Reviews

Barack Obama Warns Us

9/7/2018

Barack Obama Gave a Speech on Television.
I had tears in my eyes.

I was sad for what we have surely lost – an intelligent, verbal president who speaks of values.

When the former president mentioned Michelle Obama and their daughters, I felt empty, as if thinking of good neighbors who have moved away.

He delivered a civics lesson at the University of Illinois, urging young people to vote -- clearly political but so rational and timely that it rose above partisanship, to become a warning:

Where have we gone? What have we done to ourselves?

He cited the white-power people who stomped in psychic jackboots through Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, in plain daylight, not even bothering with hoods. He evoked the man who is still president as of this writing, who claimed there were good people on both sides.

Barack Obama asked, plaintively:

“How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad?”

My wife said that should be a bumper sticker.

A president who can write and read and speak his native language. Imagine.

On Friday in Illinois, he was at his best in the national and global bear pit -- Laurence Olivier performing Shakespeare’s speech for Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar:” “So are they all, all honorable men.”

The previous president spoke against stereotyping people, saying he knew plenty of whites who care about blacks being treated unfairly, saying he knew plenty of black people who care deeply about rural whites. Then he added:

“I know there are evangelicals who are deeply committed to doing something about climate change. I’ve seen them do the work. I know there are conservatives who think there’s nothing compassionate about separating immigrant children from their mothers. I know there are Republicans who believe government should only perform a few minimal functions but that one of those functions should be making sure nearly 3,000 Americans don’t die in a hurricane and its aftermath.”

Like Shakespeare, he was making a bigger point: there is a malaise loose in the land. At one point he said Donald Trump is “a symptom” and not “the cause.”

In other words, Trump is an illness that has been coming on for years.

I nodded grimly, in my den, thinking of the McConnells and Ryans, who have sat by maliciously, allowing a Shakespearean character, the worst of the buffoons, the worst of the tyrants, to tear things apart.
Was I imagining, the other day, that these politicians were squirming in their seats in the cathedral, along with their fidgety wives, listening to the orations for John McCain, wondering if anybody would ever confuse them with patriots?

On Friday, Barack Obama gave notice to the young people of many shades and facial characteristics in his audience: you are the largest population bulge in this country, but in 2016, only one in five of you voted.

“One in five,” the playwright emoted, enunciating his own words. “Not two in five or three. One in five. Is it any wonder this Congress doesn’t reflect your values and your priorities? Are you surprised by that? This whole project of self-government only works if everybody’s doing their part.”

The television showed the college students nodding, or averting their eyes. Will they remember this warning at mid-term elections in early November? So many distractions these days. So easy to get lost, twiddling thumbs in the social media.

Shakespeare was borrowing stories from earlier centuries but Barack Obama has been active in public life. On Friday he returned to the stage to deliver artful words, dramatically delivered, surely from the heart.

How many reminders, how many chances, do we get?
***
The transcript of Barack Obama’s speech (really worth reading):

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/7/17832024/obama-speech-trump-illinois-transcript

Altenir Silva

9/8/2018 08:41:38 am

Dear George,
Thanks for this post and link. Mr. Obama is a man with a deep view of America. Mr. Obama has a historical understanding incredible about the current political context. Just a Democracy like that could change the pathways anytime with peace and freedom. Better will be always good.
Best. Altenir

Brian Savin

9/8/2018 12:17:41 pm

George, the President who brought you to tears never existed, and that is the proper reason for tears. He never was as promised.

This man started his well-managed career as a young Sidley and Austin Chicago lawyer, a political activist in one of the most politically active law firms in our country on behalf of its financial and corporate clients, including assisting the formation of and representing the kind of large and super large political action committees that many believe have destroyed our politics along with important societal institutions and behavioral norms, starting with civil discourse.

https://www.sidley.com/en/us/services/government-strategies/

He was taken under the wing of that firm’s seemingly immortal Democratic partisan and a still-leading partner, an old man with the odd name of Newt Minow, and the young associate was never far from those roots. (That oddly named man received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama before he left office, a ceremony I watched, on national TV no less, with tears in MY eyes.)

