Last week I had an article published on the Faster Times, the on-line newspaper that is an alternative to The Examiner. Very grateful for the opportunity. My piece was posted last Thursday July 15, and for the past week it has been in the site's Top 10 most popular articles. I was beating Sarah Silverman for a few days there! It dropped off the Most Popular list today but is still linked on their front page.
Hopefully it is a first step of many.
Here is the link:
http://thefastertimes.com/blog/2010/07/15/help-im-terrified-of-dropping-the-torah-in-a-room-full-of-jews/
July 23, 2010
July 13, 2010
The Beautiful Game - World Cup 2010 review
There is life during the World Cup and life the rest of the time.
The 2010 World Cup disappointed no one. South Africa proved up to the task of putting on the most important sporting event in the world. Perhaps some of the pitches could have been in better condition, but that is small potatoes. And I for one loved the vuvuzelas, loved the literal buzz that added to the buzzing going on in my own brain as the clock ticked upward to 90. This Cup was a grand success and produced a worthy champion.
The biggest surprise of the first round was Italy's departure. The Azzurri relied on the same crew that won the Cup in 2006. Four years later, hampered by an injury to the great Buffon, they were outworked and outplayed in what looked to be an easy group for passage. But Slovakia's tenacious victory in the third game spoiled the champions' return party, and those of us who wish the Italians left the theatrics at the opera were just fine with a Paraguay-Slovakia top two.
France also showed their 2006 success was past its expiration date. There is no replacing a Zidane but France's problems ran much deeper, culminating in Nicholas Anelka's mouthing off and refusal to apologize, his dismissal, and the resulting mutiny by the rest of the team. The end result of all that petulance: lost sponsorship, lost matches, and probably a lot of new money in Nicolas Mahut's pocket. Au revoir France. You were not missed.
Italy and France missed out on the European domination that ended up being the overriding theme of this Cup. Europe advanced six teams into the second round, and none of those teams lost to a non-European foe. South America looked to be the toast of the world when it fielded five, contiguous countries in the second round, but the top three teams of Europe - Spain, Netherlands and Germany - made short work of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, with the rest of the world on the outside looking in. It will be interesting to see if Europe can replicate their success when they visit Brazil 2014.
Though it would be wrong to accuse Asia and Oceania of failure. Japan and South Korea advanced with strong midfield play and, in Japan's case, the ability to fire long-range guided missiles at any moment. Keisuke Honda was a breakout star, and not just for his blonde hair. North Korea played a proud match against Brazil before falling apart against Portugal. Australia played in the true Group of Death, Group D, knocking a highly regarded Serbian squad out of contention and tying Ghana but failing to overcome its initial 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Germany. They did themselves proud. And New Zealand will polish off many a glass of sauvignon blanc over the next four years, celebrating their status as the only team at this World Cup not to lose a single game. Well done Kiwis!
Africa had a disappointing showing, with the host country failing to take advantage of France's collapse in Group A, and only one of its six qualifiers making it through to the second round. But what a performance that was from Ghana, which took out the US of A and failed by inches to make the semifinals, in the process becoming the loser of the most dramatic endgame of the tournament. Ghana played with style and distinction, but Asamoah Gyan's genius failed him on the penalty kick in the 120th minute that would have sent Ghana through, and from there the result of the penalty kick shootout was all but guaranteed.
Some people accused Uruguay's Luis Suarez of cheating when he intentionally hand balled away a sure goal for Ghana at the end of overtime, leading to his red card and Gyan's miss. I think Suarez reacted to the moment and did what he could to preserve his team's chances of victory. I'd rather see ten Suarezes than one Arjen Robben, falling and diving all over the field like he was just hobbled by Kathy Bates. To me, repeated attempts to feign injury and draw a penalty do far more harm to the spirit of the game than Suarez's overt, readily penalized act of desperation.
Uruguay did itself proud. Suarez and Diego Forlan were constant dangers up front, and the defense was rock-solid. I would have loved to see Suarez against the Netherlands. Without him, Forlan was on his own and could not find enough openings against the Orange. Forlan became the first player to ever strike three goals from outside of 20 meters in one Cup, proof that the Jabulani ball could be conquered.
Germany once again disproved its detractors, finding itself in the semifinals yet again. They played a swarming midfield defense and drove hard to the goal every chance they got. They were technically proficient and creative with the ball. I was very impressed with this young, talented German squad. They have everything going for them looking to 2014.
Germany did us all a favor by dispatching of the perenially underachieving Brits. Wayne Rooney (not to mention his former teammate, Cristiano "C-Ro" Ronaldo) was a ghost in this tournament. The lack of chemistry is to blame; as great as Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard are in their own rights, something is missing when they link up for the Three Lions. Perhaps the EPL is overrated, fragmented and propped up by foreign talent while Bayern Munich and Barcelona field half of their nations' teams on one club. Perhaps. Note as well the Curse of Nike: in 2006 they focused their campaign on Brazil, which flamed out early. In 2010 their big ad featured Rooney, Ronaldo, Ribery, and who else - Messi? Buffon? Not to mention Ronaldhino, who didn't even make the Brazilian team. Not pictured: Forlan, Mueller, Villa. Nike, leave them kids alone.
Argentina-Germany was a true marquee matchup, and until then Argentina looked like the class of the tournament, scoring in bunches and talented all over. But Germany's pressure wilted the Argentine attack but good. South America needs to regroup, fast. Only Brazil has broken through into the finals since Argentina lost to Germany in 1990. And this year Brazil looked content to ride on its reputation rather than elevate its game. After a thorough thrashing of Chile and an opening 15 minutes of greatness against the Netherlands they relaxed, and when Felipe Melo and Julio Cesar misplayed a free kick into a giveaway goal they panicked, unable to match the Netherlands' intensity. The game was over even before Melo's red card. Brazil will need to do better, much better when the going gets tough.
A few words about the United States: Getting to the Round of 16 is now officially a disappointment. That, in many ways, is a good sign that we are a serious soccer team with real aspirations. The USA played with panache and courage. It came back in all three matches (why all the early goals allowed?). It showed more attack and creativity than ever before. And in Michael Bradley we finally have a central midfielder who can do it all. However, we need better play from our wings, and we have to hope that Jozy Altidore develops more touch over the next four years. His physicality paved the way for Donovan, Bradley and Dempsey's good deeds, but if he doesn't figure out how to put the biscuit in the basket the USA is going to have a hard time reaching its manifest destiny.
That takes us to the finalists, and for me the matchup was a morality play. Spain plays a beautiful, fluid game. Iniesta et al. are certainly capable of a dive or two, but on the other side you have the Dutch and their own Greg Louganis of soccer. Robben is a truly gifted wing. The ball is attached to his foot. He can turn around the greatest defenders in the world. He is also a flopper and a cheater, willing to wager that the referee might resist blowing his whistle once, twice, even three times but not forever. Robben's dives were especially egregious against Brazil, with both goals and the Melo red card all deriving from instances of Robben writhing on the ground and inevitably bouncing back up. In a sport that sometimes suffers from players' desperate pitches to draw a whistle, Robben is a whore.
In general the Dutch took physical play to new levels, daring the referee to card them. Van Bommel, Heittiinga et al. tackled with impunity. De Jong's cleat to the chest of Xabi Alonso in the final is a red card in any league in the world. The referee called a fairly tight game but shied away from his responsibility in that moment.
Still, it would be unfair to dismiss the quality of the Dutch attack. Robben created opportunities almost at will, and Snejder was an assassin time after time. The Dutch attacked in numbers and linked up well from back to front. They played Total Football, even if sometimes it looked more like Total Recall. They earned their spot in the finals.
In the end though, only Spain combined skill and tenacity into something sublime. Fielding a Barcelona back seven, they were disciplined and organized on defense (though Robben and Snejder found some holes). Up front, the team spun circles around opponents thanks to the passing genius of Xavi, Alonso, Iniesta and others. David Villa was tireless and opportunistic up front. And Vicente Del Bosque deserves credit for pulling Torres, David Silva and Fabregas and finding good moments from Busquets, Navas and Pedro, and ultimately returning to Fabregas in time for Cesc to miss a sure goal opportunity and then atone for it all with his deft pass to Iniesta on the right side of the box, and Iniesta blasted it to the opposite side of the net and we had history. Iker Casillas, crying on the field while the final minutes counted down. One team shediding its past, the other bitterly disappointed.
La Furia Roja, championes. A happy day for Spain and for people who love soccer.
Three years, 11 monthts. Let the countdown begin.
The 2010 World Cup disappointed no one. South Africa proved up to the task of putting on the most important sporting event in the world. Perhaps some of the pitches could have been in better condition, but that is small potatoes. And I for one loved the vuvuzelas, loved the literal buzz that added to the buzzing going on in my own brain as the clock ticked upward to 90. This Cup was a grand success and produced a worthy champion.
The biggest surprise of the first round was Italy's departure. The Azzurri relied on the same crew that won the Cup in 2006. Four years later, hampered by an injury to the great Buffon, they were outworked and outplayed in what looked to be an easy group for passage. But Slovakia's tenacious victory in the third game spoiled the champions' return party, and those of us who wish the Italians left the theatrics at the opera were just fine with a Paraguay-Slovakia top two.
France also showed their 2006 success was past its expiration date. There is no replacing a Zidane but France's problems ran much deeper, culminating in Nicholas Anelka's mouthing off and refusal to apologize, his dismissal, and the resulting mutiny by the rest of the team. The end result of all that petulance: lost sponsorship, lost matches, and probably a lot of new money in Nicolas Mahut's pocket. Au revoir France. You were not missed.
Italy and France missed out on the European domination that ended up being the overriding theme of this Cup. Europe advanced six teams into the second round, and none of those teams lost to a non-European foe. South America looked to be the toast of the world when it fielded five, contiguous countries in the second round, but the top three teams of Europe - Spain, Netherlands and Germany - made short work of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, with the rest of the world on the outside looking in. It will be interesting to see if Europe can replicate their success when they visit Brazil 2014.
Though it would be wrong to accuse Asia and Oceania of failure. Japan and South Korea advanced with strong midfield play and, in Japan's case, the ability to fire long-range guided missiles at any moment. Keisuke Honda was a breakout star, and not just for his blonde hair. North Korea played a proud match against Brazil before falling apart against Portugal. Australia played in the true Group of Death, Group D, knocking a highly regarded Serbian squad out of contention and tying Ghana but failing to overcome its initial 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Germany. They did themselves proud. And New Zealand will polish off many a glass of sauvignon blanc over the next four years, celebrating their status as the only team at this World Cup not to lose a single game. Well done Kiwis!
Africa had a disappointing showing, with the host country failing to take advantage of France's collapse in Group A, and only one of its six qualifiers making it through to the second round. But what a performance that was from Ghana, which took out the US of A and failed by inches to make the semifinals, in the process becoming the loser of the most dramatic endgame of the tournament. Ghana played with style and distinction, but Asamoah Gyan's genius failed him on the penalty kick in the 120th minute that would have sent Ghana through, and from there the result of the penalty kick shootout was all but guaranteed.
Some people accused Uruguay's Luis Suarez of cheating when he intentionally hand balled away a sure goal for Ghana at the end of overtime, leading to his red card and Gyan's miss. I think Suarez reacted to the moment and did what he could to preserve his team's chances of victory. I'd rather see ten Suarezes than one Arjen Robben, falling and diving all over the field like he was just hobbled by Kathy Bates. To me, repeated attempts to feign injury and draw a penalty do far more harm to the spirit of the game than Suarez's overt, readily penalized act of desperation.
Uruguay did itself proud. Suarez and Diego Forlan were constant dangers up front, and the defense was rock-solid. I would have loved to see Suarez against the Netherlands. Without him, Forlan was on his own and could not find enough openings against the Orange. Forlan became the first player to ever strike three goals from outside of 20 meters in one Cup, proof that the Jabulani ball could be conquered.
Germany once again disproved its detractors, finding itself in the semifinals yet again. They played a swarming midfield defense and drove hard to the goal every chance they got. They were technically proficient and creative with the ball. I was very impressed with this young, talented German squad. They have everything going for them looking to 2014.
Germany did us all a favor by dispatching of the perenially underachieving Brits. Wayne Rooney (not to mention his former teammate, Cristiano "C-Ro" Ronaldo) was a ghost in this tournament. The lack of chemistry is to blame; as great as Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard are in their own rights, something is missing when they link up for the Three Lions. Perhaps the EPL is overrated, fragmented and propped up by foreign talent while Bayern Munich and Barcelona field half of their nations' teams on one club. Perhaps. Note as well the Curse of Nike: in 2006 they focused their campaign on Brazil, which flamed out early. In 2010 their big ad featured Rooney, Ronaldo, Ribery, and who else - Messi? Buffon? Not to mention Ronaldhino, who didn't even make the Brazilian team. Not pictured: Forlan, Mueller, Villa. Nike, leave them kids alone.
Argentina-Germany was a true marquee matchup, and until then Argentina looked like the class of the tournament, scoring in bunches and talented all over. But Germany's pressure wilted the Argentine attack but good. South America needs to regroup, fast. Only Brazil has broken through into the finals since Argentina lost to Germany in 1990. And this year Brazil looked content to ride on its reputation rather than elevate its game. After a thorough thrashing of Chile and an opening 15 minutes of greatness against the Netherlands they relaxed, and when Felipe Melo and Julio Cesar misplayed a free kick into a giveaway goal they panicked, unable to match the Netherlands' intensity. The game was over even before Melo's red card. Brazil will need to do better, much better when the going gets tough.
A few words about the United States: Getting to the Round of 16 is now officially a disappointment. That, in many ways, is a good sign that we are a serious soccer team with real aspirations. The USA played with panache and courage. It came back in all three matches (why all the early goals allowed?). It showed more attack and creativity than ever before. And in Michael Bradley we finally have a central midfielder who can do it all. However, we need better play from our wings, and we have to hope that Jozy Altidore develops more touch over the next four years. His physicality paved the way for Donovan, Bradley and Dempsey's good deeds, but if he doesn't figure out how to put the biscuit in the basket the USA is going to have a hard time reaching its manifest destiny.
