Correctly Impolitic

It’s impossible to figure out what’s going to happen with this election. Sure, I know that Obama has (if the polls and the pundits are right), enough electoral votes to win even without Pennsylvania and Florida.  But last night there was an election special where they talked about inadvertent voter fraud. What does that mean.  Well, for example, if you are voting on a machine and you touch the ballot a little too close to the line, it votes for McCain instead of Obama.  I don’t know why it doesn’t vote for Obama instead of McCain if you touch too close to that line, but it just doesn’t happen.  In addition you hear a great deal about how the machines are fixed and there’s no paper back-up to check.  In my mind, that means anything can happen and the winner is the winner, regardless.

In 2000 when Al Gore won the election but George Bush went to the White House, there was no recourse. And I remember too well, the Gore friends and family Christmas party after this devastating loss, when people were still walking around talking about how they won.  “No”, I kept saying, “We may have had the most votes, but the winner is the one that gets to live in the White House, has Secret Service, and get to help their friends get rich.”  Why is it Democrats don’t get rich when their friends are in power –except Terry McAuliffe, who seems to be getting richer and richer.

Let’s spend a minute or two on getting rich. Yesterday when I was coming up in the elevator at my apartment, there was a young woman, on her cell, talking to what seemed to be a friend.  She was telling whoever was on the phone, that she had lost her job in the brokerage house, had no savings, was totally broke and she didn’t want to have to move back in with her parents but she couldn’t afford her monthly nut and she didn’t know what she was going to do.  I imagine she is not the only NY stock-related person suffering the same consequences of the financial crisis.  I also imagine there are going to be millions of people who are going to lose their jobs, then their homes, and eventually any life they were living.  Maybe the younger people can move home.  Maybe they will have a place to live until the market turns around or the economy gets better, but what if their parents lose their home?  What if the people who are affected by what’s happening, aren’t young and resilient.  And what if they are us?

The other day I was quite moved by an episode of “The Golden Girls”.  If you’ve never seen this television treasure—it’s worth finding and watching.  I think it’s on Lifetime Television.  Anyway, the main characters are all women in their 50’s or 60’s – the mother might be 70 or 80 –  it’s never clear.  They are all either divorced or widowed. In the episode I was watching, one of the women loses her dead husband’s pension and had to find a more high paying job in order to continue living the life to which she has become accustomed. She searches for a job but suffers age discrimination, and can’t find anything. At some point she talks about a homeless woman who she passes everyday and to whom she never paid attention.  But the, when she looked at the reality of her situation and she looked into the woman’s eyes, she realized that she could be that woman. It reminded me of a woman (I thought she was older but who knows), I bumped into around 48th street a few months ago.  I said, “excuse me” and she said, “it’s alright at least I was not invisible to you”  Her conversation didn’t end there. She followed after me and continued to talk about how her husband died, she had cancer and had no income just expenses, she couldn’t find a job, she had no kids, she lost her apartment, and she was living on the streets just waiting to die.  She went to soup kitchens and shelters.  It was dangerous on the streets but she didn’t expect to live for long and she thought she could die in a hospital if she was really sick.  She asked me if I could spare a dollar.  I gave her five and still felt like crap.  It was a real “there but for God go I” moment because the truth is, you just never know.

As you know, I’m pretty good humored most of the time but every once in a while something happens that makes me think and still I can’t find funny.  It’s how I feel about this election.  SNL is incredible funny and perceptive about the candidates and the politics.  Stewart is good and Colbert is better.  But when I look around I can’t imagine how any of us are going to fare in this terrible time.  I am hopeful that we can turn things around and we will be able to continue to spoil our kids.  But when and how will it happen if there’s more of the same.  The Republicans need to suffer a catastrophic defeat in order to start from scratch and find important issues rather than those revolving around our bedrooms. The Democrats need to be careful and courageous.   We absolutely need change, but no one knows what it will be.