He became an Illinois state Senator in an ultra safe district, running unopposed for the nomination. He tried a run for Congress in another safe district but badly lost in his first truly competitive race. The returning State senator was given burnishing responsibilities/credentials by the State Democratic party establishment in Illinois.

As a state senator, but declared candidate for U.S. Senate, he came upon the highly unusual distinction of being given a keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was a highly, professionally polished speech that was given immediate rave reviews by the usual suspects. Mr. Axelrod had become his political “advisor” a couple of years before.

The half term Senator was just getting his feet wet when the Financial Crisis of 2008 hit and a form of “duty” called him again when it looked like Hilary might falter and the possibility of John McCain as President became somewhat possible. There was hell for a lot of people to pay if that happened.

So how was that Financial Crisis handled by now President Obama? Not well, says Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz the other day:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/06/why-all-economists-must-learn-lessons-before-next-us-downturn-secular-stagnation

We should have known. By the way, our irritating to some current President figured it out. Good for him.

bruce

9/8/2018 11:25:41 pm

brian,

good to see you've come out of hiding to add your always interesting take(s) on the wonderful man who slithered his way into the white house.

and, incidentally, i didn't know you did understatement, but you did it well

......By the way, OUR IRRITATING TO SOME, current President figured it out.....

'some'!?

that's a knee slapper.

well done.

and, as always, i say the above with love and respect.

i should add that i'm watching 'houseboat' with cary grant and sophia loren.

i've been told grant learned about style, class and how to dress from donald trump.

except for, as you can guess, the tie that goes down to mid thigh.

that was trump's improvisation.

bruce

Roy Edelsack

9/8/2018 04:01:36 pm

Brian, I don't think the Stiglitz article means what you think it means:

"Here are the essentials: we would have had a stronger recovery if we had had a bigger and better-designed stimulus. We would have had stronger aggregate demand if we had done more to address inequality and if we had not pursued policies that increased it. And we would have had a more stable financial sector if we had regulated it better.

These are the lessons that we should keep in mind as we prepare for the next economic downturn."

President Obama wanted a much larger stimulus but was thwarted by Congressional Republicans. Hardly an indictment of his handling of the issue. As wages stagnate, regulations are stripped away, and income inequality rises, I am at a loss to understand what the current occupant of the oval office has, "figured out."

Brian Savin

9/10/2018 08:35:25 am

Roy, you're wrong. Stiglitz is zeroing in on the destructive work of Larry Summers both in deregulating derivatives when he was with Clinton, blocking Brooksie's Born's desperate attempt to curb them at the CFTC for public interest through destructive legislation, and his lead work in repealing the important banking system protections of Glass-Steagall. The Obama Tarp stimulus, when Summers was returned to government office as a "present" to the new President,, was more than two small, it was misdirected more like a handout to established corporate interests close to what I and others regard as a cabal. By the way, Stiglitz mentions his work with Bruce Greenwald. Bruce and I worked very, very closely together years ago. I know Bruce's economics. I know Stiglitz's economics, too, though only met him once.

George, it is time for "men of letters" who can help people, to come to their senses and take the time to learn what has transpired and talk about it. President Trump is not only being maligned improperly, in an orchestrated fashion, but it must be understood that he is a necessary antidote to 20 years of corrupt federal government mismanagement on behalf of special interests. It turns out, he's smarter by a full standard deviation than Bernie. The right man won in 2016. Thank God.

bruce

9/10/2018 09:49:46 am

brian,

maligned improperly?

really?

bruce

Roy Edelsack

9/10/2018 01:51:37 pm

Brian: I have directly quoted Stiglitz. The short version: he prescribes government intervention, regulation, and an awareness of the harmful effects of income inequality if/when we face another economic crisis.Those are his words. We don't have to imagine to what he is referring. He's quite specific. And as the current leadership in Washington, DC is heeding none of his advice, I see Stiglitz as a warning to the present administration, not an indictment of its predecessor.

President Trump is being properly maligned.