That takes us to the finalists, and for me the matchup was a morality play. Spain plays a beautiful, fluid game. Iniesta et al. are certainly capable of a dive or two, but on the other side you have the Dutch and their own Greg Louganis of soccer. Robben is a truly gifted wing. The ball is attached to his foot. He can turn around the greatest defenders in the world. He is also a flopper and a cheater, willing to wager that the referee might resist blowing his whistle once, twice, even three times but not forever. Robben's dives were especially egregious against Brazil, with both goals and the Melo red card all deriving from instances of Robben writhing on the ground and inevitably bouncing back up. In a sport that sometimes suffers from players' desperate pitches to draw a whistle, Robben is a whore.
In general the Dutch took physical play to new levels, daring the referee to card them. Van Bommel, Heittiinga et al. tackled with impunity. De Jong's cleat to the chest of Xabi Alonso in the final is a red card in any league in the world. The referee called a fairly tight game but shied away from his responsibility in that moment.
Still, it would be unfair to dismiss the quality of the Dutch attack. Robben created opportunities almost at will, and Snejder was an assassin time after time. The Dutch attacked in numbers and linked up well from back to front. They played Total Football, even if sometimes it looked more like Total Recall. They earned their spot in the finals.
In the end though, only Spain combined skill and tenacity into something sublime. Fielding a Barcelona back seven, they were disciplined and organized on defense (though Robben and Snejder found some holes). Up front, the team spun circles around opponents thanks to the passing genius of Xavi, Alonso, Iniesta and others. David Villa was tireless and opportunistic up front. And Vicente Del Bosque deserves credit for pulling Torres, David Silva and Fabregas and finding good moments from Busquets, Navas and Pedro, and ultimately returning to Fabregas in time for Cesc to miss a sure goal opportunity and then atone for it all with his deft pass to Iniesta on the right side of the box, and Iniesta blasted it to the opposite side of the net and we had history. Iker Casillas, crying on the field while the final minutes counted down. One team shediding its past, the other bitterly disappointed.
La Furia Roja, championes. A happy day for Spain and for people who love soccer.
Three years, 11 monthts. Let the countdown begin.
June 17, 2010
Why I enjoy the (Rest of the) World Cup
In 1990 my parents were in West Germany when the Germans played Argentina in the World Cup final. My dad was born and raised in Germany during much more tragic times. It was a profound moment for him to be there, raising a glass with his former countrymen to celebrate the ultimate soccer triumph.
In 1994 I lived in Washington D.C. and planned to spend most of the summer studying for the New York state bar exam. Instead, I signed up for a bar review course and proceeded to watch 61 of the 64 World Cup matches played that year. The United States was the host and upset Colombia before losing to Brazil. June 1994 was also when the O.J. chase happened, not to mention Knicks and Rangers both making the finals (I attended Game 4) and a host of other memorable events. But it was the World Cup that capitvated me, that siphoned off my study time.
Thankfully, the Cup ended approximately ten days before the bar exam, plenty of time for me to cram a lot of useless information into my head and pass the bar. But I could more likely tell you the starting eleven for Brazil that year than I could remember anything from my New York State Criminal Procedure study guide.
In 1998 The United States regressed badly, fielding a poorly conceived squad and bowing out in the first round. France went on to win this tournament. Once again I watched most of the games, though not quite as avidly as 1994. Work got in the way, for one thing, as did a social life. I vividly remember sitting in a beach cottage in Montauk with my friends Rob and Harry, squinting at a tiny black and white television as I watched Zinedine Zidane score on two headers to lead France's upset of Brazil. Zidane was a god, capable of taking on the Brazilian legend and emerging victorious. I didn't like France but I was in awe of Zidane.
Even then I wondered why most of my friends couldn't care less about a tournament that captivated the rest of the world. The Olympics on crack. Patriotism in 32 different flavors, the intensity and delayed gratification one feels during those 90 minutes of running time. Why the rest of the world got it but Americans did not: A microcosm of our culture and how it influences and yet stands apart from the rest of the world.
To love soccer is to love the passage of time, to not be in a rush, to celebrate the moment, even when it's a tie and even when the score is 0-0. I don't want to imply the rest of the world is a sort of languid paradise of living in the now, but it often feels like they're dialed to another channel. It's reflected in their social welfare - government provided health care and education in place of personal wealth; shorter work hours; longer summer vacations. And I can't help but feel that soccer - the love of soccer - is a manifestation of that bonhomie.
In 2002 I was at Jim Brady's Pub at 5 AM every morning of the first two weeks of the tournament, downing an "Irish breakfast" while watching the live feed from Korea. I set the alarm for 2:30 AM to watch USA-Portugal live, and was rewarded for my dedication. I watched South Korea upset Italy with hundreds of new friends in an Argentine bistro in Soho.
Halfway through the tournament Ora and I flew to Ecudaor (and Peru) for a month-long trek. Ecuador made the second round of the World Cup that year. We watched with Ecuadorans and cheered on the red, yellow and blue in Quito and Cuenca. I watched the USA-Germany quarterfinal in a hostel in Baños. This was watching soccer at its finest, the game smoothing over the language gap as I hoisted cervezas with the locals. Germany committed a hand ball that never got called, Oliver Kahn made a Matrix-like save on Landon Donovan, and the soccer world order remained undisturbed.
By the time we reached the final we were on a sailboat cruising around Galapagos for a week. Two of our shipmates were Germans from Stuttgart. They invited us to stay with them for the 2006 Cup. Nobody knew how we were going to watch the final while sailing around the most remote of locales. Fear not; another boat delivered us a videotape of the Brazil-Germany match. I watched with the crew and the one other soccerhead among the 15 passengers. Once we had watched every last second of Brazil's victory we broke out the box wine and guitars and kept the sea lions up until sunrise.
In 2006 I was a father with the second kid on the way. I snuck out of work as often as possible to watch the games. I watched at night. My family rented a beach house for the first time. We saved on suntan lotion by staying home to watch the games, once again on a tiny rabbit eared television. What is it with beach houses and tv's? I roared when Clint Dempsey equalized against Ghana, a short lived euphoria to be sure.
We returned to Brooklyn, and Archie got stitches on his forehead while running in Prospect Park on the same day that Germany and Portugal played for third place. We got in and out of the emergency room in time to watch the game, only to have our cable box crash just before opening kickoff. I sped to the Cablevision outpost in the bowels of Brooklyn - and I have the ticket for running a red light to prove it - and stood in line for the entire first half while waiting to get a new cable box. Thankfully the outpost had the game on, on a much nicer TV than our 1995 Sony Trinitron (still in use today).
The final was an ugly affair - valiant play from both teams marred by a very different kind of Zidane header, France losing on penalty kicks, Italy whining and complaining as always but also the better team that day, probably the two soccer powers I least enjoy watching battling it out for the Cup. I loved every minute.
Now it is 2010 and I enjoy the World Cup just as much as when I first totally committed, back in 1994. How often do we Americans get a tangible reminder that we are citizens of the world? How often does a 2 million person country like Slovenia get to line up on an even pitch against the US of A? I'll be rooting hard for our guys tomorrow, but I'll raise a glass to our opponents as well.
Maybe Americans aren't accustomed to struggling on equal footing with lesser nations. Maybe they prefer having the deck stacked in their favor. Maybe soccer is too subtle or slow for our Get It Now culture. The feeling persists, though, that in soccer and in life the rest of the world gets something that we're missing. To borrow from Franklin Foer, soccer might not explain the world as much as it reflects it.
In 1994 I lived in Washington D.C. and planned to spend most of the summer studying for the New York state bar exam. Instead, I signed up for a bar review course and proceeded to watch 61 of the 64 World Cup matches played that year. The United States was the host and upset Colombia before losing to Brazil. June 1994 was also when the O.J. chase happened, not to mention Knicks and Rangers both making the finals (I attended Game 4) and a host of other memorable events. But it was the World Cup that capitvated me, that siphoned off my study time.
Thankfully, the Cup ended approximately ten days before the bar exam, plenty of time for me to cram a lot of useless information into my head and pass the bar. But I could more likely tell you the starting eleven for Brazil that year than I could remember anything from my New York State Criminal Procedure study guide.
In 1998 The United States regressed badly, fielding a poorly conceived squad and bowing out in the first round. France went on to win this tournament. Once again I watched most of the games, though not quite as avidly as 1994. Work got in the way, for one thing, as did a social life. I vividly remember sitting in a beach cottage in Montauk with my friends Rob and Harry, squinting at a tiny black and white television as I watched Zinedine Zidane score on two headers to lead France's upset of Brazil. Zidane was a god, capable of taking on the Brazilian legend and emerging victorious. I didn't like France but I was in awe of Zidane.
Even then I wondered why most of my friends couldn't care less about a tournament that captivated the rest of the world. The Olympics on crack. Patriotism in 32 different flavors, the intensity and delayed gratification one feels during those 90 minutes of running time. Why the rest of the world got it but Americans did not: A microcosm of our culture and how it influences and yet stands apart from the rest of the world.
To love soccer is to love the passage of time, to not be in a rush, to celebrate the moment, even when it's a tie and even when the score is 0-0. I don't want to imply the rest of the world is a sort of languid paradise of living in the now, but it often feels like they're dialed to another channel. It's reflected in their social welfare - government provided health care and education in place of personal wealth; shorter work hours; longer summer vacations. And I can't help but feel that soccer - the love of soccer - is a manifestation of that bonhomie.
In 2002 I was at Jim Brady's Pub at 5 AM every morning of the first two weeks of the tournament, downing an "Irish breakfast" while watching the live feed from Korea. I set the alarm for 2:30 AM to watch USA-Portugal live, and was rewarded for my dedication. I watched South Korea upset Italy with hundreds of new friends in an Argentine bistro in Soho.
Halfway through the tournament Ora and I flew to Ecudaor (and Peru) for a month-long trek. Ecuador made the second round of the World Cup that year. We watched with Ecuadorans and cheered on the red, yellow and blue in Quito and Cuenca. I watched the USA-Germany quarterfinal in a hostel in Baños. This was watching soccer at its finest, the game smoothing over the language gap as I hoisted cervezas with the locals. Germany committed a hand ball that never got called, Oliver Kahn made a Matrix-like save on Landon Donovan, and the soccer world order remained undisturbed.
By the time we reached the final we were on a sailboat cruising around Galapagos for a week. Two of our shipmates were Germans from Stuttgart. They invited us to stay with them for the 2006 Cup. Nobody knew how we were going to watch the final while sailing around the most remote of locales. Fear not; another boat delivered us a videotape of the Brazil-Germany match. I watched with the crew and the one other soccerhead among the 15 passengers. Once we had watched every last second of Brazil's victory we broke out the box wine and guitars and kept the sea lions up until sunrise.
In 2006 I was a father with the second kid on the way. I snuck out of work as often as possible to watch the games. I watched at night. My family rented a beach house for the first time. We saved on suntan lotion by staying home to watch the games, once again on a tiny rabbit eared television. What is it with beach houses and tv's? I roared when Clint Dempsey equalized against Ghana, a short lived euphoria to be sure.
We returned to Brooklyn, and Archie got stitches on his forehead while running in Prospect Park on the same day that Germany and Portugal played for third place. We got in and out of the emergency room in time to watch the game, only to have our cable box crash just before opening kickoff. I sped to the Cablevision outpost in the bowels of Brooklyn - and I have the ticket for running a red light to prove it - and stood in line for the entire first half while waiting to get a new cable box. Thankfully the outpost had the game on, on a much nicer TV than our 1995 Sony Trinitron (still in use today).
The final was an ugly affair - valiant play from both teams marred by a very different kind of Zidane header, France losing on penalty kicks, Italy whining and complaining as always but also the better team that day, probably the two soccer powers I least enjoy watching battling it out for the Cup. I loved every minute.
Now it is 2010 and I enjoy the World Cup just as much as when I first totally committed, back in 1994. How often do we Americans get a tangible reminder that we are citizens of the world? How often does a 2 million person country like Slovenia get to line up on an even pitch against the US of A? I'll be rooting hard for our guys tomorrow, but I'll raise a glass to our opponents as well.
Maybe Americans aren't accustomed to struggling on equal footing with lesser nations. Maybe they prefer having the deck stacked in their favor. Maybe soccer is too subtle or slow for our Get It Now culture. The feeling persists, though, that in soccer and in life the rest of the world gets something that we're missing. To borrow from Franklin Foer, soccer might not explain the world as much as it reflects it.
June 15, 2010
Shooting Down Some Myths
I strongly support gun control regulation. Arguments that guns don't kill people (people kill people) ring hollow to me. Countries like Japan, England, Switzerland et al., where not even the police carry firearms, have much lower homicide rates. The United States is a violent country and guns play a big role in raising the danger level for everyone.
I was especially dismayed last year when Obama attended a town hall meeting in New Hampshire and some idiot stood outside, fully armed; his idea of a political statement. Political protest shrouded in a selfish, irresponsible, violent fetish, which is what gun ownership is really all about.
I couldn't believe that I had friends who came to the defense of the gun-toting yahoo. Why would anybody devote their energies to making sure more guns stay out on the street and in people's homes, free of those nasty laws and silly concerns over its impact on society?
I'm sure there are many responsible gun owners out there. There are also very ethical investment bankers too. No seriously, there are...somewhere...it doesn't mean we let the damage guns do go unregulated.
I wonder if Charlton Heston really was holding a gun in his hands when he died?
On Sunday the Washington Post ran a great column debunking some myths about gun regulation. It's worth digesting for the next time you hear someone defend their Second Amendment rights.
Bang!
I was especially dismayed last year when Obama attended a town hall meeting in New Hampshire and some idiot stood outside, fully armed; his idea of a political statement. Political protest shrouded in a selfish, irresponsible, violent fetish, which is what gun ownership is really all about.
I couldn't believe that I had friends who came to the defense of the gun-toting yahoo. Why would anybody devote their energies to making sure more guns stay out on the street and in people's homes, free of those nasty laws and silly concerns over its impact on society?
I'm sure there are many responsible gun owners out there. There are also very ethical investment bankers too. No seriously, there are...somewhere...it doesn't mean we let the damage guns do go unregulated.