In the category of what were they thinking, we need to flash back to Sarah Palin’s audition for a future talk show when she appeared on Saturday Night Live. Not that she’s going to be on SNL, but if she’s not the VP then she will have her own television show—whatever else you may think of her qualifications she was very good on that show. But that’s not the issue here and now. My pal Kat came over tonight and she asked me what I noticed about the Palin appearance. I told her I was only moderately interested in Sarah because I had just talked to my college roommate who happens to be Andy Samberg’s mom and she was quite concerned about Mark Walberg’s threats against Andy. Well, Mark came on and made a little bit of an issue about how unhappy he was with Andy’s imitation of him and how he was going to beat the crap out of him. But, someone must have clued him in on how much press he would get from anyone even mentioning him on SNL and he and Andy made-up. Whew! My former roommate can take a breath. It is horrible when a parent thinks their child is in danger and it doesn’t matter whether they are a celebrity or a screw-up—danger is not fun. But back to Sarah, I had honestly seen nothing extraordinary in the backdrop but noticed she had highlighted her hair. “You mean you didn’t see the horses ass behind her?” Kat said.

“No I didn’t notice any horse’s ass but the candidate” I said. (I know It’s another cheap shot but sometimes I can’t help myself. So we went back and took a look. If you want to follow along here’s the link. http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/.

In the background, when Sarah and Alex Baldwin are talking, there is a Lincoln-like figure who is holding on to a horse or a llama. At some point the figure leave the animal with it’s ass prominently displayed and walks away—leaving the horses ass as the Palin backdrop. Now what kind of message do you think they were sending. Further, do you think Palin was aware of it. Further, do you think it was planned or just a coincidence?

What I really liked about the show was that SNL did not change who they are (their voice) to suck up to a candidate. And she played along. She is their generation and despite her seeming inflexibility about many things, she appeared on a show where she knew they were not supporters and they would not be kind. Pretty amazing for someone who shoots moose from an airplane.

Apparently, her popularity has diminished in the polls. Her popularity has clearly diminished with McCain. The interpersonal connection has gone who knows where. What started out as a team has degenerated into a threesome. It is apparent that Cindy has come between them—literally, she is standing in between them in almost every still you see. It must be impossible for photographers to shoot any kind of an intimate picture when it appears there is no longer any intimacy. But unlike Senator McCain and his lovely spouse, I have to say, I like her a whole lot more now that I know that she really wants to be a talk show host before she grows up. When I watched her during the convention and events that followed I couldn’t figure out the personal dynamic—but now that I know it’s all about what she wants to do after the campaign, I feel much more relaxed. Which is not to say I am comfortable about the Palin factor in this election, but if they lose I know she has another career path to follow and Willow, Twig and the reat of the trees and bushes won’t starve.

So do you think that subliminal messages are acceptable in politics? Should the McCain campaign now make an issue about the horse’s ass? Should they protest the appearance and site some kind of fairness doctrine—like if you put a horses behind, behind us you have to do the same thing with Obama? Or do you, like I. think that John McCain and his cronies hated the fact that Sarah had a good time at the ‘Ticket’s” expense and now, they are just sorry that the horse’s ass appear to be the decision to select a “Wheel of Fortune” contestant instead of someone who could have competed on “The College Bowl”.

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When I met the person who bought my mother’s house, he told me that he had great plans for how it would be decorated.  I was not really interested but I listened politely until he told me about the twinkle lights on the trees.  I made some excuse and bid him a fond farewell.  It’s not that I have anything against twinkle lights—in fact they are among my favorite kind of lights, but for whatever reason, I just didn’t want to hear about twinkle lights or the inevitable possibility of gnomes — which I felt assured would be the next decorating revelation.  Today was the first time I saw the house since we signed the papers.  It was weird to be right there and not be able to go inside—even to go to the bathroom. Maybe everyone who sells their childhood home has the same kind of reaction to this kind of loss, but Jeff and I have been incredibly depressed.  It makes no sense since neither of us have spent any time there in the last ten years, but it has been a very difficult to deal with the fact that it is no longer available to us.

