of them had seen The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, or Sideways but they’d all seen White Chicks."

And he can make politics understandable to fans of the NFL:

"It was such a bad pick, I thought Al Davis made it.''
-- Chris on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Radio, on John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

Check out "Kill the Messenger," Chris Rock’s latest HBO special if you can, to witness an artist at the peak of his comedic powers.

Another Look At The Inaugural Speech

I'm not a regular viewer of "The Daily Show," so thanks to my friend Donna for sending this video, and snapping me back to reality (wait a second or two for it to load).

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

1/21/09 - After The Ball Was Over

1/20/09

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

"Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations."

"Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake."

"And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."

"We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

(Click here for the full text of the Inaugural Address)

Smaller Than Life

"We like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella ["Nixon and Frost"].

"So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down.

"Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat.

"He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby.

"He is smaller than life."
--Frank Rich

Team Of Vipers: Bob Woodward On W

Some pretty interesting stuff in the Washington Post, from our best political journalist.

Here's a sample:

"Presidents set the tone. Don't be passive or tolerate virulent divisions."

"In the fall of 2002, Bush personally witnessed a startling face-off between National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the White House Situation Room after Rumsfeld had briefed the National Security Council on the Iraq war plan.

"Rice wanted to hold onto a copy of the Pentagon briefing slides, code-named Polo Step.

"You won't be needing that," Rumsfeld said, reaching across the table and snatching the Top Secret packet away from Rice -- in front of the president.

"I'll let you two work it out," Bush said, then turned and walked out. Rice had to send an aide to the Pentagon to get a bootlegged copy from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Bush should never have put up with Rumsfeld's power play. Instead of a team of rivals, Bush wound up with a team of back-stabbers with long-running, poisonous disagreements about foreign policy fundamentals."

Obama's Mother-in-Law To Move Into White House

Like he doesn't have enough stress already...


But she is younger than John McCain.

(From today's New York Times)

Obama's BlackBerry

From today's New York Times:

"Of all the fights facing Mr. Obama as he prepares for the White House, one of the most maddening for him is the prospect of losing the BlackBerry that has been attached to his belt for years.

"It is, he has vigorously argued, an essential link to keeping him apprised of events outside his ever-tightening cocoon."

I love my BlackBerry too, and would miss it. But I'm guessing that many people interpret this as missing the ability to read emails, or to text friends on-demand.

But those are not the primary reasons.

I would hate to lose access to my personal calendar and contacts, and to all of the instant connections I have to media, sports, and other things I'm interested in, through the various BB apps I've installed.

That's the stuff I'd really miss. And I think he will miss them, too.

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others...

...One of these things just isn't the same

Can you guess which one just doesn't belong here?

Now it's time to play our game

Time to play our game.

Your choices are (left to right, so to speak): 41, 44, 43, 42, and 39

Post your answer in Comments

(Brought to you by the letters "W," "T," and "F")

Maybe, You Know, She Wouldn't Be Too Bad After All...

There is something compelling about Maureen Dowd's advocacy of Caroline Kennedy in today's NYT:

"Ask not, you know, what your country can, like, do for you. Ask what you, um, can, you know, do for your country.

"After a lifetime of shying away from the public spotlight, Caroline Kennedy asked herself what she could do for her country.

"Her soft-spoken answer — to follow her father and two uncles and serve in the Senate — got her ripped to shreds in the, you know, press.

"I know about 'you knows.' I use that verbal crutch myself, a bad habit that develops from shyness and reticence about public speaking."

"People complain that the 51-year-old Harvard and Columbia Law School grad and author is not a glib, professional pol who knows how to artfully market herself, and is someone who hasn’t spent her life glad-handing, backstabbing and logrolling.

"I say, thank God."

Fly The Friendly Skies

A former TWA Flight Attendant reflects on the decline of airline service over the past two decades:

"I know the days are gone when [flight] attendants could be written up if we did not put the linen napkins with the T.W.A. logo embossed on them in the lower righthand corner of the first-class diners’ trays. As are the days when there were three dinner options on flights from Boston to Los Angeles — in coach. When, once, stuck on a tarmac in Newark for four hours, a planeload of passengers got McDonald’s hamburgers and fries courtesy of the airline.

"I have experienced the decline of service along with the rest of the flying public. But I believe I have felt it more acutely because I remember the days when to fly was to soar. The airlines, and their employees, took pride in how their passengers were treated. A friend who flew for Pan Am and I have a friendly rivalry over which airline was better. Friendly, yes. But we each believe we worked for the best.

"We tell stories about cooking lamb chops and dressing them in foil pantaloons; we debate the beauty of my Ralph Lauren uniform versus her Oleg Cassini. I like to tell her how we would have the children on board serve the after-dinner mints — delicious pale-green circles with T.W.A. stamped on them, arranged on a silver tray. We remember the service we provided — dare I say cheerfully? Happily? Proudly? And when my friend and I part ways, although we hold on to our allegiances, we know that all of our passengers were served well."

I am an infrequent flyer today, but old enough to remember those glory days of air travel -- particularly international travel -- which I did a lot of for business.

We just returned from a great vacation, marred only by the serial hassles of airlines and airports. The personal memories evoked in this article are warm, but so very distant. And, I'm afraid, never to return.

Bon Voyage!