Brian Savin

9/12/2018 09:33:41 am

Roy, to your last reply, below: You have misinterpreted what Stiglitz is saying. I gave you the context that concerns him so you can comprehend what you read correctly. He's made his points clear in other writings. He has also said some negative things about President Trump, too, given his perspective from his World Bank days, which he believes in.

Roy Edelsack

9/12/2018 10:24:06 am

Brian: You provided a reference that did not support your argument, then said it is supported "in other writings." This is as far down that rabbit hole as I choose to go.

All the best.

-Roy E.-

bruce

9/10/2018 02:11:15 pm

roy,

I hadn't noticed your name before so i'm not sure you've posted on George's blog.

if you haven't, you just been introduced to the blog's brick wall when it comes to your president.

I quoted trade figures from the American guvmint's site which keeps track of U.S. trade with other countries.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/canada

i was accused of using propaganda because it showed a trade surplus with Canada of billions of dollars.

and when you consider how much trade is done between the two countries, that amount is a tiny %.

trump chooses to ignore services when he gives his 'facts'.

seems he's not alone.

bruce

Gene Palumbo

9/10/2018 08:20:51 pm

Brian and Roy, thanks for your replies. Brian, looks like the ball is back in your court. What's your response to Roy's latest?

Alan Rubin link

9/8/2018 06:30:19 pm

George—you and Roy are correct in that decency, compassion and intellect evidenced during the Obama years is definitely not part of our current president’s DNA.

Every president, including those who are usually rated as the top 5 or 10, have had their flaws, weaknesses and mistakes. A valid yardstick would be “what was their intent” and “how did they treat those in need?”

Today’s extreme partisanship began in the 1970’s and has led to our current dysfunctional government.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/12/polarized-politics-in-congress-began-in-the-1970s-and-has-been-getting-worse-ever-since/

Long gone are the days of compromise, meaningful dialog and friendships between members of both parties.

President Bush the younger and his neocons lied to us about Sodom Hussain’s weapons of mass destruction.

Senator Mitch McConnell stated when President Obama was elected that his goal was to make him a one term president, which was at a time when America was in a financial free-fall.

In 2006 as senate majority leader, McConnell said :”One of my proudest moments was when I told Obama that he would not fill this Supreme Court vacancy”.

This is the same senate majority leader who helped the Republican Judicial Committee members suppress telling documents about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which included evidence that he was not truthful during his confirmation hearing twelve years ago for the U. S. Court of Appeals for DC.

All the traditional senate courtesies were ignored in the rush to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. I have always found that when someone was trying to rush me, it was best to slow things down.

When did a congressman’s oath to serve their country loose it's meaning?

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom I respect, may have a say in the fate of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Both have indicated support for a women’s right to control her own body and would not vote for someone who would overturn Roe vs Wade. Since there are documents where he had stated that Roe vs Wade was not settled law, they would be hypocrites if they voted for him.

The citizens of our country, whether they realize it or not, deserve better.

Let Judge Kavanaugh stay where he is and continue to coach girl’s basketball.

bruce

9/8/2018 11:35:43 pm

george,

i didn't get teary, but enjoyed his speech.

it only made it seem like a decade since obama was potus.

who knew a potus could speak in coherent, well thought out sentences?

not bad for a guy who went to a second rate university, unlike trump who went to wharton and got a degree that wasn't a MBA tho he seems to like to infer he did.

i assume your fellow queensian is checking to see if his predecessor can be charged with treason for daring to criticize a sitting potus.

nah. too much work to check it out, he'll just demand sessions do it.

bruce

Gene Palumbo

9/9/2018 08:19:06 pm

Hi, Brian,
Could you please respond to Roy Edelsack's comment?
Thank you.

bruce

9/9/2018 08:22:11 pm

gene,

lotsa luck.

bruce

Gene Palumbo

9/9/2018 08:39:22 pm

Alan Rubin wrote, "Long gone are the days of compromise, meaningful dialog and friendships between members of both parties." That brought to mind a very fine article I think you'd all like to see. Here are a few excerpts:

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/nov/01/foley-memorial-decency/
Washington: When Decency Prevailed
Elizabeth Drew
Nov. 1, 2013

On the inside of the cover of the program for the memorial for Tom Foley, the former House Speaker who died on October 18, is a quote in which he had said:

"In a cynical age, I still believe that we must summon people to a vision of public service….for, in the end, this ethic determines more than anything else whether we will have citizens and leaders of honor, judgment, wisdom, and heart."