I wonder if Charlton Heston really was holding a gun in his hands when he died?
On Sunday the Washington Post ran a great column debunking some myths about gun regulation. It's worth digesting for the next time you hear someone defend their Second Amendment rights.
Bang!
June 03, 2010
Purple and Gold and Green and White and Black and Blue
Quick post in anticipation of the NBA Finals:
Boston-LA used to be a magical concept for every hoophead. East versus West, Bird versus Magic, Old School versus Showtime. Every time the Celtics and Lakers played in the 1980's it was an instant classic. Then Magic and Bird left the stage, the Celtics suffered through some lean years, and then Shaq and Kobe started their own dynasty but their foils were the Trail Blazers, Kings, Pacers and Nets. The Celtics were mismanaged and struck by multiple tragedies. It was no contest, until starting in 2007 when Danny Ainge pinched Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, made some shrewd draft-day moves to get Rajon Rondo and Glenn Davis, kept faith in Kendrick Perkins and Doc Rivers, and eventually put together a TEAM that won the 2008 title, beating the Lakers in six games.
That Lakers team was built to win in its own right, having fleeced Pau Gasol from Memphis in mid-season. But without Andrew Bynum in the finals, the Lakers were unable to withstand the Celtics' rebounding and defense, squandering a huge lead in Game 3 (or was it Game 2?) that sunk their mojo past the point of no return. But the Lakers came right back last year and took the crown, and though they didn't exactly mow down the league like the 1983 Sixers (fo, fi and fo, to quote Moses Malone), their supremacy was never truly in doubt.
And now we are treated to a true grudge match. These teams are laying claim not just to the 2010 NBA Championship, but to a heightened legacy as multiple title winners. Kobe Bryant is going after his fifth ring and second without Shaq. Already one of the 20 greatest players of all time, he's trying to get even higher up the list.
The Celtics know they have less than a quarter tank of gas left. They thought they were going to be one and done in 2008. Six weeks ago they looked like a guaranteed second round exit against either Cleveland or Orlando; now they have knocked out both those teams and are in position to make history.
I'd say that this Celtics team is the closest thing to a Cinderella championship playoff team that we have in the NBA in a very long time. In almost every season a number one or two seed wins the title. When you think about recent playoff upsets, you think about the 2004 Pistons beating the Lakers, the 2006 Miami Heat knocking out the Pistons, or maybe the 2007 Cavaliers beating the Pistons to get to the Finals. You could go back to the 1986 Rockets beating the Lakers or the 1994 Denver Nuggets beating the #1 seeded Seattle Supersonics, and then the Golden State Warriors pulling off an 8 over 1 upset in 2007. But except for the Heat, none of those teams went on to win the title. And that Heat team had Dwyane Wade and Shaq, both top 5 MVP candidates that year, and they played a Dallas Mavericks team that nobody will ever confuse with greatness.
Despite Boston's vast championship history, despite its 2008 title and deep, balanced talent level, if they win this year's finals I think they will go down as the biggest Cinderella in our NBA lifetime, at least since Magic and Bird entered the picture. They will have beaten arguably the three best regular season teams in the league in order to do it. They will win when nobody - not even their number one fan, Bill Simmons - expected them to make a run. I think even most of the guys on the Celtics are pleasantly surprised.
All this depends on the team's health. The Celtics can win because Andrew Bynum is limited, which gives the Celtics an advantage inside IF Perkins, Davis and Wallace are all healthy and available. If Rondo is close to 100 percent, he will abuse Derek Fisher eventually. Garnett can battle Gasol to a draw or even better. Pierce and Artest will surely make headlines at some point but won't win or lose the series. Kobe will be the best player on the floor, period. But if the Celtics are healthy I think they will wear down the Lakers over the course of the series. I think the Lakers bench has taken a step back during the playoffs and cannot match the Celtics bench for defensive intensity and focus.
Back in the day I was a rabid Lakers fan whenever these franchises met. Now the Celtics and Lakers are probably the two teams I am least likely to root for. This matchup is weighty and intense and awesome, but it's not Magical and it doesn't have me flying high like a Bird. I'll appreciate the spectacle but my heart will go to the World Cup. Celtics in 5, pending the health issues on both rosters.
Boston-LA used to be a magical concept for every hoophead. East versus West, Bird versus Magic, Old School versus Showtime. Every time the Celtics and Lakers played in the 1980's it was an instant classic. Then Magic and Bird left the stage, the Celtics suffered through some lean years, and then Shaq and Kobe started their own dynasty but their foils were the Trail Blazers, Kings, Pacers and Nets. The Celtics were mismanaged and struck by multiple tragedies. It was no contest, until starting in 2007 when Danny Ainge pinched Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, made some shrewd draft-day moves to get Rajon Rondo and Glenn Davis, kept faith in Kendrick Perkins and Doc Rivers, and eventually put together a TEAM that won the 2008 title, beating the Lakers in six games.
That Lakers team was built to win in its own right, having fleeced Pau Gasol from Memphis in mid-season. But without Andrew Bynum in the finals, the Lakers were unable to withstand the Celtics' rebounding and defense, squandering a huge lead in Game 3 (or was it Game 2?) that sunk their mojo past the point of no return. But the Lakers came right back last year and took the crown, and though they didn't exactly mow down the league like the 1983 Sixers (fo, fi and fo, to quote Moses Malone), their supremacy was never truly in doubt.
And now we are treated to a true grudge match. These teams are laying claim not just to the 2010 NBA Championship, but to a heightened legacy as multiple title winners. Kobe Bryant is going after his fifth ring and second without Shaq. Already one of the 20 greatest players of all time, he's trying to get even higher up the list.
The Celtics know they have less than a quarter tank of gas left. They thought they were going to be one and done in 2008. Six weeks ago they looked like a guaranteed second round exit against either Cleveland or Orlando; now they have knocked out both those teams and are in position to make history.
I'd say that this Celtics team is the closest thing to a Cinderella championship playoff team that we have in the NBA in a very long time. In almost every season a number one or two seed wins the title. When you think about recent playoff upsets, you think about the 2004 Pistons beating the Lakers, the 2006 Miami Heat knocking out the Pistons, or maybe the 2007 Cavaliers beating the Pistons to get to the Finals. You could go back to the 1986 Rockets beating the Lakers or the 1994 Denver Nuggets beating the #1 seeded Seattle Supersonics, and then the Golden State Warriors pulling off an 8 over 1 upset in 2007. But except for the Heat, none of those teams went on to win the title. And that Heat team had Dwyane Wade and Shaq, both top 5 MVP candidates that year, and they played a Dallas Mavericks team that nobody will ever confuse with greatness.
Despite Boston's vast championship history, despite its 2008 title and deep, balanced talent level, if they win this year's finals I think they will go down as the biggest Cinderella in our NBA lifetime, at least since Magic and Bird entered the picture. They will have beaten arguably the three best regular season teams in the league in order to do it. They will win when nobody - not even their number one fan, Bill Simmons - expected them to make a run. I think even most of the guys on the Celtics are pleasantly surprised.
All this depends on the team's health. The Celtics can win because Andrew Bynum is limited, which gives the Celtics an advantage inside IF Perkins, Davis and Wallace are all healthy and available. If Rondo is close to 100 percent, he will abuse Derek Fisher eventually. Garnett can battle Gasol to a draw or even better. Pierce and Artest will surely make headlines at some point but won't win or lose the series. Kobe will be the best player on the floor, period. But if the Celtics are healthy I think they will wear down the Lakers over the course of the series. I think the Lakers bench has taken a step back during the playoffs and cannot match the Celtics bench for defensive intensity and focus.
Back in the day I was a rabid Lakers fan whenever these franchises met. Now the Celtics and Lakers are probably the two teams I am least likely to root for. This matchup is weighty and intense and awesome, but it's not Magical and it doesn't have me flying high like a Bird. I'll appreciate the spectacle but my heart will go to the World Cup. Celtics in 5, pending the health issues on both rosters.
May 21, 2010
Specter of Influence
For years now I have held a special contempt for Senator Arlen Specter, despite his support for Israel. I felt that here was a guy who was smart enough to know what was right and wrong, yet he always set the bar lower. At least the average Republican would stake out a position, deplorable though it may be, and stick to it. Specter insisted on straddling the fence, giving hints that he was grappling deeply with the issue at hand and could very well break ranks as a matter of principle. And yet, always the same party line when it came time to vote. His switch to Democrat, further pandering, based only on a desire to get invited to the Obama-jama party. The man just couldn't help himself. He wanted everyone to like him, or at least 51% in every demographic.
Linda Greenhouse posted something today on NY Times online that would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Specter's recent loss in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary is just desserts. I'm sure he'll spend his Sundays wearing an Eagles jersey and a Steelers helmet.
Linda Greenhouse posted something today on NY Times online that would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Specter's recent loss in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary is just desserts. I'm sure he'll spend his Sundays wearing an Eagles jersey and a Steelers helmet.
May 07, 2010
Tres de Mayo
Tuesday got off to a rough start this week. Archie woke up ornery and stressed out. Something was bothering him and we couldn’t figure out how to get him on track. He stomped off at one point, crying. I followed him to our bed, laid down next to him and tried to reason, reassure, sympathize. He calmed down, but he also muttered “this is the worst day of my life.”
Such a comment is ironic from any five year old, especially because it was barely 7 AM, but in this case also because the worst day of my life was on the same date, May 4, fifteen years earlier. It was a Thursday, and it was the day I found out my childhood friend, Aron Sobel, had been killed in a bus crash in Turkey the day before. I first heard it from a friend, but accepted the news only when my father called to confirm it. I remember the phone conversations, where I was, how I reacted. But I also remember the day before, May 3, 1995. I remember feeling God that day.
I was working at the Law Offices of Gerard Dunne, a generally miserable experience. That afternoon the only other person in the office was Sue, a 40-something divorcee with a penchant for talking about her spirituality, wearing fire-red lipstick and drinking Chardonnay. Of the other employees at the LOGD, she was the most pleasant.
My office had a window to the outside, but I was sitting in a chair near Sue’s desk in the central, interior area of the office. I don’t remember what we were talking about, though a typical conversation was usually a hodgepodge of anecdotes relating to our boss’s latest temper tantrum, excerpted wisdom from Sue’s latest self-help novel, and complaints about my needy girlfriend. Though it was the middle of the afternoon on a warm spring day in Manhattan, a cloud cover created a darkness that abruptly overtook the room. I could barely make out Sue’s face. The room was hazy. Objects became pixilated.
As this was happening I told Sue that I suddenly felt very tired. It was more than that. I felt a rushing out from my body, I felt my limbs turn to rubber, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, my brain was numbed, I had no thoughts other than I am feeling energy, I am feeling it move out of this room. The sensation lasted only a minute or two. The numbness left. The shadows exited the room, sunlight returned.
Sue asked if I was okay. I was fine. Aron wasn’t. At that very same moment his bus was plunging off a cliff somewhere in Turkey, he was taking his last breath, and 5,000 miles away I felt him exit this world. I have never again had the physical sensation I felt that day, that moment.
Aron and I entered the world on the same day – July 18, 1969. I was always proud of that, proud of the association. It has now been 15 years without him. I don’t even think we were best friends exactly, but we were like brothers to each other and we shared moments that are some of the clearest and happiest memories of my childhood. And in his final moments on Earth, Aron gave me something nothing else ever has: A tangible connection to the life-force that binds all of us together. I called it God here, but I don’t know anything about God. I only know what I felt.
The sun came up the day after the worst day of Archie’s life, and in the evening he suggested we order Mexican food in honor of Cinco de Mayo. The holiday is not widely celebrated in Mexico outside of Puebla, but what the hell. We’re all connected.
For more information about Aron Sobel and ASIRT, the foundation established by his mother to lobby for safer international road travel, please visit www.asirt.org.
Such a comment is ironic from any five year old, especially because it was barely 7 AM, but in this case also because the worst day of my life was on the same date, May 4, fifteen years earlier. It was a Thursday, and it was the day I found out my childhood friend, Aron Sobel, had been killed in a bus crash in Turkey the day before. I first heard it from a friend, but accepted the news only when my father called to confirm it. I remember the phone conversations, where I was, how I reacted. But I also remember the day before, May 3, 1995. I remember feeling God that day.
I was working at the Law Offices of Gerard Dunne, a generally miserable experience. That afternoon the only other person in the office was Sue, a 40-something divorcee with a penchant for talking about her spirituality, wearing fire-red lipstick and drinking Chardonnay. Of the other employees at the LOGD, she was the most pleasant.
My office had a window to the outside, but I was sitting in a chair near Sue’s desk in the central, interior area of the office. I don’t remember what we were talking about, though a typical conversation was usually a hodgepodge of anecdotes relating to our boss’s latest temper tantrum, excerpted wisdom from Sue’s latest self-help novel, and complaints about my needy girlfriend. Though it was the middle of the afternoon on a warm spring day in Manhattan, a cloud cover created a darkness that abruptly overtook the room. I could barely make out Sue’s face. The room was hazy. Objects became pixilated.
As this was happening I told Sue that I suddenly felt very tired. It was more than that. I felt a rushing out from my body, I felt my limbs turn to rubber, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, my brain was numbed, I had no thoughts other than I am feeling energy, I am feeling it move out of this room. The sensation lasted only a minute or two. The numbness left. The shadows exited the room, sunlight returned.
Sue asked if I was okay. I was fine. Aron wasn’t. At that very same moment his bus was plunging off a cliff somewhere in Turkey, he was taking his last breath, and 5,000 miles away I felt him exit this world. I have never again had the physical sensation I felt that day, that moment.
Aron and I entered the world on the same day – July 18, 1969. I was always proud of that, proud of the association. It has now been 15 years without him. I don’t even think we were best friends exactly, but we were like brothers to each other and we shared moments that are some of the clearest and happiest memories of my childhood. And in his final moments on Earth, Aron gave me something nothing else ever has: A tangible connection to the life-force that binds all of us together. I called it God here, but I don’t know anything about God. I only know what I felt.
