Palin Needs to Bail

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker calls for Sarah Palin to bow out after her disastrous interview with CBS's Katie Couric. Fareed Zakaria makes a similar argument:

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.

Paul Newman 1925-2008

Paul Newman, 83, is dead. I will forever remember him for his unwavering commitment to his craft and for his integrity as an actor and, more importantly, as a human being.

McCain Gets Desperate

Sen. John McCain's decision to suspend his campaign and call to postpone Friday's night debate with Barack Obama to participate in the bail-out negotiations in Washington strikes me as little more than acts of a candidate desperately trying to redirect the discussion. And Obama is correct in calling for the debate to proceed as scheduled; after all, the whole idea supposedly behind the debates is to provide a forum for the candidates to articulate their positions on the issues, which includes the current financial crisis.

Leadership Question

The reaction of Barack Obama and John McCain to the Bush Administration's move to bailout a financial system in crisis is instructive and telling on the question of leadership. Obama's message both in substance and tone was measured and thoughtful; McCain's, pointedly partisan and risibly absurd in blaming Obama for profiting from the crisis.

A McCain Endorsement

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a high profile supporter of Hillary Clinton and member of the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee, will endorse Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain today. Rothschild's endorsement of McCain apparently stems from her intense dislike of Barack Obama. “This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him. I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.” The proletarian Forester, who is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, is chief executive officer for El Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She splits time between her homes in London and New York.

Palin's Inexperience

Criticism of Gov. Sarah Palin's readiness for the vice presidency comes from an unlikely source - New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks who writes:

Experienced leaders can certainly blunder if their minds have rigidified (see: Rumsfeld, Donald), but the records of leaders without long experience and prudence is not good. As George Will pointed out, the founders used the word “experience” 91 times in the Federalist Papers. Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared.

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.

Palin and Hannity

Next on the Sarah Palin interview tour, Fox News's Sean Hannity who has said of Palin: "She is a rock star, a rising star, a governor with more experience than Barack Obama ever dreamed of having." Unlike, ABC's Charlie Gibson, Palin will be interviewed by someone equally lacking in gravitas.

Palin Out of Water

The much awaited interview by ABC's Charles Gibson of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was decidedly underwhelming. If there was any serious question about her readiness for the position, Gov. Palin erased all doubt. Her responses to Gibson's questions, particularly the segment on foreign policy and national security, demonstrated that she is clearly out of her element. Little wonder then, why the McCain campaign kept under wraps before finally granting the Gibson interview. Without a doubt, Palin has established her proficiency in two areas: (1) the ability to deliver a speech crafted by someone else; and (2) the ability to regurgitate talking points written by others in anticipation of certain questions.

Jimmy Slyde

There is an interesting piece in the Fall 2008 The Threepenny Review by Brian Seibert on the legendary tap dancer and aptly named Jimmy Slyde.

Except for Peg Leg Bates and Sandman Sims, the great tap dancer with the most illustrative name was Jimmy Slyde. Printed on a program or spoken by an announcer, the name told audiences what to expect: a man named Jimmy, not James or Jim, was going to slide around the stage, and as the unorthodox spelling hinted, he was going to do it without losing his cool. He was born James Titus Godbolt in 1927, but it was as Jimmy Slyde that he began a professional career that lasted from the mid-Forties up until his death this past May, and it is as Jimmy Slyde that he will be remembered.

Hijacking 9/11

Bravo to Keith Olbermann for having the courage to publicly state that the Republican Party hijacked 9/11, successfully turning it into a political commodity and exploiting it for political advantage.

Lipstick and Pigs

Barack Obama rightly calls the McCain campaign's response to his "lipstick on a pig" comment exactly what it is: "phony outrage." A point that is underscored by footage of Sen. McCain dismissing Sen. Hillary Clinton's health care proposals on three separate occasions as "lipstick on a pig."

Palin's Forthcoming Interview

The McCain campaign has finally agreed to allow Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to be interviewed later this week by ABC's Charlie Gibson in Alaska. Let's face it: despite the hype, all Gov. Palin has demonstrated is the remarkable ability to read from a teleprompter a speech written by Matthew Scully. Even allowing for the cute little ad-lib about lipstick being the critical distinction between a pit bull and a hockey mom, voters really haven't heard from Sarah Barracuda in her own words.

McCain's Retreat

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, in the oped Running From Reality, examines John McCain's retreat from reality as he recasts himself as the maverick reformer and outsider, despite supporting the Bush Administration 90% of the time:

If there was one pre-eminent characteristic of the Republican convention this week, it was the quality of deception. Words completely lost their meaning. Reality was turned upside down.

From the faux populist gibberish mouthed by speaker after speaker, you would never have known that the Republicans have been in power over the past several years and used that titanic power to lead the country to its present sorry state.

In his acceptance speech on Thursday night, Senator John McCain did his best Sam Cooke imitation (“A Change is Gonna Come”) and vowed to put the country “back on the road to prosperity and peace.”