And speaking of Gnomes, Larry Eagleburger, a former Republican Secretary of State (and now a full time overweight blowhard who can’t even remember the name of the Soviet leader (it was Krushev, who would look cute holding a lantern on any front yard), was pontificating about Obama’s lack of international experience – as opposed to Sarah Palin who can see Russia from the Alaskan Border. (It was a cheap shot but after all, when asked by a third grader what the Vice President’s job—she answered incorrectly.  So a cheap shot now and again is perfectly acceptable).

But enough about Sarah and Larry.  How about the three stooges –Democratic style.  Joe Biden predicted an international catastrophe during Obama’s first term.  Something that would test him and we all will need to help.  What kind of drugs is he taking.  Then Kerry makes a joke (not a good one) about adult diapers and the campaign.  And Jack Murtha calls his constituents red necks.  I won’t even try to tell you what Barney Frank meant when he talked about taxes in a Democratic Administration.  Is that four stooges?  Remember when your mother used to say “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all”?  Didn’t these guys have mothers.  As if Obama didn’t have enough trouble closing the deal—these guys aren’t even trying to help him make a sale.

And speaking of closing the deal, what in the world are the pundits looking for 12 days out.  Do they want McCain to throw in the towel. To ask for a job in the Obama Administration?  To denounce his military career.  The game is not over.  People may be voting early, but no will know the count of those votes until election day.  As my old friend Puccini would say, “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.” The polls be damned.  No one knows how anyone will vote until they punch the chad, pull the lever, or hit the computer button.  No one knows if young people will actually vote or if there is a “Bradley” factor.  In other words, things may be looking good for the Democrats but we’ve been there before and managed to blow it. Do you think this is the me who is glass half full.  Ordinarily I would agree, but not this time.  There is just no telling how people will actually vote despite what say they because there is no predicting human nature (wow that is heavy man – that’s me being a 60’s flower child).

So what’s a Gnome to do?  Mostly they stand outside someone’s house.  They can hold a lantern but that’s usually a jockey—and we don’t see many of those anymore.  Gnomes are usually accompanied by other Gnomes.  I’ve never been into friendly looking inanimate objects standing willy-nilly on a lawn, but I guess there must be something to it because people spend anywhere from $10 to hundreds of dollars to have them in their gardens.  The most interesting Gnome I have encountered, and OK I haven’t encountered many – is the Bushgnome. I swear, there is a company that makes a Gnome in the image of George Bush. (http://www.bushgnome.com/detail.html). They are hand numbered and run about $35.00.  My own personal favorite is the Bushgnome holding a flag.  I wonder if there are other companies that produce other Gnomes in the news.   And I wonder what you have to do to become a Gnome in the news?  A Gnome by any name is still an eyesore. OK time to move on.

The election is fast approaching.  My childhood home belongs to someone who will cover it with twinkle lights.  Sara Palin doesn’t know what a Vice President does.  And there are Gnomes that look like George Bush.  It’s a list like this that finally takes your mind off the economy.

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When Jimmy Carter was the President he made a number of smart changes – like a real international commitment to human rights. He also did a few incredibly stupid things—like his commitment to human rights resulted in canceling our participation in the Olympics. However, my friend Helen Thomas, the White House reporter always said that, although she didn’t agree with the way Jimmy Carter made many of his policy decisions, and although there was truly animosity with the Soviets, unlike so many other Administrations, when Carter was in the White House she went to bed at night knowing that there would not be a war when she awoke the next morning. There were many problems during the Carter years but those of us who worked in the Administration understood the President’s commitment to human rights and dignity and a desire to find peaceful solutions. I think his understanding of these important issues are the reason why people think he’s an incredible former President – maybe, with all his good deed doing -the best former President we have ever had.