The sun came up the day after the worst day of Archie’s life, and in the evening he suggested we order Mexican food in honor of Cinco de Mayo. The holiday is not widely celebrated in Mexico outside of Puebla, but what the hell. We’re all connected.
For more information about Aron Sobel and ASIRT, the foundation established by his mother to lobby for safer international road travel, please visit www.asirt.org.
May 05, 2010
A Tiger to Admire
Ernie Harwell died at 92 yesterday. He was the radio broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers for 42 years, and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. By all accounts he was a great guy, unflailingly polite and upbeat, a true inspiration. He was married to the same woman for 68 years. I didn't grow up in Detroit and don't have a personal connection to Harwell, but I would like to post his famous "My Definition of Baseball" speech, which he first delivered in 1955. It is a reminder of the days when baseball was America's Pastime. And even though Harwell was lauding baseball, I think he was also reminding us why we love sports, any sport.
One criticism of Harwell's speech though, and I know he was a devout Tiger, but if you are going to trumpet the color-blindness of baseball you might not want to reference the racist, vicious, hate-mongering Ty Cobb in your valedictory.
One criticism of Harwell's speech though, and I know he was a devout Tiger, but if you are going to trumpet the color-blindness of baseball you might not want to reference the racist, vicious, hate-mongering Ty Cobb in your valedictory.
Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his (Babe Ruth's) 714 home runs.
There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That's baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.
In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another.
Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It's a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.
Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.
Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.
Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World's Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying., "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”
Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, "Down in Front", Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner.
Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you.
April 22, 2010
Gonzo But Not Forgotzo
I have been a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson ever since Gary Trudeau channeled him in Doonsebury, and then through his Fear and Loathing novels, and later when he became a contributor to ESPN's fledgling Page 2. His writing was always engrossing even when it was sloppy. His stories were about presidents and athletes and rock stars but really, they were about him. You never lost track of the fact that you were reading the words of Hunter S. Thompson. His personality was a watermark on every page he wrote. And until he died, Hunter S. Thompson and I shared a birthday, which is funny because his life was filled with a level of recklessness, defiance and paranoia that I feared and loved but mostly envied. I'm still not a fan of guns and weapons, or plastic cigarette holders for that matter. But Thompson was gonzo to the bone.
Here is a great link to ten memorable Hunter Thompson quotes. It's really worth reading the entire list. I think #1 is devastating.
What prompted this post was an entry on Gawker this morning that showed a contract Hunter Thompson "signed" from a TV production company. It's hilarious and in its own way, inspiring.
When you read the top 10 quotes, and if you snoop around the web for any of his other writing, it is clear that Thompson was tapped into what makes our social networking, blogging, web-surfing, reality tv, Sims 2, talking heads, consumerist society so pitiable, tragic, alarming. The world shrinks into the palm of our hand, and our imaginations with it. We check our Blackberries every five minutes at our own peril. Virtual life is no life at all. Hunter, I promise to unplug more often, but I don't promise to get high on ether and blow up shit. Do we have a deal?
Here is a great link to ten memorable Hunter Thompson quotes. It's really worth reading the entire list. I think #1 is devastating.
What prompted this post was an entry on Gawker this morning that showed a contract Hunter Thompson "signed" from a TV production company. It's hilarious and in its own way, inspiring.
When you read the top 10 quotes, and if you snoop around the web for any of his other writing, it is clear that Thompson was tapped into what makes our social networking, blogging, web-surfing, reality tv, Sims 2, talking heads, consumerist society so pitiable, tragic, alarming. The world shrinks into the palm of our hand, and our imaginations with it. We check our Blackberries every five minutes at our own peril. Virtual life is no life at all. Hunter, I promise to unplug more often, but I don't promise to get high on ether and blow up shit. Do we have a deal?
Lancelot Linkage!
My friend Scott Lukas is a marketing/advertising guru. Two weeks ago he sent a post raving about the Tiger Woods Nike ad that has since been ripped to shreds by most folks. I responded to his rave review, as did some of his other contacts. He posted my response on his blog. My comment is the one in blue font.
I also would like to give a shout out to Muggsy Mutombo who writes a great blog, Mojo Hoops, and not too long ago posted my analysis of the Wizards' personnel decisions since Ernie Grunfeld came on board, a hiring that I was really excited about at the time but now wish they'd hired Bernard King instead.
This blog synergy is just running hog wild!
I also would like to give a shout out to Muggsy Mutombo who writes a great blog, Mojo Hoops, and not too long ago posted my analysis of the Wizards' personnel decisions since Ernie Grunfeld came on board, a hiring that I was really excited about at the time but now wish they'd hired Bernard King instead.
This blog synergy is just running hog wild!
April 02, 2010
Howe About That!
Another reason to love hockey: Check out this excerpt from a NY Times article today about William Clay Ford - yes, that Ford family - and his lifelong love of hockey. Ford spearheaded the effort to bring the NCAA Hockey Final Four to Detroit this year. At age 52 he still plays defense on a top-notch adult amateur team. Here is his story about meeting Gordie Howe when he was a kid:
Ford said one of his happiest childhood memories was attending a summer camp led by the hockey great Gordie Howe in suburban Detroit. Ford, then 8, wanted to show Howe — his hockey idol — his work ethic and toughness.Gotta love hockey (and Gordie Howe).
He spotted Howe and put his head down to skate hard.
“My heart just jumped,” Ford said of first seeing Howe. “The next thing I know, I was slammed. I’ve never been hit so hard in my life. I’m lying in this heap, and it’s Gordie looking down at me.
“He says, ‘Son, always skate with your head up.’ I was so honored to have been checked by Gordie Howe. That was the coolest thing that ever happened to me.”
March 25, 2010
Scriptual Perversity in Santa Monica
While doing some essential web surfing during business hours, I ran across a copy of a memo David Mamet sent out in October 2005 to the writers on the CBS drama The Unit, setting out his philosophy on what makes good television drama. I think it's an interesting mediation on writing and I want to put it somewhere that I won't lose it. I do think it's interesting, however, that a guy known for a talky, action-static writing style would proselytize about keeping things moving:
“TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT
GREETINGS.
AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.
THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN *DRAMA* AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.
EVERYONE IN CREATION IS SCREAMING AT US TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAR. WE ARE TASKED WITH, IT SEEMS, CRAMMING A SHITLOAD OF *INFORMATION* INTO A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.
OUR FRIENDS. THE PENGUINS, THINK THAT WE, THEREFORE, ARE EMPLOYED TO COMMUNICATE *INFORMATION* — AND, SO, AT TIMES, IT SEEMS TO US.
BUT NOTE:THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT TUNE IN TO WATCH INFORMATION. YOU WOULDN’T, I WOULDN’T. NO ONE WOULD OR WILL. THE AUDIENCE WILL ONLY TUNE IN AND STAY TUNED TO WATCH DRAMA.
QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, *ACUTE* GOAL.
SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES *OF EVERY SCENE* THESE THREE QUESTIONS.
1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?
THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.
IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.
THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. *YOU* THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE *EVERY* SCENE IS DRAMATIC.
THIS MEANS ALL THE “LITTLE” EXPOSITIONAL SCENES OF TWO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD. THIS BUSHWAH (AND WE ALL TEND TO WRITE IT ON THE FIRST DRAFT) IS LESS THAN USELESS, SHOULD IT FINALLY, GOD FORBID, GET FILMED.
IF THE SCENE BORES YOU WHEN YOU READ IT, REST ASSURED IT *WILL* BORE THE ACTORS, AND WILL, THEN, BORE THE AUDIENCE, AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE BACK IN THE BREADLINE.
SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE SCENE DRAMATIC. IT IS NOT THE ACTORS JOB (THE ACTORS JOB IS TO BE TRUTHFUL). IT IS NOT THE DIRECTORS JOB. HIS OR HER JOB IS TO FILM IT STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND REMIND THE ACTORS TO TALK FAST. IT IS *YOUR* JOB.
EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.
THIS NEED IS WHY THEY *CAME*. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET *WILL* LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE,TO *FAILURE* – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS *OVER*. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE *NEXT* SCENE.
ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE *PLOT*.
ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.
YES BUT YES BUT YES BUT, YOU SAY: WHAT ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF WRITING IN ALL THAT “INFORMATION?”
AND I RESPOND “*FIGURE IT OUT*” ANY DICKHEAD WITH A BLUESUIT CAN BE (AND IS) TAUGHT TO SAY “MAKE IT CLEARER”, AND “I WANT TO KNOW MORE *ABOUT* HIM”.
WHEN YOU’VE MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT EVEN THIS BLUESUITED PENGUIN IS HAPPY, BOTH YOU AND HE OR SHE *WILL* BE OUT OF A JOB.
THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. *NOT* TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO*SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
ANY DICKHEAD, AS ABOVE, CAN WRITE, “BUT, JIM, IF WE DON’T ASSASSINATE THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEXT SCENE, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAME”
WE ARE NOT GETTING PAID TO *REALIZE* THAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS THIS INFORMATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT SCENE, BUT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE THE SCENE BEFORE US SUCH THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL BE INTERESTED IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
YES BUT, YES BUT YES *BUT* YOU REITERATE.
AND I RESPOND *FIGURE IT OUT*.
*HOW* DOES ONE STRIKE THE BALANCE BETWEEN WITHHOLDING AND VOUCHSAFING INFORMATION? *THAT* IS THE ESSENTIAL TASK OF THE DRAMATIST. AND THE ABILITY TO *DO* THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE LESSER SPECIES IN THEIR BLUE SUITS.
FIGURE IT OUT.
START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE *SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC*. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.
LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING “BOB AND SUE DISCUSS…” IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OUTLINES ARE, GENERALLY, SPECTACULAR. THE DRAMA FLOWS OUT BETWEEN THE OUTLINE AND THE FIRST DRAFT.
THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER RATHER THAN A FUNCTIONARY, BECAUSE, IN TRUTH, *YOU* ARE MAKING THE FILM. WHAT YOU WRITE, THEY WILL SHOOT.
HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
DO *NOT* WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR *AND* HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.
REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR A VISUAL MEDIUM. *MOST* TELEVISION WRITING, OURS INCLUDED, SOUNDS LIKE *RADIO*. THE *CAMERA* CAN DO THE EXPLAINING FOR YOU. *LET* IT. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS *DOING* -*LITERALLY*. WHAT ARE THEY HANDLING, WHAT ARE THEY READING. WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING ON TELEVISION, WHAT ARE THEY *SEEING*.
IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION,INDEED, OF *SPEECH*. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM - TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)
THIS IS A NEW SKILL. NO ONE DOES IT NATURALLY. YOU CAN TRAIN YOURSELVES TO DO IT, BUT YOU NEED TO *START*.
I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE *SCENE* AND ASK YOURSELF “IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT *ESSENTIAL*? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.
IF THE ANSWER IS “NO” WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU’VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.
LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05
(IT IS *NOT* YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, BUT IT IS YOUR, AND MY, RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW AND TO *ASK THE RIGHT Questions* OVER AND OVER. UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. I BELIEVE THEY ARE LISTED ABOVE.)”
“TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT
GREETINGS.
AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.
THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN *DRAMA* AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.
EVERYONE IN CREATION IS SCREAMING AT US TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAR. WE ARE TASKED WITH, IT SEEMS, CRAMMING A SHITLOAD OF *INFORMATION* INTO A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.
OUR FRIENDS. THE PENGUINS, THINK THAT WE, THEREFORE, ARE EMPLOYED TO COMMUNICATE *INFORMATION* — AND, SO, AT TIMES, IT SEEMS TO US.
BUT NOTE:THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT TUNE IN TO WATCH INFORMATION. YOU WOULDN’T, I WOULDN’T. NO ONE WOULD OR WILL. THE AUDIENCE WILL ONLY TUNE IN AND STAY TUNED TO WATCH DRAMA.
QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, *ACUTE* GOAL.
SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES *OF EVERY SCENE* THESE THREE QUESTIONS.
1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?
THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.
IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.
THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. *YOU* THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE *EVERY* SCENE IS DRAMATIC.
THIS MEANS ALL THE “LITTLE” EXPOSITIONAL SCENES OF TWO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD. THIS BUSHWAH (AND WE ALL TEND TO WRITE IT ON THE FIRST DRAFT) IS LESS THAN USELESS, SHOULD IT FINALLY, GOD FORBID, GET FILMED.
IF THE SCENE BORES YOU WHEN YOU READ IT, REST ASSURED IT *WILL* BORE THE ACTORS, AND WILL, THEN, BORE THE AUDIENCE, AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE BACK IN THE BREADLINE.
SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE SCENE DRAMATIC. IT IS NOT THE ACTORS JOB (THE ACTORS JOB IS TO BE TRUTHFUL). IT IS NOT THE DIRECTORS JOB. HIS OR HER JOB IS TO FILM IT STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND REMIND THE ACTORS TO TALK FAST. IT IS *YOUR* JOB.
EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.
THIS NEED IS WHY THEY *CAME*. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET *WILL* LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE,TO *FAILURE* – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS *OVER*. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE *NEXT* SCENE.
ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE *PLOT*.
ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.
YES BUT YES BUT YES BUT, YOU SAY: WHAT ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF WRITING IN ALL THAT “INFORMATION?”
AND I RESPOND “*FIGURE IT OUT*” ANY DICKHEAD WITH A BLUESUIT CAN BE (AND IS) TAUGHT TO SAY “MAKE IT CLEARER”, AND “I WANT TO KNOW MORE *ABOUT* HIM”.
WHEN YOU’VE MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT EVEN THIS BLUESUITED PENGUIN IS HAPPY, BOTH YOU AND HE OR SHE *WILL* BE OUT OF A JOB.
THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. *NOT* TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO*SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
ANY DICKHEAD, AS ABOVE, CAN WRITE, “BUT, JIM, IF WE DON’T ASSASSINATE THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEXT SCENE, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAME”
WE ARE NOT GETTING PAID TO *REALIZE* THAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS THIS INFORMATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT SCENE, BUT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE THE SCENE BEFORE US SUCH THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL BE INTERESTED IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
YES BUT, YES BUT YES *BUT* YOU REITERATE.
