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Month: March 2008
Michelle Obama was interviewed by Lauren Collins for the Style Issue of New Yorker magazine last week. Ms. Obama had a disarming answer to the question of how the controversial views of the Obamas’ pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. reflect on Mr. Obama:
“You know, your pastor is like your grandfather, right?” she said. “There are plenty of things he says that I don’t agree with, that Barack doesn’t agree with.” When it comes to absolute doctrinal adherence, she said, “I don’t know that there would be a church in this country that I would be involved in. So, you know, you make choices, and you sort of—you can’t disown yourself from your family because they’ve got things wrong. You try to be a part of expanding the conversation.”
I don’t this is an answer doctrinaire religious folk will like. But it has the virtue of not sounding like boilerplate political hedging; instead, it demonstrates a reflective faith and an clear-eyed candor that our national conversation about faith is generally missing.
Excerpts from my Journals
[Dated December 2001.]
Phil Green:
For Christ’s sakes, Henry, don’t you understand? It’s people like us, people in the middle that made this country work. And an…when people like ourselves get into this…this kind of thing, it takes it all down. That’s what’s ripping our country apart.
Harry Stoner:
You son of a bitch! Don’t you sell America to me. I’ve got friends over there sitting under the sand with bikinis on their heads…I used to get goosebumps every time I look at that flag. Don’t sell me America!
From Save the Tiger, a 1973 film for which Jack Lemmon won an Oscar playing Harry Stoner, a staid businessman whose personal and professional misconduct over the course of two days is supposed to reflect the societal disorder unleashed by the 1960s.
Beginning tomorrow, I will be posting excerpts from the journals I kept during high school and college. The journals were a mish-mash of things – quotations from movies, songs, and books; diary entries about my day; lists of every sort; diagrams of historical events; reflections on art, theology, philosophy, politics; poems; news clippings; and other odds and ends.
I just picked up the books from my house a short time ago. I wanted to use some of the quotes I had taken down for the blog – but as I reviewed the books, I found that as often as I was deeply embarrassed by what I had written and noticed, I was impressed.
Starting tomorrow, I will be posting from these journals on a regular basis. I’ve edited some of the items slightly – for grammatical and spelling mistakes – and when needed I will give the items appropriate context. I hope you all enjoy the new content.
[digg-reddit-me]John S. is a retired district attorney and musician with a Dylan-esque voice. For those who are turned off by the will.i.am video or the other hyped musical Obama tributes, but are still looking for a musical Obama fix, this folksy endorsement of the candidate might be what you’re looking for.
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
African proverb.
[digg-reddit-me]It’s early spring 2012. The most recent National Intelligence Estimate and the intelligence communities agree that Iran is less than a year away from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Daily leaks to the press from the national security apparatus provide the now familiar drumbeat of fear as a prelude to a war. Karl Rove – retired in Texas but being consulted by those planning a Republican comeback – begins to ask the question: “Who let Iran go nuclear?” He makes it clear – as does the Republican presidential nominee – that it was the job of the current president to prevent Iran from going nuclear. “Do you feel safer now than you did four years ago?” they ask.
Every morning, the first two items on the president’s agenda are:
- A status report on the Iranian situation;
- An update on how the election campaign is progressing.
The pressure to take dramatic action is building, as much from domestic political pressures as foreign actions. Military action could be catastrophic, although it still might be the best of available options. Although it is never discussed, it is understood that a war would practically guarantee the president’s victory in November – despite a shaky economy that the Republicans have largely been able to blame on the current president.
Every morning, the president must balance the options and calibrate American strategy. There are no black and white issues – and in the end, the decision is on his or her shoulders alone.
It’s 2012 – whose judgment do you trust to make the right decision?
Updated: Let me be clear – as far as I’m concerned, the correct answer is, to borrow a line from Fox Mulder, “Trust no one.” Which is why I think it is important to support a candidate who seeks to reduce executive power and allow the traditional checks and balances to reassert themselves.
Yglesias on the difficulty in coming up with effective policies for Iraq’s problems:
…there’s really nothing we can do to stop sporadic bombing attacks. It’s not, after all, that you look at Italy and say “man, there’s a country where they have great tactics to prevent suicide bombings – Iraq should really implement those.” Rather, you don’t see suicide bombing where you don’t see would-be suicide bombers and that’s not the kind of outcome a foreign military force can produce in Iraq. So things will probably get worse again, but not as bad as they were at the very worst times.
I think that about sums up where we are – and what we can accomplish. I understand that Mr. McCain’s answer to this problem is a century of occupation – if that’s what it takes.
Categories
Hope Wins the Night
I haven’t any posted anything today because I’ve been busy – not being I’m moping over the fact that after throwing “the kitchen sink” and everything else she could think of against Mr. Obama, Ms. Clinton managed to gain only ONE (1) delegate last night.
Obviously it would have been better in many ways if Ms. Clinton were shut out last night and forced to withdraw her candidacy. But Mr. Obama has now weathered another full-force attack of the Clintons and keeps consolidating his ground. He is in a better strategic position today than he was yesterday.
Here’s some bracing words from Andrew Sullivan.
The New York Times, in an article full of Clinton spin, still had to conclude that: “But for all the millions of votes Mrs. Clinton has now won, simple math is still her enemy.”
Of course, I still see a significant advantage in the fact that one of the most hated politicians in America will continue to stay in the race…
Categories
A thoughtful Catholic
Gary Wills interviewed in The Atlantic several years ago:
You make the case for the importance of “loyal opposition” to official church positions that are nonsensical, unethical, or backward. “The job of a loyal Catholic,” you write, “is to give a support that is not uncritical, or unreasoning or abject, but one that is clear-eyed and yet loving.” What does that imply for a lay Catholic? Is simply continuing to attend mass and remaining part of the community while quietly disagreeing with and disobeying certain objectionable dicta (like the ban on contraception) enough?
That’s what it did imply until recently. Most of us Catholics have an experience of the faith at the parish level that’s very comfortable. We’re generally happy with our fellow believers and our priests and the lay assistants (who are very important these days in parishes). But now we find out that our children are being abused and that the hierarchy has protected this crime. So it’s not enough anymore to say, “Well, we’ll just ignore the Pope on issues like sex about which he’s totally ridiculous.” We have to intervene and protest and become active. And that’s what’s happening.
(h/t Andrew Sullivan.)