Category Archives: Americana

Obama 24/7

Americana, Obama, Politics, What's a man?

I want to start with a quote from last weekend by Michael Scherer of Time's Swampland 

About
20 hours ago, I was in Bagram Air Base, watching White House advance people
change the television station in a troop mess hall, so that NCAA basketball
would show in the background as President Obama shook hands, not motorcross,
which had been playing.

and then go on to the fact that Obama held a second – now annual – Whitehouse Seder last week. From the article in the NY Times, it seems like it was non-political act. Just a personal gesture that has become a tradition.

28seder_span-articleLarge

and finish with a reference to a story of one letter in an article in the Washington Post on the ten letters -that have been culled from hundreds – that Obama gets every day. The letter is tragic, touching, inspiring, you know – all that stuff.

If you haven't already, read these two articles. They are pretty short.

I am fascinated by Obama's attention to detail, the cautious consideration given to doing a good job, to doing things right – not just as president, but as a man, as a father, as a mensch. In Obama, it seems to be coming from the inside rather than from the outside to look good.

Bob White, RIP: probably the greatest pilot you have never heard of*

Americana, Current Affairs, What's a man?

* with the same caveat that I had for Lynn Hill

Bob White, or – if you like – Robert Michael White, died last Wednesday, March 17 2010. He died peaceably, presumably in his bed, at the age of 85.

Given Bob White's life, that was a pretty unlikely event. When he was twenty, he was flying P51 Mustangs in combat over Germany. He was still only twenty when, after 52 missions, he was shot down and taken prisoner. Then he flew in combat over Korea. Then he became a test pilot, eventually flying the X-15.

X-15 Flying
While flying the X-15, on November 9, 1961, White flew at 4093 mph. That is over 68 miles a minute. That is six times the speed of sound. At one point, the shock waves and vibration did this to his canopy.

X15 Canopy

And White still landed the plane safely and lived to die, peacefully, at 85. I hope we are all so lucky.

It’s the great Nancy Pelosi’s House

Americana, Current Affairs, Obama, Politics

As an aside: Try Goggling images of Nancy Pelosi. Most of them are pretty bad – they are either shot to make her look bad or doctored to make her look bad. I am not sure why; maybe it is because the right just takes up more space – in the same way that a Hummer takes up more space than a Honda Civic – but I could be convinced that we are even more of a sexist nation than we are a racist nation. Either way, or if something else is going on that hasn't occurred to me, Nancy Pelosi doesn't seem to get the same respect that the great Sam Rayburn got, or great Tip O'Neil or, even Thomas Reed. But there is a funny thing about racism or sexism, or homophobia for that matter, once we get to know somebody and they are no longer an archetype; it is much harder to remain a racist or sexist, or homophobe.  End aside.

With all the credit that should go to President Obama – and he has done an extraordinary job of getting the Health Care Bill pushed through – without Nancy Pelosi it wouldn't have happened. Period! 

To quote NEWSER,- a sort of web Reader's Digest for those of us that think three paragraphs is just too long  –

President
Obama may be the one history remembers for pulling off the biggest
domestic policy reform in decades, but Nancy Pelosi "emerges from this
battle as the real powerhouse in Washington," Julian Zelizer writes for CNN.
Wielding both a "clear ideological agenda" and the "pragmatic political
tactics" to round up votes, Pelosi is the clear heir to Ted Kennedy's
legacy, Zelizer writes.
After Scott Brown's election, with
Harry Reid and Rahm Emanuel backing away from comprehensive health
reform, Pelosi "kept the steel in the president’s back," a Democratic
rep tells Politico.
"When Kennedy died, many Democrats wondered who would take his place as
the party's dealmaker," concludes Zelizer. "Now they have their
answer."


Speaker+Nancy+Pelosi

Obama as a Jedi master: Health Care Edition

Americana, Current Affairs, Obama, Politics

At the end of the day, Saturday, I got home after being at a event honoring women in the military – a post on that to follow – and sat down to check the news. In the New York Times, under the article on the Pope and the latest sex scandals, was an article saying Obama Rallies Democrats in Final Push for Health Care.

The article talked about exactly what the headline said but it didn't, in my opinion, really capture the moment. C-SPAN did with the meeting on video – I guess we can't really say video-tape any more – and it was truly extraordinary. Who ever called the meeting to order, first talked about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and how she was going to do something that no other House Speaker has been able to do.

About that time, Michele came in and said I am hungry. I said I am too, let's go out and get something to eat. But I want to watch this for a minute. We started watching the meeting again, at the beginning, and  and an hour later, we finally went out to dinner. Feeling much better about America. If you have an hour, watch the meeting here, you won't regret it.

To quote Michael Scherer in his article titled Without A Teleprompter, in Time's Swampland:

We knew president Obama would give a speech today to House Democrats.
We didn't know it would be this good of a speech. The video below is
just the last ten minutes of an address that lasted about 30 minutes.

I suggest you start watching at 2 minutes. The president takes his
caucus on the political equivalent of a guided meditation. Assuming the
bill passes, this is political rhetoric for the history books.

Cats and dogs and big cats

Americana, Current Affairs, San Mateo County

When I was a boy, we had a dog named Zola*. Almost everybody I knew, that had a pet, had a dog. Dogs were the heroes in movies like Old Yeller. Lassie, and Rin Tin Tin. The only people that had cats were villains and old ladies. Cats were bad – well, not exactly bad, more couldn't help it evil. Think Silvester.

Now everybody I know who has a pet, has a cat. Even people who have dogs, have cats**. 

When I was that same boy, there were no longer wolves in the Bay Area and coyotes had yet to move in. There were no cougars or mountain lions, either. But, while the wolves seem to be really gone, the cougars are moving back in. And they are being embraced. The cover of our local park district magazine sports a mountain lion on the cover and an article inside promotes their virtues. So, it seems, both General U. S. Grant and mountain lions are making a comeback. Maybe health care will pass after all.

Mtn. Lion Cover 

* for Émile Zola who accused the French Army of antisemitism and obstruction of justice when they convicted a Jewish artillery captain, Alfred Dryfus, of treason. 

** except for the Obamas who only have a dog.