AND I RESPOND *FIGURE IT OUT*.
*HOW* DOES ONE STRIKE THE BALANCE BETWEEN WITHHOLDING AND VOUCHSAFING INFORMATION? *THAT* IS THE ESSENTIAL TASK OF THE DRAMATIST. AND THE ABILITY TO *DO* THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE LESSER SPECIES IN THEIR BLUE SUITS.
FIGURE IT OUT.
START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE *SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC*. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.
LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING “BOB AND SUE DISCUSS…” IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OUTLINES ARE, GENERALLY, SPECTACULAR. THE DRAMA FLOWS OUT BETWEEN THE OUTLINE AND THE FIRST DRAFT.
THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER RATHER THAN A FUNCTIONARY, BECAUSE, IN TRUTH, *YOU* ARE MAKING THE FILM. WHAT YOU WRITE, THEY WILL SHOOT.
HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
DO *NOT* WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR *AND* HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.
REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR A VISUAL MEDIUM. *MOST* TELEVISION WRITING, OURS INCLUDED, SOUNDS LIKE *RADIO*. THE *CAMERA* CAN DO THE EXPLAINING FOR YOU. *LET* IT. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS *DOING* -*LITERALLY*. WHAT ARE THEY HANDLING, WHAT ARE THEY READING. WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING ON TELEVISION, WHAT ARE THEY *SEEING*.
IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION,INDEED, OF *SPEECH*. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM - TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)
THIS IS A NEW SKILL. NO ONE DOES IT NATURALLY. YOU CAN TRAIN YOURSELVES TO DO IT, BUT YOU NEED TO *START*.
I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE *SCENE* AND ASK YOURSELF “IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT *ESSENTIAL*? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.
IF THE ANSWER IS “NO” WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU’VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.
LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05
(IT IS *NOT* YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, BUT IT IS YOUR, AND MY, RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW AND TO *ASK THE RIGHT Questions* OVER AND OVER. UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. I BELIEVE THEY ARE LISTED ABOVE.)”
March 19, 2010
King of Rock?
Reading Peter King's weekly pro football column on the Sports Illustrated website is a guilty pleasure. For one thing, for a guy who writes the most popular football column around King doesn't show a whole lot of football acumen. Whether he is picking games, analyzing the draft, or choosing his all-pro team, King leaves many of his readers scratching their heads. Even worse, he is not a very good writer, prone to cliches, self -righteousness, and an artificial folksiness that you just have to ignore. A typical King entry: "The folks at Webster's might want to consider using a photo of Kurt Warner next to the definition of "courage." Heckuva a football player, and an even better human being." Yuck.
Still, King always provides an incredible amount of information, rumors and quotes from all 32 teams. He has the best Rolodex in the business and football people give him the dirt. There would be no way to have a feel for what goes on around the league without reading King's column. The guys at ESPN know more about football but they can't touch King for the sheer breadth of his weekly reportage.
So Peter King remains an enduring guilty pleasure. Even in the offseason I try to catch his column. There are times, however, when King apparently has run out of things to write about football and lapses into other areas of expertise, and this past Monday's column was enough to curdle the milk in one of King's cherished Starbuck's hazelnut lattes:
But does Peter King even know who The Dells are? They have been together for over 50 years. They sang "Oh, What a Night." They backed up Ray Charles and Dionne Warwick. They consulted on the movie The Five Heartbeats. They had hit albums spanning from 1955 to 1981. In R&B circles their harmonies and vocals are revered. King cites their eight top-40 hits as if it were a demerit. Do we even need to review the musical greats who had only one top-40 hit, much less eight? Maybe Peter thinks that Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, Randy Newman and the Grateful Dead should all get out of the way for KISS as well? That's just the "one hit wonders" much less other great acts with less Top 40 hits than The Dells. Okay you get the point: number of Top 40 hits is no way to judge a band's greatness. Just because the preteen Peter King didn't have a Dells poster next to his Farrah Fawcett poster over his bed doesn't mean KISS has gotten the snub from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But King also throws around a couple of other names: The Stooges. Bobby Womack. People that King thinks need to take a back seat to the legend of Def Leppard. Let's take Womack first.
Q: What do Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, the Rolling Stones, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Janis Joplin, J. Geils Band, Sly and the Family Stone and Quentin Tarantino have in common? A: They all worked with Bobby Womack, used his songs, had him play in their backup bands. Now, nobody is even suggesting that this roster of collaborators can hold a candle to the band with a) the greatest one-armed drummer in the world and b) the greatest strip club song of all time, but I will point out that The Dells and Bobby Womack are both R&B legends. I'm guessing Peter King doesn't have a lot of Frankie Beverly and Maze CD's in his collection.
As for The Stooges, all I can say is if you want to know how we ever got to grunge and alt-punk, not to mention how we got to KISS for god sakes, start with The Stooges. Their influence on American rock is massive. They didn't make a ton of music but what they made carries a raw energy that sounded like nothing else coming out of the music scene 1969-73, something primitive and dangerous, an energy I'm not sure has ever really been surpassed. KISS wrote some nice power pop tunes, but nobody ever cites KISS as a musical influence. The Stooges were influential and don't deserve King's dismissal.
I'm not going to get into as much detail with Spooner Oldham but here are some of the people this great organist has played for and written songs for: Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge on "When a Man Loves a Woman," Janis Joplin, Wilson Pickett, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Everly Brothers. A legendary musician and songwriter, but unfortunately an R&B legend and, therefore, does not pass muster in the eyes of musicologist Peter King.
In sports, an athlete earns hall of fame consideration based on the numbers: home runs, touchdowns, goals. While there is always room for debate every time an Andre Dawson or Bruce Sutter is voted into the Hall of Fame, the debate rages over relatively narrow discrepancies in opinion. Sports fans look at the player's career statistics. Some athletes are clearly qualified, most are not, and a few have resumes that straddle the fence. But everyone agrees, more or less, on the criteria. They are readily and easily identified.
Music operates on a different frequency. The achievements, the influences, not easily quantified. In football we might argue that one running back was truly great while another back with similar statistics benefited from a great offensive line, but the two players are both trying to gain yards, score touchdowns. Musicians make music for all kinds of reasons, for all kinds of audiences. Yes, there are numbers available - album sales, Top 40 hits, Grammy Awards. That tells us who won the popularity contest, perhaps, or who got marketed the best. But music doesn't happen on a court or between the hash marks. There is no shot clock, no three strikes and you're out. Every song is painted on a blank canvas. While there may be rules to making music, those rules are meant to be broken. Trying to distill the creative process and its impact on each and every listener down to sales figures is like ranking orchids. That's why a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can never be taken as seriously as its sports-related counterparts, and why citing the number of Top-40 hits a band has is irrelevant at best.
I get the feeling Peter King judges bands on how often he saw their cassette tapes offered for sale in the Columbia House music catalogs. "11 albums for $1. What a great country we live in."
Still, King always provides an incredible amount of information, rumors and quotes from all 32 teams. He has the best Rolodex in the business and football people give him the dirt. There would be no way to have a feel for what goes on around the league without reading King's column. The guys at ESPN know more about football but they can't touch King for the sheer breadth of his weekly reportage.
So Peter King remains an enduring guilty pleasure. Even in the offseason I try to catch his column. There are times, however, when King apparently has run out of things to write about football and lapses into other areas of expertise, and this past Monday's column was enough to curdle the milk in one of King's cherished Starbuck's hazelnut lattes:
Cool story in the Boston Herald Sunday about the great omissions to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not in: KISS, Chicago, Neil Diamond, Yes, Tom Waits, Def Leppard, Dire Straits, The Commodores. I wasn't sure of the great injustices there (except for Neil Diamond, with his incredible 37 top-40 hits), but then I looked at the roster of inductees and found: The Stooges, Spooner Oldham, Bobby Womack, The Ventures, The Dells (eight top-40 hits), Gene Pitney, and let's not forget Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Sometime, when you think me and my fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee members are off our rockers, please refer to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that excludes KISS and includes The Dells.I actually like KISS, or at least like them enough to have the KISS My Ass tribute covers album. KISS was a mega-sensation from 1975-77. They had some huge songs and were one of rock's most successful bands at a time when people were wondering if rock was dead. Their makeup and theatrics are enduringly famous and have made the pantheon of Halloween costumes. They probably deserve a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, eventually, though it would be more for their fame and fortune than for their musical chops. But still, a noteworthy band that made its mark.
But does Peter King even know who The Dells are? They have been together for over 50 years. They sang "Oh, What a Night." They backed up Ray Charles and Dionne Warwick. They consulted on the movie The Five Heartbeats. They had hit albums spanning from 1955 to 1981. In R&B circles their harmonies and vocals are revered. King cites their eight top-40 hits as if it were a demerit. Do we even need to review the musical greats who had only one top-40 hit, much less eight? Maybe Peter thinks that Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, Randy Newman and the Grateful Dead should all get out of the way for KISS as well? That's just the "one hit wonders" much less other great acts with less Top 40 hits than The Dells. Okay you get the point: number of Top 40 hits is no way to judge a band's greatness. Just because the preteen Peter King didn't have a Dells poster next to his Farrah Fawcett poster over his bed doesn't mean KISS has gotten the snub from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But King also throws around a couple of other names: The Stooges. Bobby Womack. People that King thinks need to take a back seat to the legend of Def Leppard. Let's take Womack first.
Q: What do Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, the Rolling Stones, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Janis Joplin, J. Geils Band, Sly and the Family Stone and Quentin Tarantino have in common? A: They all worked with Bobby Womack, used his songs, had him play in their backup bands. Now, nobody is even suggesting that this roster of collaborators can hold a candle to the band with a) the greatest one-armed drummer in the world and b) the greatest strip club song of all time, but I will point out that The Dells and Bobby Womack are both R&B legends. I'm guessing Peter King doesn't have a lot of Frankie Beverly and Maze CD's in his collection.
As for The Stooges, all I can say is if you want to know how we ever got to grunge and alt-punk, not to mention how we got to KISS for god sakes, start with The Stooges. Their influence on American rock is massive. They didn't make a ton of music but what they made carries a raw energy that sounded like nothing else coming out of the music scene 1969-73, something primitive and dangerous, an energy I'm not sure has ever really been surpassed. KISS wrote some nice power pop tunes, but nobody ever cites KISS as a musical influence. The Stooges were influential and don't deserve King's dismissal.
I'm not going to get into as much detail with Spooner Oldham but here are some of the people this great organist has played for and written songs for: Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge on "When a Man Loves a Woman," Janis Joplin, Wilson Pickett, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Everly Brothers. A legendary musician and songwriter, but unfortunately an R&B legend and, therefore, does not pass muster in the eyes of musicologist Peter King.
In sports, an athlete earns hall of fame consideration based on the numbers: home runs, touchdowns, goals. While there is always room for debate every time an Andre Dawson or Bruce Sutter is voted into the Hall of Fame, the debate rages over relatively narrow discrepancies in opinion. Sports fans look at the player's career statistics. Some athletes are clearly qualified, most are not, and a few have resumes that straddle the fence. But everyone agrees, more or less, on the criteria. They are readily and easily identified.
Music operates on a different frequency. The achievements, the influences, not easily quantified. In football we might argue that one running back was truly great while another back with similar statistics benefited from a great offensive line, but the two players are both trying to gain yards, score touchdowns. Musicians make music for all kinds of reasons, for all kinds of audiences. Yes, there are numbers available - album sales, Top 40 hits, Grammy Awards. That tells us who won the popularity contest, perhaps, or who got marketed the best. But music doesn't happen on a court or between the hash marks. There is no shot clock, no three strikes and you're out. Every song is painted on a blank canvas. While there may be rules to making music, those rules are meant to be broken. Trying to distill the creative process and its impact on each and every listener down to sales figures is like ranking orchids. That's why a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can never be taken as seriously as its sports-related counterparts, and why citing the number of Top-40 hits a band has is irrelevant at best.
I get the feeling Peter King judges bands on how often he saw their cassette tapes offered for sale in the Columbia House music catalogs. "11 albums for $1. What a great country we live in."
March 08, 2010
How to Remove Plaque
Like many adults, when I go home to stay with my parents I return to a bedroom left mostly preserved from my teen years. It's not exactly a shrine, more like seeing the set of Leave it to Beaver or Fonzie's jacket at the Museum of Natural History. Resting on bookshelves are the various sports trophies, ribbons and medals I won as a kid and high schooler, mostly in basketball and soccer.
Among the prizes on display are two plaques, one for being the Most Improved Player on my high school basketball team, the other a wood and metal representation of a basketball going into a basket. I think I won that plaque for winning the one-on-one basketball competition at sports camp. I was 12-13 years old at the time and I remember facing a guy named Goldstein in the finals, with the entire camp watching. Goldstein was quick, crafty, and a good shooter. It was a real dogfight and I think I prevailed 10-9. For this they gave me a plaque.
Back in September we visited my parents in Maryland for Rosh Hashana. Archie, now 5, asked me about the trophies and awards on display, what I got them for and how old I was at the time. At the end of the visit he gave the two plaques to Ora to pack up and bring back to Brooklyn. When we got home he placed them on the window sill near his bed. At bedtime that night he showed me the plaques. In the dark I whispered "someday you're going to win your own trophies and then you won't need mine."
This winter Archie played on his first real soccer team and in his first basketball clinic. He was playing with older kids in both sports; many of the basketball kids were 7 years old. Archie handled himself admirably. He never looked to me for help and he never stopped trying. He also played damn well, his skill level leapfrogging over many of the older players. He was lucky to have excellent coaches in both sports: The soccer coach is the coach at Poly Prep and his basketball coach just won his 300th game at Friends Seminary. Plus both coaches are great guys.
Pathetically, predictably, I silently lived and breathed every goal and made basket of every game and practice. I felt less like a rabid zealot when the soccer coach, whose daughter was on the team, confessed to a similar level of excitement. Basically, I loved every minute of these first opportunities to watch Archie play - and enjoy - sports. He couldn't get enough. In the spring he will play on his first Little League baseball team with two of his friends (I am a co-coach) and I hope for more of the same.