So you can imagine how disconcerting it is for people who, although no longer considered peace-niks, listen to the McCain rhetoric about almost any issue. He does not give a presentation where he doesn’t say he’s a fighter, he feels a need to solve problems with a war. Whether it’s a war in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, or with the Congress and his opponent in the Presidential race. Everything is about a war-like confrontation. I wrote a few weeks ago about the Administration’s public diplomacy described as a war of ideas. And this approach to the world is also the McCain approach to everything. I guess when you have had a career in the military and it has been your family business as well, your view of the world is skewed by your experience. This combined with the fact that he is of the older persuasion has limited his ability to think out of the box about anything – hence the ugly political commercials. Or maybe they are a consequence of desperation and the wrong decision about a VP selection. I have stopped trying to figure out why political people do stupid things but I have not stopped commenting on them.

The third and last debate is this evening. With the economy in total collapse it will be interesting to see what the candidates will say and do to fix it. As they so accurately put it on the Thursday edition of SNL last week – “Just fix it”. It’s all real people want. We do not want to hear about the Main Street suffering. We just want someone to fix it. And every time George Bush or one of his crack advisers (maybe that should be cracked advisers) makes a public statement, the stock market drops another 300 points. Have we ever, in the entire history of this country had a President who left the nation in such dire straits? In such chaos? In such disarray?

When we suffered through the lack of humanity and simple inability to coordinate rescue efforts during Katrina, we thought we had seen the Bush Administration at its worse. We were wrong. Apparently, it can always get worse. (I have that T-shirt). It can always be worse, but as a nation we expect things to get better. We do want someone to fix it!.

There are so many of us who think that the war in Iraq needs to end, we need not to start another one in a place where we can’t function (like Afghanistan—ask the Russians). We need to stop spending billions of dollars on things that make the friends of political people/elected officials, rich. We should look at who we are as a people and turn inward to make serious repairs in our priorities. And we need to concentrate on making thing work in the good old US of A.

Jimmy Carter was a one term President. He was incredibly smart, but often consumed with trivia and unsophisticated ideas about how to govern. His great strength was that he was always a human rights activist who understood how important it was to look at the world through a humanitarian’s eyes. He did not view governing as a war—every issue another a battle to be won. When we look at the state of the nation, with the election fast approaching, it is important to look at the way the candidates see the world and decide if we want someone to fix it, or just fight yet another war.

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Jeffrey stood in the closet and looked up. “You know there are hard wood floors throughout the house. Why did she carpet over them?” I couldn’t imagine but I took a guess. “Maybe because she thought it would hurt dad less if he fell? Or maybe because that was an indication that you had a little money. Kind of like putting clear plastic slip covers on the good furniture – which my first mother in law did.”

We decided to go have some lunch instead of sitting in the empty house where we had nothing to sit on. When we got back Jeff decided to clean out the van and as he was working Gary Hurwitz stopped by. Gary lives in Philadelphia. He and his wife had come back to Boonton for his high school reunion. We chatted for a while and as we were talking the mail person stopped by to deliver a letter – it was for the new owner. “Wow”, we said. This is really happening. The post person grew up with Jeff and although it took a few minutes for him to recognize her, once he did they had a nice reunion. Boonton is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone so there is always another memory to be tossed about.

Another of Jeff’s friends arrived later in the day to bring a set of dishes and pick up two motors that had made the trip across the country with Jeff. Then Howard flew in to make the drive back across the country with Jeff. Wer packed the rest of the dishes and Jeff finished cleaning out the van and was ready to start packing it with all the stuff Els and I had organized last week. “It’s hard to leave.” He said. Yes it is, I thought. But I don’t know why. Mom hasn’t even lived in the house for a few years. In fact, once she moved to Victoria Mews, (the assisted living facility), she decided that she didn’t even want to go back to the house to visit. But I guess it’s different when you grow up in a place and you feel like it’s always going to be there. “ I’m still going to park the car here instead of in the city. And I’m going to come back for Christmas. And we’re still going to go to the Res. Besides, We’re always going to be here in spirit”. I reminded him that I had taped the picture of all of us in a place no new owners would ever find. “It’s still hard”, he said. “This is where I had my first set of swings”. Actually they were mine but I wasn’t going to get technical. “And when I ran away from school in first grade, this is where I came. This is also where Dad died and where we had the services everyday. And where Mom cooked all those fried things – which was not what killed Dad” He reminded me. “ When Els and I got married we lived here. And you and David got married here.” I hadn’t forgotten that or the fact that this was also where all our friends came for parties—sometimes unbeknownst to my parents. “Some of them didn’t leave” My friend Joyce and his pal John lived here when they were having problems with their own parents.

