I'm Going to Miss a President Who Can Do Al Green

4/25/2016

What’s the word for early nostalgia?

Every time I read the paper or turn on the tube, I am reminded just how much I am going to miss Barack Obama.

Separation anxiety sets in.

I see him comporting himself with dignity and wisdom, in Europe at the moment or wherever he goes - the thoughtful pauses, the complicated sentences, the deference to fact and reality.

Every time the U.S. locates a nest of crazies in the Middle East, or the jobless rate stays down or the stock market moves up, I say, “Yeah, he’s not doing anything.”

Real pundits have been saying the same thing recently. Brooks. Alter.
And I just discovered a wonderful piece by Jim Nelson in GQ. I like every word.

Pretty soon, even Mitch McConnell and that posse (Mitch and the Dull Normals) that stands behind him are going to miss Barack Obama, even though they have spent the last seven years resenting that a President of mixed heritage is the smartest man in the room.

Après lui, le déluge.

The other day I heard Trump making fun of John Kasich’s last name. Get this: a family that claimed it was Swedish, not German, making fun of a Croatian name, in front of angry whites who think they’ve gotten a bad deal. He's mocking them, and they don't get it.

Now I hear Cruz and Kasich are working in cahoots to divide the remaining states. Those two mugs couldn’t figure out how to split the check after lunch.

Recently I had the pleasure of voting for Bernie Sanders in the New York primary.
The other day our grandson sat up close to Sanders at a rally in Pennsylvania and sent a photo and terse note:

“Yeah, it was a little cookie cutter, but it was still really cool to see him.”

He’s voting for the first time this fall. It’s been wonderful to see young people drawn to a political race. I hope they stick around for November, when I will do my duty and vote for Hillary Clinton. For whom else?

I turned on the tube Sunday night and MSNBC was dredging up a canned Clinton retrospect. Yikes. For the next half year we are going to be hearing names like Linda Tripp and Paula Jones and Whitewater, emerging from the swamp, historical zombies.

Meantime, my wife gets Elizabeth Warren newsletters, explaining the economy, the state of the union. Sometimes we fantasize about Warren running for President, this time, right now.

John Nichols put it perfectly in The Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/article/the-most-focused-and-effective-democratic-messenger-we-have-is-elizabeth-warren/

I doubt Sen. Warren can do Al Green. The Prez did him at the Apollo -- even made a reference to Sandman Sims, the legendary comic who gave the hook to bad acts.

Where is the Sandman when we really need him?

Brian Savin

4/27/2016 09:05:30 pm

I'm just catching up and saw you disclosed your vote, George. That old, grumpy, oft-angry, miserable Socialist, Brooklyn-bred Grandfather, I believe, is the closest thing to a secular Messiah I have seen in my lifetime. I wish I could have voted for him but, alas, I have cast my lot as the last of the Good Government Republicans of a by-gone and perhaps yet future era. Good for you! And you married well, too!

George Vecsey

4/28/2016 09:57:51 am

Brian, I remember those Republicans. Met/covered some. Howard Baker. John Sherman Cooper. Tom Davis. Certainly Richard Thornburgh. Plus Javits. Rockefeller from NYS.
Thanks... you and I both married well.
GV

John McDermott

5/1/2016 08:58:15 am

I would add Senators Charles Percy of Illinois and Warren Rudman of New Hampshire. I remember being fascinated by Rudman during the Iran-Contra hearings and thinking "this is a man of real integrity, he's going to do what's right no matter what the consequences might be for his party. Finally, a Republican I thought I could actually vote for under the right circumstances".

Alan Rubin link

4/28/2016 10:50:57 pm

George—your insightful post evokes much more than early nostalgia.

The end of Obama’s presidential leadership is a case of “we will not know what we have lost until after he is gone”. Some will feel the loss almost immediately, others over time and the “un-loyal self-indulged opposition” may not even be aware of a difference.