Mr. McCain spoke at the end of a day in which stock market indexes plunged. The next morning the Labor Department gave us the grim news that another 84,000 jobs had been lost in August, and that the official unemployment rate had climbed to 6.1 percent — the highest in five years.

Sloppy Thinking

A letter to the editor of the D.C. Examiner that apparently was deemed unworthy for publication.

Re: Melanie Scarborough's "Obama scorns founders' vision of freedom" Aug. 25.

Unencumbered by logic, or anything remotely resembling sound reasoning, Melanie Scarborough writes, "Obama largely rejects the principles of individual liberty on which this nation was founded. His thinking is more closely aligned with Karl Marx's than John Locke's." Scarborough supports this rather dubious proposition by quoting selectively from writings of Obama and Marx, and concluding that because of the similarities, Obama is a Marxist. This is a textbook example of the fallacy of faulty analogy. That is, Scarborough assumes that because Obama and Marx made similar observations about the need for collective action, it necessarily follows that Obama subscribes to Marx's philosophy in its entirety. Under that argument, John F. Kennedy was a Marxist when he started the Peace Corps. Scarborough's descent into intellectual muddiness is also evidenced by the following contradiction: "Obama doesn't quote Marx word-for-word--but it's close. Looks like Joe Biden isn't going to be the only plagiarist on the Democratic ticket." If Obama did not use Marx's precise wording, how can he be guilty of plagiarism?

The Trio

Watching Michael Eric Dyson, Tavis Smiley, and Cornell West dance to Frankie Beverly and Maze at the Democratic National Convention is an excruciatingly painful experience. They all seem to be responding to different tunes. But it succeeds in achieving one thing: It puts to rest the notion that all black folks have rhythm.

Palin's Speech

Pardon me but I just cannot go along with the conventional wisdom that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hit a home run, scored a touchdown, or whatever tired ass cliche that comes to mind in last night's speech. True, she solidified the base by attacking the elite Washington media and mocking Barack Obama but she didn't put to rest questions about her readiness to assume the presidency in the event of John McCain's incapacity or speak to the issues that Americans are concerned about - the housing crisis, a troubled economy, rising gas prices, health care, etc. As David McGrath points out, Palin's speech shed more light on its speechwriter Matthew Scully than candidate Sarah Palin:

Can voters this year be sure they learned something about the real Sarah Palin from her GOP vice presidential nomination acceptance speech last night, considering news that it was originally written by speechwriter Matthew Scully over a week ago for an unknown male nominee? The commissioned draft was subsequently customized by Palin and a team of McCain staffers in the 48 hours leading up to its presentation.

McCain's Lack of Respect

Sam Harris argues, quite correctly, that John McCain, by selecting the unqualified Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, demonstrates a lack of respect for the office of the presidency of the United States:

Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a man or woman with more power and responsibility than any person has held in human history, Americans say they want a regular guy, someone just like themselves. President Bush kept his edge on the "Who would you like to have a beer with?" poll question in 2004, and won reelection.

This is one of the many points at which narcissism becomes indistinguishable from masochism. Let me put it plainly: If you want someone just like you to be president of the United States, or even vice president, you deserve whatever dysfunctional society you get. You deserve to be poor, to see the environment despoiled, to watch your children receive a fourth-rate education and to suffer as this country wages -- and loses -- both necessary and unnecessary wars.


McCain has so little respect for the presidency of the United States that he is willing to put the girl next door (soon, too, to be a grandma) into office beside him. He has so little respect for the average American voter that he thinks this reckless and cynical ploy will work.

Missing in Action

Thanks to hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, yesterday President Bush was forced to forgo an opening night appearance at the Republican National Convention while he stayed in Washington to monitor the situation, something he manifestly failed to do three years ago for Katrina. So with poll numbers the lowest ever for an incumbent president, John McCain was probably grateful for Bush's absence, notwithstanding the flak generated by his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Tonight with the threat of Gustav diminished, Bush will be speak to the convention via satellite for about eight minutes and, clearly by design, before the networks begin televising the proceedings. In prepared remarks, Bush praises McCain as a worthy successor:

Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his presidential campaign at risk. He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. That is the kind of courage and vision we need in our next commander-in-chief.

When the debates have ended, and all the ads have run, and it is time to vote, Americans will look closely at the judgment, the experience, and the policies of the candidates — and they will cast their ballots for the McCain-Palin ticket.

Exception Warranted

In reaction to the revelation that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter, Bristol, is 5-months pregnant, Barack Obama says private matters concerning the candidates are off-limits and have no place in the campaign. On principle, it is hard to disagree with Obama but it seems to me that an exception is warranted when we are talking about a political party that has pretty fetishized traditional family values and Christian principles, especially during the campaign season.