“We are probably no different than anyone who sells their childhood home after 57 years.” I said. “Probably not” he agreed. “So why is it so hard?” Maybe because it’s part of facing our own mortality. Maybe it’s because any kind of momentous passage is always hard. The why doesn’t matter—some things just aren’t easy.

“Should we write a letter to the new owners?’ he asked me. “OK, what do you want to say?”
“Dear New Owners, this was an amazing place to grow up. We had many years of happy times and made some wonderful memories.” And they would care why, I thought? “Sure we can do that if you want to.” I said. But then we remembered that we didn’t have a pen or any paper.

Jeff took a picture of the clock on the oven. It said 11:38. He had to actually set the hands because for the last year the clock has said 9:10, but he wanted to have a record of the last moment the house was really still ours. Now it’s 11:45 and what a difference just a few minutes make.

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Tom Shales is absolutely right. Sarah Palin wants to be the President. If you watch her stage dynamic—the way she relates to other people who happen to be on the stage with her (be it family or politicians) it is obvious that it is all about her. Her children, who always look less than happy are backdrops and the baby, who should not have been out at 11pm for a debate) appears to be a prop that they pass from person to person depending on where the cameras happen to be.

When Sarah was selected (not elected), I thought it was a choice made because John McCain had decided he didn’t want to be the President. I was in Denver and soon after the announcement I ran into Pat Buchanan who told me he thought it was brilliant—clearly a Karl Rove decision. “What am I missing?” I thought. “I better find a TV”. Which I did and I listened to laudatory remark after laudatory remark by Republicans and Independent women. She was new, fresh, fun, exciting, a ‘maverick’, blah blah blah. At first I was amazed and then I was frightened. I made some calls to people who actually know high level Republicans and I was curious about their thinking. One trusted source told me that McCain didn’t make the choice. He wanted Lieberman but the Right Wing conservative advisors said nay (I like nay better than no when we’re talking in governmentese). They decided that because McCain’s health wasn’t so good they wanted someone who they could control – just in case he wasn’t around for four years. How’s that for a comforting thought.

Joe Lieberman is not on my list of favorites but at least he can construct an entire sentence. This is not me being a snob or an English teacher. This is me thinking about the way she conducts business with important people from around the world. Our reputation in the rest of the world has suffered from the Bush bravado and disinterest in what other leaders thought. At this point, it simply isn’t good enough to withstand a Sara Palin ‘maverick’ view of the world—or what she thinks she knows about it.

Sarah is admittedly, a quick study but there’s a lot to learn about governing and if you’ve never worked in national politics or government you are not equipped to hit the ground running—obviously carrying a shotgun. Just FYI, Boonton NJ, where I grew up, was a blue collar community. My friends did not all go to college. They went to war. I worked very hard for many years to understand the complicated nature of the government and how we relate to the rest of the world. The one thing I know is that you cannot operate in a vacuum when making international or domestic policy. Everything is connected. Every decision impacts on another decision – and each has repercussions. Even the one that she made about going to Michigan to campaign.