This past weekend the soccer and basketball seasons came to a close. After the soccer game Archie got a nice trophy, 12 inches tall with a spinning soccer ball on top. His basketball group got to perform a dribbling exhibition at halftime of a game between older kids in the same youth league, after which he and his co-players each received a nice medal, not to mention pizza and juice. A great way to wrap things up.
Later in the evening I went out to play tennis. When I got back Archie was asleep. I went into my room and saw that he had moved my two plaques to the night table next to my bed. I tiptoed over to his room and peeked in. The soccer trophy and basketball medal rested on his window sill. I don't know whether Archie took my whispered message literally or if he found the same poignancy I felt in his achievements. I am not going to ask.
Among the prizes on display are two plaques, one for being the Most Improved Player on my high school basketball team, the other a wood and metal representation of a basketball going into a basket. I think I won that plaque for winning the one-on-one basketball competition at sports camp. I was 12-13 years old at the time and I remember facing a guy named Goldstein in the finals, with the entire camp watching. Goldstein was quick, crafty, and a good shooter. It was a real dogfight and I think I prevailed 10-9. For this they gave me a plaque.
Back in September we visited my parents in Maryland for Rosh Hashana. Archie, now 5, asked me about the trophies and awards on display, what I got them for and how old I was at the time. At the end of the visit he gave the two plaques to Ora to pack up and bring back to Brooklyn. When we got home he placed them on the window sill near his bed. At bedtime that night he showed me the plaques. In the dark I whispered "someday you're going to win your own trophies and then you won't need mine."
This winter Archie played on his first real soccer team and in his first basketball clinic. He was playing with older kids in both sports; many of the basketball kids were 7 years old. Archie handled himself admirably. He never looked to me for help and he never stopped trying. He also played damn well, his skill level leapfrogging over many of the older players. He was lucky to have excellent coaches in both sports: The soccer coach is the coach at Poly Prep and his basketball coach just won his 300th game at Friends Seminary. Plus both coaches are great guys.
Pathetically, predictably, I silently lived and breathed every goal and made basket of every game and practice. I felt less like a rabid zealot when the soccer coach, whose daughter was on the team, confessed to a similar level of excitement. Basically, I loved every minute of these first opportunities to watch Archie play - and enjoy - sports. He couldn't get enough. In the spring he will play on his first Little League baseball team with two of his friends (I am a co-coach) and I hope for more of the same.
This past weekend the soccer and basketball seasons came to a close. After the soccer game Archie got a nice trophy, 12 inches tall with a spinning soccer ball on top. His basketball group got to perform a dribbling exhibition at halftime of a game between older kids in the same youth league, after which he and his co-players each received a nice medal, not to mention pizza and juice. A great way to wrap things up.
Later in the evening I went out to play tennis. When I got back Archie was asleep. I went into my room and saw that he had moved my two plaques to the night table next to my bed. I tiptoed over to his room and peeked in. The soccer trophy and basketball medal rested on his window sill. I don't know whether Archie took my whispered message literally or if he found the same poignancy I felt in his achievements. I am not going to ask.
Don't Call It a Comeback
I haven't used the blog in a long time. I would like to find a focus for it but for now, using it as a journal for random thoughts is better than not using it at all. Sometimes I will ramble and sometimes I will post 50 words and sign out. Either way, something rather than nothing.
January 10, 2009
Beatles survey results
Sorry for being overdue on this. I've compiled the results from the Beatles survey. I am going to lay out some stats in this email. If you have any questions about the results, just let me know. But if anybody wants to comment on the results, please follow this link to a defunct blog I once set up, where I will post this information and you can comment to your heart's content without clogging up anyone's email inbox:
http://generalrodetsky.blogspot.com/
The Beatles are not my favorite band, but I do think they wrote more great songs than any other musical act in the past 50 years. Lennon and McCartney - and George Harrison in his own right - were incredible, prolific songwriters who combined the romantic and cynical, and who evolved in lockstep with the 60's, and burned out in synchronicity with the 60's as well. I just can't get my head around how much incredible music they churned out in a 5-6 year span. The Beatles are also as ubiquitous as it gets, except maybe for Bob Marley. And my son, Archie (4) is currently obsessed with the Beatles, and I've enjoyed listening to CD's I'd kind of forgotten about and finding lots of new songs to get into. So I thought it would be fun to see which songs - and albums - were the most popular.
The results surprised me to some extent. For example, I was sure that Hey Jude or Yesterday would be the most popular song choice. Hope you enjoy seeing who picked what.
Number of respondents: 53
Number of different songs cited: 92 (!)
Most popular songs:
Here Comes the Sun 15
In My Life 11
Let It Be 10
Come Together 9
Eleanor Rigby 9
Hey Jude 8
Blackbird 8
A Day in the Life 8
While My Gutar Gently Weeps 8
Yesterday 7
I Am the Walrus 6
Norwegian Wood 6
With a Little Help From My Friends 6
I never expected Here Comes the Sun to be that popular....
Most frequently cited albums:
Abbey Road 45
White Album 38
Revolver 24
Sgt Pepper 23
Rubber Soul 22
Let It Be 21
Help! 21
Magical Mystery Tour 18
Abbey Road total doesn't even include several people who wanted to name the second side medley as one of their selections.
I think Rubber Soul and Help! are under-represented.
I think this distribution is further proof that Sgt. Pepper is the greatest Beatles album in reputation only.
Josh K's top 5:
I am the Walrus
Don’t Let Me Down
Got to Get You Into My Life
In My Life
Something
My list changed constantly but the top 3 were consistent.
Josh K's next 5:
Glass Onion
Come Together
Rain
The Word
Across the Universe
Dear Prudence
Okay now I'm up to 11....it's rough.
In addition to the 92 songs nominated, here are another 33 super-worthy songs that didn't even make anybody's list:
A Hard Day’s Night
And I Love Her
Any Time At All
Birthday
Fixing a Hole
Fool on the Hill
Getting Better
Girl
Glass Onion
Good Day Sunshine
Hello Goodbye
I Should Have Known Better
I’ll Be Back
I’m a Loser
If I Needed Someone
It Won’t Be Long
It’s All Too Much
Lady Madonna
Love You To
Magical Mystery Tour
Mother Nature’s Son
Ob La Di Ob La Da
P.S. I Love You
Rocky Raccoon
She Loves You
She’s Leaving Home
The Word
Think for Yourself
Twist and Shout
Yellow Submarine
Yer Blues
You Can’t Do That
You Won’t See Me
Finally, here are all the songs nominated and how many times they got named. No number means they were only mentioned once.
A Day in the Life 8
Across the Universe 2
All My Loving
All Together Now
All You Need Is Love 4
Baby You’re a Rich Man
Back in the USSR
Because
Blackbird 8
Can’t Buy Me Love 2
Carry That Weight
Come Together 9
Cry Baby Cry
Dear Prudence 4
Don’t Let Me Down
Don’t Pass Me By
Drive My Car
Eight Days a Week 2
Eleanor Rigby 9
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
Get Back 2
Getting Better
Good Day Sunshine
Got to Get You Into My Life 4
Happiness Is a Warm Gun 3
Help! 2
Helter Skelter
Here Comes the Sun 15
Here There and Everywhere 4
Hey Bulldog
2
Hey Jude 8
I Am the Walrus 6
I Dig a Pony
I Feel Fine
I got a Feeling
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand 2
I Want You
I Will
I’ll Cry Instead 2
I’m Looking Through You 2
I’m Only Sleeping
I’m So Tired 3
I’ve Just Seen a Face 6
If I Fell
In My Life 11
Julia
Let It Be 10
Love Me Do
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds 3
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Michelle
Norwegian Wood 6
Not a Second Time
Nowhere Man
Octopus’s Garden 2
Oh! Darling 2
Old Brown Shoe 3
Paperback Writer 2
Penny Lane 2
Please Please Me 2
Rain 2
Revolution 1 4
Rock and Roll Music
Savoy Truffle
Sexy Sadie
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 3
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window 3
She Said She Said
She’s Leaving Home
Something 5
Strawberry Fields Forever 4
Taxman 3
Tell Me Why 3
The Ballad of John and Yoko 2
The End 3
The Long and Winding Road 4
Ticket to Ride
Tomorrow Never Knows 2
Two of Us 2
We Can Work It Out
When I Get Home
When I’m 64
While My Guitar Gently Weeps 8
With A Little Help Fom My Friends 6
Within You Without You
Yesterday 7
You Know My Name
You Never Give Me Your Money 2
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away 5
Your Mother Should Know 2
http://generalrodetsky.blogspot.com/
The Beatles are not my favorite band, but I do think they wrote more great songs than any other musical act in the past 50 years. Lennon and McCartney - and George Harrison in his own right - were incredible, prolific songwriters who combined the romantic and cynical, and who evolved in lockstep with the 60's, and burned out in synchronicity with the 60's as well. I just can't get my head around how much incredible music they churned out in a 5-6 year span. The Beatles are also as ubiquitous as it gets, except maybe for Bob Marley. And my son, Archie (4) is currently obsessed with the Beatles, and I've enjoyed listening to CD's I'd kind of forgotten about and finding lots of new songs to get into. So I thought it would be fun to see which songs - and albums - were the most popular.
The results surprised me to some extent. For example, I was sure that Hey Jude or Yesterday would be the most popular song choice. Hope you enjoy seeing who picked what.
Number of respondents: 53
Number of different songs cited: 92 (!)
Most popular songs:
Here Comes the Sun 15
In My Life 11
Let It Be 10
Come Together 9
Eleanor Rigby 9
Hey Jude 8
Blackbird 8
A Day in the Life 8
While My Gutar Gently Weeps 8
Yesterday 7
I Am the Walrus 6
Norwegian Wood 6
With a Little Help From My Friends 6
I never expected Here Comes the Sun to be that popular....
Most frequently cited albums:
Abbey Road 45
White Album 38
Revolver 24
Sgt Pepper 23
Rubber Soul 22
Let It Be 21
Help! 21
Magical Mystery Tour 18
Abbey Road total doesn't even include several people who wanted to name the second side medley as one of their selections.
I think Rubber Soul and Help! are under-represented.
I think this distribution is further proof that Sgt. Pepper is the greatest Beatles album in reputation only.
Josh K's top 5:
I am the Walrus
Don’t Let Me Down
Got to Get You Into My Life
In My Life
Something
My list changed constantly but the top 3 were consistent.
Josh K's next 5:
Glass Onion
Come Together
Rain
The Word
Across the Universe
Dear Prudence
Okay now I'm up to 11....it's rough.
In addition to the 92 songs nominated, here are another 33 super-worthy songs that didn't even make anybody's list:
A Hard Day’s Night
And I Love Her
Any Time At All
Birthday
Fixing a Hole
Fool on the Hill
Getting Better
Girl
Glass Onion
Good Day Sunshine
Hello Goodbye
I Should Have Known Better
I’ll Be Back
I’m a Loser
If I Needed Someone
It Won’t Be Long
It’s All Too Much
Lady Madonna
Love You To
Magical Mystery Tour
Mother Nature’s Son
Ob La Di Ob La Da
P.S. I Love You
Rocky Raccoon
She Loves You
She’s Leaving Home
The Word
Think for Yourself
Twist and Shout
Yellow Submarine
Yer Blues
You Can’t Do That
You Won’t See Me
Finally, here are all the songs nominated and how many times they got named. No number means they were only mentioned once.
A Day in the Life 8
Across the Universe 2
All My Loving
All Together Now
All You Need Is Love 4
Baby You’re a Rich Man
Back in the USSR
Because
Blackbird 8
Can’t Buy Me Love 2
Carry That Weight
Come Together 9
Cry Baby Cry
Dear Prudence 4
Don’t Let Me Down
Don’t Pass Me By
Drive My Car
Eight Days a Week 2
Eleanor Rigby 9
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
Get Back 2
Getting Better
Good Day Sunshine
Got to Get You Into My Life 4
Happiness Is a Warm Gun 3
Help! 2
Helter Skelter
Here Comes the Sun 15
Here There and Everywhere 4
Hey Bulldog
2
Hey Jude 8
I Am the Walrus 6
I Dig a Pony
I Feel Fine
I got a Feeling
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand 2
I Want You
I Will
I’ll Cry Instead 2
I’m Looking Through You 2
I’m Only Sleeping
I’m So Tired 3
I’ve Just Seen a Face 6
If I Fell
In My Life 11
Julia
Let It Be 10
Love Me Do
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds 3
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Michelle
Norwegian Wood 6
Not a Second Time
Nowhere Man
Octopus’s Garden 2
Oh! Darling 2
Old Brown Shoe 3
Paperback Writer 2
Penny Lane 2
Please Please Me 2
Rain 2
Revolution 1 4
Rock and Roll Music
Savoy Truffle
Sexy Sadie
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 3
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window 3
She Said She Said
She’s Leaving Home
Something 5
Strawberry Fields Forever 4
Taxman 3
Tell Me Why 3
The Ballad of John and Yoko 2
The End 3
The Long and Winding Road 4
Ticket to Ride
Tomorrow Never Knows 2
Two of Us 2
We Can Work It Out
When I Get Home
When I’m 64
While My Guitar Gently Weeps 8
With A Little Help Fom My Friends 6
Within You Without You
Yesterday 7
You Know My Name
You Never Give Me Your Money 2
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away 5
Your Mother Should Know 2
March 18, 2008
Change I Can Believe In
I was wrong.
Barack Obama is the right candidate, warts and all.
Any politician who could make the speech he made today, synthesizing our country's socioeconomic challenges with the highest level of insight, diplomacy and compassion I have ever witnessed from a national figure, earns my vote.
Ask yourself whether Hillary Clinton, in a dozen lifetimes, could speak with the honesty that Obama delivered today.
I voted for Hillary in the primary, but I will support and volunteer for Obama going forward.
And yes, the speech was that good. But I was already on the verge of switching after Hillary broadcst the 3 AM ad and failed to dismiss Ferraro immediately (waiting a few days to see how the wind was blowing and then axing Gerry was almost worse, showed cold calculation and nothing more). I hesitated because of how unfairly Hillary's appearance on 60 Minutes was handled by the media (http://mediamatters.org/columns/200803110002) and learning that even some of Bill's comments in South Carolina were taken out of context.