Brian brought back memories of when the Republican Party had excellent legislators at both the state and federal level. I hope that they still exist today and are ready to try to salvage some respectability and relevance.

Today, the monthly history study group that I’m in discussed “The Siege of Washington: The Untold Story of the Twelve Days That Shook the Union” by John Lockwood and Charles Lockwood. It was an book about the days after Fort Sumter was attacked and the residents of Washington, DC were in fear of capture by the South.

Since was a book about the potential of an event with interesting information, it essentially covered a non-event. The topic presenter made the discussing interesting by reviewing the history of our country from events prior to our founding and up to the Civil War.

At the risk of over simplification, I view things, including the present, as a struggle between Federalism and state’s rights. John Adams predicted after the constitution was ratified that the slavery issue would only be resolved by Civil War. He was correct about the war, but not the resolution of differences.

The cast of characters in this election cycle have been analyzed to a numbing degree, so I won’t get into that.

Elizabeth Warren is a true political gem in that she does not look or sound like your typical politician. She has tremendous appeal for a national Democratic ticket, but her voice as a state senator is the most effective role for now.

I met her when she first was considering a run for Massachusetts state senator. She made of tour of twelve key area of the state to introduce herself and get a sense of whether or not to run.

A thunderstorm came up just as she was to address democratic voters in Pittsfield, MA. About 200 activists jammed into two large adjoining rooms in an old New England home that had been converted into law offices. When the pushing and shoving was over, I was standing right in front of her.

In addition to her brilliance and grasp of the issues, I was struck by how genuinely humble she was. She did not look or sound like a politician. It was very clear that she would hold the feet of the “usual political and financial suspects” to the fire.

Today, there is precious little of her courage to stand up for what is right and to expose inequity in our society.

The overwhelming sentiment is my neck of the woods, the Berkshires, is that she is too valuable senator to lose.

I’m pleased that you quoted John Nichols. He is another consistent voice of reason. He is Madison, WI based and a good friend of my daughter Jen.

Our families must have the same genes. Jen’s son, a high school senior, cast his first ever vote for Bernie Sanders.

It appears that the major change in the politics of our country is that compromise has become a dirty word and a sign of weakness.

There were the same hot button issues in Philadelphia during the constitutional convention in the hot summer of 1787 as there are today. However, we would not have become a country without many hard fought compromises.

Sometimes things need to become so bad that positive change is the most attractive option.

I’m looking forward to President Obama’s next act.

Roy Edelsack

4/29/2016 08:32:17 am

Alan, you wonder about President Obama's "next act." I'm old enough to remember my dad speculating about what JFK would do post-presidency. Supreme Court Justice? Secretary General of the U.N? Or my dad's personal fantasy, buy the Dodgers and move them back to Brooklyn.

Is it a good day for "Damn Yankees" quotes? It's always a good day for "Damn Yankees" quotes. Lately I find myself singing, "A man doesn't know what he's got until he loses it."

George Vecsey

5/1/2016 05:40:41 pm

Thanks to everybody. We were watching Obama on Saturday night. I know a lot of writers and producers go into his talk, but he delivered, and would not do those shticks if he didn't like them.
I can't wait for the good lines from Mrs. C or Mr. T over the next four years. Or, I'll fire up the iPod. GV

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QUOTES
“I don’t think people understand how Covid affects older Americans,” Mr. Caretti said with frustration. “In 2020, there was this all-in-this-together vibe, and it’s been annihilated. People just need to care about other people, man. That’s my soapbox.”
---Vic Caretti, 47, whose father recently died of Covid at 85.
---From an article by Paula Span, who covers old age for the NYT, which currently has 2646 comments, the majority criticizing the American public – and public officials – for acting as if the pandemic is “over.”
Classic wishful thinking, at a lethal level.
Please see:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/health/covid-pandemic-seniors.html

I'm Going to Miss a President Who Can Do Al Green

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