A Meditation on Charles Mingus and Marcus Aurelius

Clifford Thompsom, editor of Current Biography magazine, has an interesting essay in the Fall 2008 Threepenny Review entitled Mingus, Marcus, and Us, where he makes the unlikely connection between bassist and composer Charles Mingus and the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius; or more precisely, the former's compostion Meditations on Integration and the latter's philosophical work Meditations. Thompson, in part, writes:

I find no evidence that Mingus had Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 121–180) in mind when he composed "Meditations," which shares its title with the classic text by that Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. In my own mind, though, there is a connection. Marcus was one who believed that there is an order to the universe, established by a good higher power, which he referred to variously as "Nature," "the gods," or even "Zeus." His philosophy, however, seems grounded at least as much in an assumption of hardship as in a belief in the goodness of Nature. (Marcus, who wrote his great work while at war with the barbarians, knew a thing or two about hardship.) For him, Nature and hardship were not conflicting things, or even different things. Just as a medical consultant "has prescribed horseback exercises, or cold baths, or going barefoot...so in the same way does the World-Nature prescribe disease, mutilation, loss, or some other disability," he wrote. How should one deal with hardship, whose forces have one outgunned? Largely through attitude: "Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune,' but 'To bear this worthily is a good fortune.'" For, in Marcus's view, what is important is not pleasure but how we conduct ourselves, how successful we are at bringing forth the best that is in us, in times of happiness or its opposite—especially its opposite. "Either the world is a mere hotch-potch of random cohesions and dispersions, or else it is a unity of order and providence," he wrote. "If the former, why wish to survive in such a purposeless and chaotic confusion; why care about anything, save the manner of the ultimate return to dust; why trouble my head at all; since, do what I will, dispersion must overtake me sooner or later? But if the contrary be true, then I do reverence, I stand firmly, and I put my trust in the directing Power." Here, some of us would disagree with Marcus, feeling that our conduct should not depend on an order to the universe or its lack. We just might, though, see wisdom in what he writes in another passage: "Be master of yourself, and view life as a man, as a human being, as a citizen, and as a mortal. Among the truths you will do well to contemplate most frequently are these two: first, that things can never touch the soul, but stand inert outside it, so that disquiet can arise only from fancies within; and secondly, that all visible objects change in a moment, and will be no more. Think of the countless changes in which you yourself have had a part. The whole universe is change, and life itself is but what you deem it."

Marcus also wrote that "oneness of feeling exists between all parts of nature, in spite of their divergence and dispersion"—not a bad description of Mingus's compositions. In the beginning of Mingus's "Meditations," the horns and bowed bass intersperse an ethereal melody with a repeated three-note phrase, the near-formlessness of the one bringing to mind primordial mist, the hardness, relentlessness, and unfeelingness of the other suggesting prehistory's great cataclysms—the forming and breaking of continents and other nonhuman events. Later, in wonderful, delicate passages, Dolphy—on flute—and Byard explore the ethereal mode further. Not until nine-plus minutes into "Meditations" do traditional-style solos, with piano/bass/drum backing, begin. In other words, the solos—individuals and their achievements and statements— are not the point here, at least not the whole point. That is true even during the solos: here, the rhythm section does not so much accompany or support each soloist as spar with him—Dolphy first (on bass clarinet), then Byard, Coles, Mingus, and Jordan; of them, only Mingus plays without such adversity. (Do we hear this as rare human triumph, or, since Mingus is otherwise part of the rhythm section, as total domination by external events?) Coles faces a particularly fierce piano/ bass/drum onslaught, and Jordan's solo is subjected to the return of the harsh, insistent phrase from the beginning of the piece. How do the trumpeter and saxophonist hold up? It is difficult to say if they triumph, or even what that would mean; but they are beautiful in the attempt. Not a bad thing to have said of us, when all is finished. Marcus Aurelius, of course, would scoff at our striving for even that modest tribute. "This mortal life is a little thing, lived in a little corner of the earth," he wrote in his own Meditations; "and little, too, is the longest fame to come—dependent as it is on a succession of fast-perishing little men who have no knowledge even of their own selves, much less of one long dead and gone."

Michelle Obama's Task

Columnist Robert Fulford, National Post, has an interesting perspective on Michelle Obama's speech last week at the Democratic presidential convention. In his view, Ms. Obama had to demonstrate her ordinariness despite a lifetime of achievement and accomplishment that suggest otherwise. He writes in The Tyranny of Stereotype,

Ms. Obama's chore, when she gave her speech the other night, was not to reveal herself but to reassure voters about their own values. She was there to reassert what the public needs to believe, or thinks it should believe. TV commentators who analyze speeches such as hers judge public figures according to a formula that has already been tested and found acceptable. And they judge themselves in a similar way. Not one of them dares to show more than a flicker of originality. They want to sound shrewd, they want to avoid repeating what someone else has just said, they may hope to insert a slightly fresh thought into the debate. But they never stray far from what everyone else thinks. They are there to say the right thing, which usually means a version of the national consensus. They will not be welcome on television if they are overly original, if they sound odd or weird.

Cindy McCain Vouches for Sarah Palin's Experience

Cindy McCain explaining Sarah Palin's national security experience is, at best, a dicey proposition. About the only thing more idiotic was George Stephanopoulous posing the damn question in the first place, as if we really needed to her what she had to say. But what the hell, Ms. McCain gets points for geography - "Alaska is the closet part of our continent to Russia."