But it's no longer about voting for or against Hillary. It's about voting for a candidate who showed the guts I've been desperately waiting for a Democratic candidate to have for a long time. I don't know how the national media will play the speech; I'm not exactly optimistic. But I can't imagine that anyone who heard and read every word wouldn't be moved by the moment.
Here's the full text of the speech:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808A.shtml
Barack Obama is the right candidate, warts and all.
Any politician who could make the speech he made today, synthesizing our country's socioeconomic challenges with the highest level of insight, diplomacy and compassion I have ever witnessed from a national figure, earns my vote.
Ask yourself whether Hillary Clinton, in a dozen lifetimes, could speak with the honesty that Obama delivered today.
I voted for Hillary in the primary, but I will support and volunteer for Obama going forward.
And yes, the speech was that good. But I was already on the verge of switching after Hillary broadcst the 3 AM ad and failed to dismiss Ferraro immediately (waiting a few days to see how the wind was blowing and then axing Gerry was almost worse, showed cold calculation and nothing more). I hesitated because of how unfairly Hillary's appearance on 60 Minutes was handled by the media (http://mediamatters.org/columns/200803110002) and learning that even some of Bill's comments in South Carolina were taken out of context.
But it's no longer about voting for or against Hillary. It's about voting for a candidate who showed the guts I've been desperately waiting for a Democratic candidate to have for a long time. I don't know how the national media will play the speech; I'm not exactly optimistic. But I can't imagine that anyone who heard and read every word wouldn't be moved by the moment.
Here's the full text of the speech:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031808A.shtml
Obama's pivotal speech later today
I am really pulling for Obama to come up with a speech that makes the Gettysburg Address look like a to-do list, because I don't want to see him win or lose based on this. It's bad enough that Obama has backed off his standard stump speech farewell (see end of article). When I say "bad," I refer to what it signifies: Obama is feeling the heat and feels compelled to change his core message. That's unfortunate, because there is nothing offensive about his core message. I still believe he's more pomp than circumstance, but I respect the power of his rhetoric and I think principle means more to him than the other remaining candidates. So what is it that made Obama feel like he had to change his carefully-chosen goodbye?
What did Jeremiah Wright actually say?
Here's the text of his Audacity of Hope speech from 1990, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan's blog: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/for-the-record.html
And here is a much more comprehensive look at the issues and people involved, with lots of good links:
http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2008/03/obamas-pastor-j.html
Everyone should read these sources before they offer any comment, except one: rest assured that the media has no interest in getting this story correct. They want to "spark debate," "investigate allegations." Bull. They want good old-fashioned controversy so they can sell more ads. This kind of storyline is more than enough to pull white voters away from Obama in November. How many people are going to bother delving deeper?
Which is why it's so important for Obama to address this story head on. He's doing what Kerry should have done on Swift Boat: DON'T WAIT. BE CLEAR. RESPOND DIRECTLY.
None of which gets to the real heart of the matter. The Times article mentions "Mr. Wright’s characterizations of the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous." As far as I am concerned, two out of those three adjectives are inarguable. This country is still fundamentally racist. We've made progress from slavery, segregation, George Wallace. But does anyone really believe racism isn't still prevalent in this country? Is this even debatable? Old habits die hard. This country, and this world, has a long way to go. And calling the government corrupt - doesn't everybody feel that way to some degree or another? I for one, agree to a radical degree that our government is corrupt, that there is a military-industrial complex that works against the public good, that we should only elect candidates who support campaign finance reform. Those comments should not be considered controversial, much less something that brings down Obama's candidacy.
I don't know Wright's words that are the basis for the Times saying he considers the United States government "murderous." In fact, in his 1990 speech, the most relevant comments are simply:
Our world cares more about bombs for the enemy than about bread for the hungry. This world is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character—a world more finicky about what's on the outside of your head than about the quality of your education or what's inside your head.
I don't have a problem with that. Who would?
If he called the United States murderous, I wouldn't find that unpatriotic. Just like you can be against a war but pray for your soliders to come back safely, you can love your country but hate some of the things it does. The United States killed a lot of innocent Iraqis when it invaded Baghdad, Iraqis with just as much a right to live as anyone else - even Americans. If Wright considered the invasion a murderous act, he's not unpatriotic for doing so.
I need to find some Youtube clips to be more thorough, but I am going to pray for Obama to make a speech of a lifetime today. If he's going to lose, I don't want it to be on these terms.
March 18, 2008
On Defensive, Obama Plans Talk on Race
By JODI KANTOR and JEFF ZELENY
Faced with what his advisers acknowledged was a major test to his candidacy, Senator Barack Obama sought on Monday to contain the damage from incendiary comments made by his pastor and prepared to address the issue of race more directly than at any other moment of his presidential campaign.
Though he has faced questions about controversial statements by the pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., for more than a year, Mr. Obama is enduring intense new scrutiny now over Mr. Wright’s characterizations of the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous.
Mr. Obama, in a speech Tuesday in Philadelphia, will repeat his earlier denunciations of the minister’s words, aides said. But they said he would also use the opportunity to open a broader discussion of race, which his campaign has said throughout the contest that it wants to transcend. He will bluntly address racial divisions, one aide said, talking about the way they play out in church, in the campaign, and beyond.
Mr. Obama continued to write the speech on Monday evening, which he believes could be one of the most important of his presidential candidacy, aides said. His wife, Michelle, had not been scheduled to travel with him this week, but hastily made plans to be in Philadelphia.
Mr. Obama said Monday that in his speech, to be given at the National Constitution Center, he would “talk a little bit about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church community, for example, which I think views this very differently.”
After removing Mr. Wright from a religious advisory committee on his campaign on Friday, Mr. Obama concluded over the weekend that he had not sufficiently explained his association with the pastor. He told several aides he was worried that if voters did not hear directly from him — in the setting of a major speech — doubts and questions about him might grow.
Some associates advised him against giving the speech. “Race is now officially on the table. It’s not going away after this,” a senior aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled one adviser saying.
The episode has left Mr. Obama tending to a firestorm fed by matters no less combustible than faith, patriotism and race. It could help Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign advance its argument that Mr. Obama is “unvetted,” and that he is less electable than Mrs. Clinton come fall. In interviews, Republican strategists mapped out how Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright could be used against him in a general election.
By addressing head-on such sensitive topics, his speech, aides and other Democrats said, could be a pivotal moment for Mr. Obama, who, for all of his electoral victories and copious news coverage, is still known only in the broadest terms by many Americans.
“This isn’t red and blue America,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic consultant, referring to the address that catapulted Mr. Obama to prominence at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. “This is black and white America.”
“And when you really have a serious conversation about race, people clear the room,” said Ms. Brazile, who as the manager of Al Gore’s bid for the White House in 2000 was the first black woman to run a major presidential campaign.
Mr. Obama is particularly vulnerable because voters are still getting to know him, said Democratic and Republican strategists — and a few voters as well. The Wright affair “makes me question other things. What else do we not know?” asked Karen Norton, 58, a computer saleswoman in North Carolina and a Republican who said that, until now, she had been stirred by Mr. Obama’s message of national reconciliation.
Mr. Wright’s statements, said strategists, threaten his greatest strength, his reputation as a unifying, uplifting figure, capable of moving the country past old labels and divisions.
“The problem is the complete contradiction between the message of the Obama campaign and the message of the minister who’s been his close friend and confidant for 20 years,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant unaffiliated with any campaign.
Mr. Obama has also pitched himself as a candidate who can attract religious voters back to the Democratic Party, one who speaks the language of the Bible fluently and testifies about what he says is the impact of Christianity on his own life.
“What better way to try to undercut the way he integrates faith and political vision than to say we should all be secretly afraid of his church?” said Jim Wallis, a left-leaning evangelical who has had longstanding relationships with both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and who says that Mr. Wright has been unfairly caricatured in recent portrayals.
In strategic terms, Mr. Wright’s statements are tricky for the Obama campaign to address. The more the candidate denounces the minister’s words, the more voters may question why Mr. Obama attached himself to Mr. Wright in the first place and stuck with him for so long, not only attending his church but naming a book after one of his sermons.
Because of his own emphasis on powerful oratory, said Todd Harris, a Republican strategist, Mr. Obama cannot dismiss Mr. Wright’s words as mere rhetoric.
“At the core of the campaign is the fact that words matter,” said Mr. Harris, who is not now affiliated with any campaign. “Central to the idea of his candidacy is the idea that a speech can change the world. You can’t have a campaign that has that notion at its core and then point to other people’s words and say, those don’t really matter.”
Asked how Republicans might use the Wright matter in the general election, Mr. Harris cited several incidents that could be used to question Mr. Obama’s patriotism. “Negative ads are built on negative patterns,” he said.
He pointed to Mr. Obama decision to stop wearing a American flag lapel pin and the statement that his wife made about being proud of her country for the first time in her lifetime. (Mr. Obama has called the lapel pin an empty symbol of patriotism, and Mrs. Obama has said she was quoted out of context).
Five weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, Mr. Obama had hoped to be refining his strategy to win over the support of white male voters — a demographic that began to slip away in his Ohio defeat. Instead he is facing his second straight week of negative news coverage. In a television interview with PBS on Monday, Mr. Obama called his pastor’s remarks “stupid” and conceded, “it has been a distraction from the core message of our campaign.”
If his earlier appearances in the day were any guide, he is making a few subtle alterations to his routine on the campaign trail.
In his many months of stumping, Mr. Obama has rarely bid farewell to an audience the way he did at a morning event in Monaca, Pa. “God bless you and God bless America!” he proclaimed.
Jeff Zeleny reported from Monaca, Pa.
What did Jeremiah Wright actually say?
Here's the text of his Audacity of Hope speech from 1990, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan's blog: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/for-the-record.html
And here is a much more comprehensive look at the issues and people involved, with lots of good links:
http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2008/03/obamas-pastor-j.html
Everyone should read these sources before they offer any comment, except one: rest assured that the media has no interest in getting this story correct. They want to "spark debate," "investigate allegations." Bull. They want good old-fashioned controversy so they can sell more ads. This kind of storyline is more than enough to pull white voters away from Obama in November. How many people are going to bother delving deeper?
Which is why it's so important for Obama to address this story head on. He's doing what Kerry should have done on Swift Boat: DON'T WAIT. BE CLEAR. RESPOND DIRECTLY.
None of which gets to the real heart of the matter. The Times article mentions "Mr. Wright’s characterizations of the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous." As far as I am concerned, two out of those three adjectives are inarguable. This country is still fundamentally racist. We've made progress from slavery, segregation, George Wallace. But does anyone really believe racism isn't still prevalent in this country? Is this even debatable? Old habits die hard. This country, and this world, has a long way to go. And calling the government corrupt - doesn't everybody feel that way to some degree or another? I for one, agree to a radical degree that our government is corrupt, that there is a military-industrial complex that works against the public good, that we should only elect candidates who support campaign finance reform. Those comments should not be considered controversial, much less something that brings down Obama's candidacy.
I don't know Wright's words that are the basis for the Times saying he considers the United States government "murderous." In fact, in his 1990 speech, the most relevant comments are simply:
Our world cares more about bombs for the enemy than about bread for the hungry. This world is still more concerned about the color of skin than it is about the content of character—a world more finicky about what's on the outside of your head than about the quality of your education or what's inside your head.
I don't have a problem with that. Who would?
If he called the United States murderous, I wouldn't find that unpatriotic. Just like you can be against a war but pray for your soliders to come back safely, you can love your country but hate some of the things it does. The United States killed a lot of innocent Iraqis when it invaded Baghdad, Iraqis with just as much a right to live as anyone else - even Americans. If Wright considered the invasion a murderous act, he's not unpatriotic for doing so.
I need to find some Youtube clips to be more thorough, but I am going to pray for Obama to make a speech of a lifetime today. If he's going to lose, I don't want it to be on these terms.
March 18, 2008
On Defensive, Obama Plans Talk on Race
By JODI KANTOR and JEFF ZELENY
Faced with what his advisers acknowledged was a major test to his candidacy, Senator Barack Obama sought on Monday to contain the damage from incendiary comments made by his pastor and prepared to address the issue of race more directly than at any other moment of his presidential campaign.
Though he has faced questions about controversial statements by the pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., for more than a year, Mr. Obama is enduring intense new scrutiny now over Mr. Wright’s characterizations of the United States as fundamentally racist and the government as corrupt and murderous.
Mr. Obama, in a speech Tuesday in Philadelphia, will repeat his earlier denunciations of the minister’s words, aides said. But they said he would also use the opportunity to open a broader discussion of race, which his campaign has said throughout the contest that it wants to transcend. He will bluntly address racial divisions, one aide said, talking about the way they play out in church, in the campaign, and beyond.
Mr. Obama continued to write the speech on Monday evening, which he believes could be one of the most important of his presidential candidacy, aides said. His wife, Michelle, had not been scheduled to travel with him this week, but hastily made plans to be in Philadelphia.
Mr. Obama said Monday that in his speech, to be given at the National Constitution Center, he would “talk a little bit about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church community, for example, which I think views this very differently.”
After removing Mr. Wright from a religious advisory committee on his campaign on Friday, Mr. Obama concluded over the weekend that he had not sufficiently explained his association with the pastor. He told several aides he was worried that if voters did not hear directly from him — in the setting of a major speech — doubts and questions about him might grow.
Some associates advised him against giving the speech. “Race is now officially on the table. It’s not going away after this,” a senior aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled one adviser saying.
The episode has left Mr. Obama tending to a firestorm fed by matters no less combustible than faith, patriotism and race. It could help Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign advance its argument that Mr. Obama is “unvetted,” and that he is less electable than Mrs. Clinton come fall. In interviews, Republican strategists mapped out how Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright could be used against him in a general election.
By addressing head-on such sensitive topics, his speech, aides and other Democrats said, could be a pivotal moment for Mr. Obama, who, for all of his electoral victories and copious news coverage, is still known only in the broadest terms by many Americans.
“This isn’t red and blue America,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic consultant, referring to the address that catapulted Mr. Obama to prominence at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. “This is black and white America.”