An amazing assemblage gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to pay tribute to this unusual political figure. . . About five hundred people not only filled all the seats placed in Statuary Hall for the event, but stood three deep along its walls. They were there mainly because of what Foley had stood for. . .

The people who came knew that the quote in the program represented Foley’s essence. It was only one demonstration of the fact that he understood that our democracy wasn’t to be taken for granted, that good people needed to work to keep it. While he didn’t take himself too seriously—he was a nice guy who didn’t make people feel that they were in an August Presence—he took politics very seriously, saw it as a most honorable course, and he treated his colleagues with respect and an uncommon fairness. Virtually every speaker that day recognized this.

Those present also knew that Foley stood as an emblem of a time that now seemed very long past and was perhaps unrecoverable. The fractiousness that had been developing almost from the day he stepped down as Speaker, having been defeated for reelection in the Republican sweep of 1994, reached its apogee at the hands of some of the very people sitting there paying tribute to him.

The event brought out the surprising best in certain figures. In his opening comments Boehner was gracious and warm; McConnell, too, showed warmth, humor, and respect for Foley, though they didn’t agree on many things. One had no sense that these were canned, politically expedient comments, memorial potboilers drawn up by staff. Something about Tom Foley broke through the conventions. I remarked to a friend later that this was a memorial during which nobody had to lie.

George Vecsey

9/10/2018 04:15:03 pm

Gene,, thanks for posting that. Elizabeth Drew: old-school reporter
It was a different time.
I got a call 8-9 years or so ago at the NYT from a retired senator, on a sports matter. I called him back, gave him my answer. I knew of him -- moderate Democrat, could have been a Republican, purple state type. I asked him if he had a few minutes and I asked if he had ever seen a time like that, with McConnell and Boehner and Cantor working openly to oppose everything the Obama admin. was doing. He said, very cautiously, no, it was nothing like his time, when people didn't try to make the other side fail, on every issue. Reagan-O'Neill, Johnson-Dirksen, stuff from earlier decades. Foley also cited from past age, may never return. best. GV

George Vecsey

9/10/2018 04:17:33 pm

I must add, having lived and worked as a news reporter in that area, I do think race is a major factor with McConnell and Boehner, from opposite banks of the Ohio., They could not abide a smart, verbal, educated, attractive president who was black. Racism never goes away. That's my take. GV

bruce

9/10/2018 04:30:13 pm

george,

I find mcconnell to be a nasty, nasty man.

who knew (a black democrat's) second term was only 3y1m or so long.

i'd always believed it was four years.

and his vow to make Obama a one term potus certainly showed a man willing to work with the opposition.

as for Boehner....didn't like him much either, but he didn't seem as dickish--pardon my Japanese--and seems to discovered some honesty in retirement.

bruce

bruce

9/9/2018 08:48:16 pm

gene,

those days are long gone.

it'll be interesting to see how much long lasting harm the monster in chief has inflicted on your country--and maybe the planet.

I wouldn't be surprised if he loses his majority in the mid terms he'll launch some sort of committee to investigate.

and I am very curious what will happen if the electorate comes to its senses in 2020 and votes him out.

I think he'll refuse to leave office.

bruce

Randolph Fiery

9/11/2018 07:34:39 am

George,
Thank you for the nice piece on President Obama. He is a class act and it is good to Keep that in mind at the dimming of the day.
Take care,
Randy

George Vecsey

9/12/2018 08:27:33 am

Randy, thank you for the comment. Nice to hear from you, and from that part of the world I consider another home. Please be safe when Florence goes inland. GV

Alan Rubin link

9/11/2018 05:19:21 pm

Gene—I remember the Tom Foley era as well as many others. I started following politics during the 1948 upset defeat of Tom Dewey and have remained fascinated with politics, both the good and bad, ever since.

Following your lead, I posted a brief comment along with an accompanying link.

"Journalists have called the U.S. Senate an empty chamber; politicians have lamented that the institution is broken—yet the Senate was once capable of greatness. Senators of the 1960s and '70s overcame southern opposition to civil rights, passed Great Society legislation, and battled the executive branch on Vietnam, Watergate, and its abuses of power. The right's sweep of the 1980 elections shattered that Senate, leaving a diminished institution in its wake."

Ira Shapiro spent 12 years working for Senators Gaylord Nelson, Abraham Ribicoff, Thomas Eagleton, Robert Byrd, and Jay Rockefeller. The Last Great Senate is his vivid portrait of the statesmen who helped steer America during the crisis years of the late 1970's, transcending partisanship and overcoming procedural roadblocks that have all but strangled the Senate since their departure.

The Last Great Senate is necessary reading for all those who wonder how the Senate used to work and what happened to the world's greatest deliberative body.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-last-great-senate-courage-and-statesmanship-in-times-of-crisis-by-ira-shapiro/2012/04/20/gIQA27iQWT_story.html?

Gene Palumbo

9/12/2018 01:35:18 am

Thanks for posting this, Alan. When I went to check it out on Amazon, I saw that he also has a later book, published this year: "Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country." From one of the reviews: [T]he Senate is unlikely to live up to its potential as a deliberative body anytime soon. But in Broken, Ira Shapiro makes a compelling and persuasive case that we should never stop demanding that it does. (Washington Monthly)

Randolph Fiery

9/12/2018 09:41:11 am

Alan, George and others,
Based on your post, I have started reading the Last Great Senate.
It made me think of a story you might enjoy.
Back in 1960 I was a small boy living in the coal fields of West Virginia. My parents and grandparents were from Mingo County, West Virginia, a.k.a. Bloody Mingo, The heart of the United mine workers coal wars of the 1920s and 30s.
My grandfather had developed Parkinson’s disease and dementia. My father tried to have him placed at the veterans administration hospital in Beckley, West Virginia, which was about 45 miles from where we lived. The veterans administration said there were no openings, but he could be placed in the western panhandle of West Virginia. At that time, in 1960, that was about a 9 Hour Car drive from our home.
Anyway, my dad and my uncle had been pretty famous high school athletes back in the late 1930s\1940s. My uncle, happened to run into his old high school coach, who he hadn’t seen in over 20 years. Of course, the coach ask about my grandfather, who he thought was a fine man. My uncle told Coach Hamilton about my grandfather’s illness and the veterans administration hospital. His old coach said he was sorry to hear about Mr. Fiery’s illness.

About three weeks after the conversation in the street, an ambulance from the veterans administration hospital showed up at our house in rural West Virginia. My family did not know what was going on. But the hospital driver and assistant said they had been ordered to transport my grandfather to the veterans administration in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. My family was surprised and didn’t know how this it happened. But my father, Grandmother and mother followed the ambulance to the hospital. They admitted my grandfather to the hospital. But before they left the director of the hospital approached my father and said “ Mr. Fiery I am not sure who you know, but during the last three hours I have received phone calls from the governor of West Virginia, several congressman and two State senators. They told me your grandfather needed a bed.

My family didn’t understand. It was only about six months later when my uncle once again ran into Coach Hamilton. The coach asked if my grandfather had gotten into the hospital in Beckley. My uncle told him yes, but he didn’t know how that happened. He said that Coach Hamilton laughed and said, Robert Byrd owed me a favor. He is a man who always honors his debts.

Alan Rubin link

9/12/2018 10:03:07 am

Randolph-Your heartwarming story is another example of how people of power often perform good deeds anonymously.

In today's environment of gaining at the expense of others,doing the right thing more often than not goes unnoticed. Maybe this is as it should be as so many truly good deeds are done anonymously.

The satisfaction is in the doing, not the recognition.

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Barack Obama Warns Us

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