“And when you really have a serious conversation about race, people clear the room,” said Ms. Brazile, who as the manager of Al Gore’s bid for the White House in 2000 was the first black woman to run a major presidential campaign.
Mr. Obama is particularly vulnerable because voters are still getting to know him, said Democratic and Republican strategists — and a few voters as well. The Wright affair “makes me question other things. What else do we not know?” asked Karen Norton, 58, a computer saleswoman in North Carolina and a Republican who said that, until now, she had been stirred by Mr. Obama’s message of national reconciliation.
Mr. Wright’s statements, said strategists, threaten his greatest strength, his reputation as a unifying, uplifting figure, capable of moving the country past old labels and divisions.
“The problem is the complete contradiction between the message of the Obama campaign and the message of the minister who’s been his close friend and confidant for 20 years,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant unaffiliated with any campaign.
Mr. Obama has also pitched himself as a candidate who can attract religious voters back to the Democratic Party, one who speaks the language of the Bible fluently and testifies about what he says is the impact of Christianity on his own life.
“What better way to try to undercut the way he integrates faith and political vision than to say we should all be secretly afraid of his church?” said Jim Wallis, a left-leaning evangelical who has had longstanding relationships with both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and who says that Mr. Wright has been unfairly caricatured in recent portrayals.
In strategic terms, Mr. Wright’s statements are tricky for the Obama campaign to address. The more the candidate denounces the minister’s words, the more voters may question why Mr. Obama attached himself to Mr. Wright in the first place and stuck with him for so long, not only attending his church but naming a book after one of his sermons.
Because of his own emphasis on powerful oratory, said Todd Harris, a Republican strategist, Mr. Obama cannot dismiss Mr. Wright’s words as mere rhetoric.
“At the core of the campaign is the fact that words matter,” said Mr. Harris, who is not now affiliated with any campaign. “Central to the idea of his candidacy is the idea that a speech can change the world. You can’t have a campaign that has that notion at its core and then point to other people’s words and say, those don’t really matter.”
Asked how Republicans might use the Wright matter in the general election, Mr. Harris cited several incidents that could be used to question Mr. Obama’s patriotism. “Negative ads are built on negative patterns,” he said.
He pointed to Mr. Obama decision to stop wearing a American flag lapel pin and the statement that his wife made about being proud of her country for the first time in her lifetime. (Mr. Obama has called the lapel pin an empty symbol of patriotism, and Mrs. Obama has said she was quoted out of context).
Five weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, Mr. Obama had hoped to be refining his strategy to win over the support of white male voters — a demographic that began to slip away in his Ohio defeat. Instead he is facing his second straight week of negative news coverage. In a television interview with PBS on Monday, Mr. Obama called his pastor’s remarks “stupid” and conceded, “it has been a distraction from the core message of our campaign.”
If his earlier appearances in the day were any guide, he is making a few subtle alterations to his routine on the campaign trail.
In his many months of stumping, Mr. Obama has rarely bid farewell to an audience the way he did at a morning event in Monaca, Pa. “God bless you and God bless America!” he proclaimed.
Jeff Zeleny reported from Monaca, Pa.
back in business
I am really going to try to post more of our political discussions on the site. We've had some great debates lately and it's a shame they aren't documented somewhere. I'll start it up today with my Obama/Wright response.
May 11, 2007
O mama, Obama!
Sorry for the delayed reaction but I wanted to share some thoughts about my encounter with THE NEXT VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, Barack Obama. Okay look, he absolutely has a chance of winning the Democratic nomination. I'm a Friend of B.O.
Last week I was invited to a fundraiser for Barack at the Harvard Club in midtown. I broked out the houndstooth and ascot and harrumphed my way past the doorman (there was no metal detector or special security; maybe they do that sort of thing at the CORNELL Club, but not here). The event was sponsored by certain partners at Lehman Brothers and the Nixon Peabody law firm. Sponsors were expected to donate $2,300. actually, I believe attendees were as well. My donation fell just short.
I looked forward to hearing Obama in person, but I also wanted the experience of seeing a presidential candidate in action on the campaign trail, in an intimate setting. Hot hors d'ouvres would be a bonus but not the sine qua non for my being there. Which is a good thing, because $2,300 got you one open bar for over 100 people and some cut up veggies. Conversely, every night is Taco Night on the Mitt Romney campaign trail. That's the GOP for you though.
Obama entered the room through a rear entrance with almost zero fanfare. He just sort of appeared and people started to mill about hm. He wore his standard blue blazer, slacks and cream colored dress shirt, and no tie in a room full of pinstripes and Windsor knots. I couldn't stop looking at his shirt. Obama's shirts are custom-tailored so that the buttons are not equidistant. I think they want to go with the open collar but not expose too much neck area, without making him look like Nehru or Ed Grimley. The button pattern looks like this: [not sure the autoformatting is going to do this justice]
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
O
O
O
O
Obama has very purple, A-Rod lips in person. His hands were surprisingly soft when I met him. I don't like to make a big scene when I meet famous people, but I did prepare what I was going to say so I didn't just stand there like a halfwit. "Senator, it is an honor to meet you and I wish you luck in the upcoming year." He fixed his gaze on me and asked....
"what's your name?"
"Joshua Kranz"
"Thank you Joshua"
He used the same line on everyone: "What's your name?", no matter how elaborate their greeting. Just whatsyourname and move on. Frankly, he looked exhausted.
Once everyone in the crowd had gotten their piece of flesh, it was time for him to speak. I stood no more than 20 feet from the lectern. He gave a fairly canned but natural-sounding introduction about who he is and why he's running. His comments were savvy: "most of you are probably here because you want to know 'who is this Obama guy running for President?'" and "I think that at this point in American history, maybe time inside the Beltway is the liability, not lack thereof." [I'm paraphrasing the latter comment]
Obama offered his top priorities if he's elected: 1. get out of Iraq 2. universal health care and improved education 3. Casual Friday for all branches of goverment, including Supreme Court. Maybe the topics were predictable, but Obama presented them mostly with erudition and what sounded like honesty.
He still seemed tired and more than once paused in mid-sentence to collect his thoughts, but he was effective and showed command of his facts. He talked about his early career in public service, helping the disadvantaged as a civil rights attorney in Illinois. He talked about the inequality of children without health care, single moms who can't afford a doctor visit. All the while his voice carried him. Mellifluous. Smooth. Commanding. What a great voice. Obama isn't a crowd-pleasing charmer like Clinton or, in his own, way Dubya. But he is charismatic by dint of his presence and command of his material. He tells jokes but he comes off a very serious person.
There was a Q&A session. International relations again - he talked about how the next President has the opportunity to go to foreign leaders and say "it's a new day, let's talk about working together and sharing accountability." Most interesting was his response to a question about solving the budget deficit. "Well, the first thing we are going to do is get out of the war." Then he said "and we're probably going to have to repeal some of those tax cuts, which everyone in this room has benefited from." [He must have thought I had already left] There were some murmurs after that comment. To me this was his most impressive moment of the evening. To walk into a room full of Wall Street types who just gave you a load of cash and tell them they're going to have some new taxes if he's elected - that showed me something.
One answer I didn't like as much was in response to how he differs from Hillary. He boiled it down to one point: Hillary voted for Iraq, and Barack didn't. He cited a letter on his website that he says was written at the war's outset, in which he opposes the aggression from Day One. I respect that he took that position and have no reason to doubt it (please don't tell me he wrote multiple letters that day). And I have always been dismayed that Senate Democrats voted to authorize the potential use of force without properly investigating or controlling Bush, and they did it because they didn't want to be caught not on the bandwagon if we sailed into a quickly democratized Baghdad. Those votes lacked a conscience. But who is to say that if Obama had been a senator in 2003, he would have done any differently? I don't fault Obama for trying to make the comparison so cut and dry, but I find it a little disingenuous.
Then a Lehman Brother guy asked him about capital gains taxes, and was obnoxiously following up, challenging Obama, asking of the single mom who had the baby "well how did she have the baby in the first place?" Obama kept his cool, did not get self-righteous, just stuck to the facts and message. Interesting exchange. He left almost immediately thereafter, also to little fanfare.
I think Barack Obama is charismatic, but he presents himself with a little more arrogance than Bill Clinton or other charmers. I wonder if he can turn on a different kind of charm when he's dealing with Middle America, show a more engaging side. In the barbecue test (the winning candidate is always the guy more people would want to invite to a barbecue) he trails Edwards and McCain and maybe even Romney and Giuliani, but he's still ahead of Hillary (she's still making the potato salad in the kitchen).
Obama is an ambitious, confident guy. He sets the bar very high for himself and you can tell he is hard-working and diligent. He didn't convince me to vote for him but he didn't dissuade me either. I liked the honesty with which he answered certain questions, but he's already come under fire for comments about Israel and other black leaders. I wonder if his sense of candor will prove his downfall.
Last week I was invited to a fundraiser for Barack at the Harvard Club in midtown. I broked out the houndstooth and ascot and harrumphed my way past the doorman (there was no metal detector or special security; maybe they do that sort of thing at the CORNELL Club, but not here). The event was sponsored by certain partners at Lehman Brothers and the Nixon Peabody law firm. Sponsors were expected to donate $2,300. actually, I believe attendees were as well. My donation fell just short.
I looked forward to hearing Obama in person, but I also wanted the experience of seeing a presidential candidate in action on the campaign trail, in an intimate setting. Hot hors d'ouvres would be a bonus but not the sine qua non for my being there. Which is a good thing, because $2,300 got you one open bar for over 100 people and some cut up veggies. Conversely, every night is Taco Night on the Mitt Romney campaign trail. That's the GOP for you though.
Obama entered the room through a rear entrance with almost zero fanfare. He just sort of appeared and people started to mill about hm. He wore his standard blue blazer, slacks and cream colored dress shirt, and no tie in a room full of pinstripes and Windsor knots. I couldn't stop looking at his shirt. Obama's shirts are custom-tailored so that the buttons are not equidistant. I think they want to go with the open collar but not expose too much neck area, without making him look like Nehru or Ed Grimley. The button pattern looks like this: [not sure the autoformatting is going to do this justice]
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
O
O
O
O
Obama has very purple, A-Rod lips in person. His hands were surprisingly soft when I met him. I don't like to make a big scene when I meet famous people, but I did prepare what I was going to say so I didn't just stand there like a halfwit. "Senator, it is an honor to meet you and I wish you luck in the upcoming year." He fixed his gaze on me and asked....
"what's your name?"
"Joshua Kranz"
"Thank you Joshua"
He used the same line on everyone: "What's your name?", no matter how elaborate their greeting. Just whatsyourname and move on. Frankly, he looked exhausted.
Once everyone in the crowd had gotten their piece of flesh, it was time for him to speak. I stood no more than 20 feet from the lectern. He gave a fairly canned but natural-sounding introduction about who he is and why he's running. His comments were savvy: "most of you are probably here because you want to know 'who is this Obama guy running for President?'" and "I think that at this point in American history, maybe time inside the Beltway is the liability, not lack thereof." [I'm paraphrasing the latter comment]
Obama offered his top priorities if he's elected: 1. get out of Iraq 2. universal health care and improved education 3. Casual Friday for all branches of goverment, including Supreme Court. Maybe the topics were predictable, but Obama presented them mostly with erudition and what sounded like honesty.
He still seemed tired and more than once paused in mid-sentence to collect his thoughts, but he was effective and showed command of his facts. He talked about his early career in public service, helping the disadvantaged as a civil rights attorney in Illinois. He talked about the inequality of children without health care, single moms who can't afford a doctor visit. All the while his voice carried him. Mellifluous. Smooth. Commanding. What a great voice. Obama isn't a crowd-pleasing charmer like Clinton or, in his own, way Dubya. But he is charismatic by dint of his presence and command of his material. He tells jokes but he comes off a very serious person.
There was a Q&A session. International relations again - he talked about how the next President has the opportunity to go to foreign leaders and say "it's a new day, let's talk about working together and sharing accountability." Most interesting was his response to a question about solving the budget deficit. "Well, the first thing we are going to do is get out of the war." Then he said "and we're probably going to have to repeal some of those tax cuts, which everyone in this room has benefited from." [He must have thought I had already left] There were some murmurs after that comment. To me this was his most impressive moment of the evening. To walk into a room full of Wall Street types who just gave you a load of cash and tell them they're going to have some new taxes if he's elected - that showed me something.
One answer I didn't like as much was in response to how he differs from Hillary. He boiled it down to one point: Hillary voted for Iraq, and Barack didn't. He cited a letter on his website that he says was written at the war's outset, in which he opposes the aggression from Day One. I respect that he took that position and have no reason to doubt it (please don't tell me he wrote multiple letters that day). And I have always been dismayed that Senate Democrats voted to authorize the potential use of force without properly investigating or controlling Bush, and they did it because they didn't want to be caught not on the bandwagon if we sailed into a quickly democratized Baghdad. Those votes lacked a conscience. But who is to say that if Obama had been a senator in 2003, he would have done any differently? I don't fault Obama for trying to make the comparison so cut and dry, but I find it a little disingenuous.
Then a Lehman Brother guy asked him about capital gains taxes, and was obnoxiously following up, challenging Obama, asking of the single mom who had the baby "well how did she have the baby in the first place?" Obama kept his cool, did not get self-righteous, just stuck to the facts and message. Interesting exchange. He left almost immediately thereafter, also to little fanfare.
I think Barack Obama is charismatic, but he presents himself with a little more arrogance than Bill Clinton or other charmers. I wonder if he can turn on a different kind of charm when he's dealing with Middle America, show a more engaging side. In the barbecue test (the winning candidate is always the guy more people would want to invite to a barbecue) he trails Edwards and McCain and maybe even Romney and Giuliani, but he's still ahead of Hillary (she's still making the potato salad in the kitchen).
Obama is an ambitious, confident guy. He sets the bar very high for himself and you can tell he is hard-working and diligent. He didn't convince me to vote for him but he didn't dissuade me either. I liked the honesty with which he answered certain questions, but he's already come under fire for comments about Israel and other black leaders. I wonder if his sense of candor will prove his downfall.
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