John McCain, right or wrong decided he wasn’t going to continue operations in Michigan. I’m sure that decision was not made unilaterally or without consultation with many people – including Karl Rove. Yet yesterday Sarah announced that if John McCain wasn’t going to Michigan that was fine but she was still going. The campaign guru’s must have been turning over in their cubby’s – see, I didn’t say graves because despite my desires, the campaign isn’t dead. When the senior strategists make a decision, no one but the candidate can says, “I’m doing it anyway”, unless their ego is so enormous or their brain is so shriveled that they don’t care about the consequences. I believe Sarah’s problem is the former, but one thing is clear. If they selected her because she could be controlled, they made the wrong decision. She is out there on her own and she doesn’t care about the rules – even if her own people make them. This stuff is campaign 101 and it’s not ‘old’ think it’s just a way to make sure everyone is walking in the same direction.

The country is in chaos. The financial markets are in the toilet. Job losses are enormous and the economy—don’t ask. We may never recover from 8 years of George Bush. What we don’t need is another ‘maverick’. We need seasoned people to make reasoned and thoughtful decisions. Sarah needs some adult supervision. She is like a kid who has gotten their first taste of sugar and now they want to eat everything in the candy store. Some Republican grown-up better think through what a Palin Presidency will mean or, instead of a dream, she could be their (all of our) worst nightmare.

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When I was cleaning out my Mothers house I had to sift through many items to decide what I wanted to keep and what I felt should be tossed. The whole process of looking at your past by sifting through a variety of items makes you think about the thngs that are precious to you. And it doesn’t start and stop with possessions. For example, while jewelry may be expensive it’s not necessarily precious. Many people have asked if I found any treasures when I was going through the stuff—those people clearly didn’t know my mother. She had no treasures – she had a great deal of “dreck” (that’s Yiddish for crap). This does not mean that I didn’t find precious items – but not in the traditional sense.

Mom decided to go back to work in about 1960, and her choice of profession was in the area of other person’s improvement. She got a license to be a beautician and converted the basement into a beauty salon. She worked hard to develop a clientele, but her marketing skills were not developed, so her customers remained mostly family and friends. It was wonderful to have a real beauty parlor sink and hair dryer at my disposal and on more than one occasion I played beauty parlor with my friends—sometimes resulting in a successful hairdo and sometimes there was a disaster—like the time we colored my friend Joyce’s beautiful blonde hair a very deep green. (It was the 60’s and brightly colored hair wasn’t yet the fashion.) Anyway, we found the 1958 hair dryer in the back of a basement closet. It was in pretty ‘grody’ state, but we all loved that space helmet looking piece of equipment. So after much anxst about what to do I called Tina – my partner in, what today, might be considered criminal activity. “Don’t you dare throw it away”, she said. “Take it apart and make it into a lamp”. For whatever reason, that hair dryer was precious to me and I couldn’t part with it. Today it’s on it’s way to an electrical genius who can do as Tina suggested.

During this whole process my thoughts wandered to concrete things, like a hand made quilt, a crocheted blanket, or pictures. But I also thought about not so tangible things, like relationships with family and friends and, of course, more elusive things like personal freedoms. Like so many of us I am concerned about the ever increasing threat of the loss of freedoms we have come to expect. For example, while Sarah Palin did not actually remove books from libraries, there was a discussion about books that were (in her estimation) not appropriate (for whomever wanted to read them I guess). I like having access to all kinds of books, especially in libraries, where they are free and plentiful. Additionally, I am scared to death when any conversation turns to pro-choice and anti-choice issues. There is no doubt in my mind that everyone, every person I know, is pro-life, whether or not they believe in abortion. But admittedly, I remain confused about why anyone wants to be involved with deciding who other people marry and what their sexual orientation may be. I mean, I am more concerned about children who get married because they are pregnant and adults who don’t have sex, than I am about loving couples loving on another.

There are also precious things that are almost indescribable because they are moments rather than belongings. After we finished packing the house we came back into New York to meet friends for dinner. We left the apartment in plenty of time but we couldn’t find a cab. We walked a few blocks and it became obvious that there were no cabs. David stopped a few out of work limos, but they wanted $20 to go across town. David, being David, determined it was too much. After about 15 minutes a limo appeared that was much more reasonable. Uri (that was his name), wanted nothing. OK, It was NYC and you probably think he must have wanted something. And, in fact, he did. He wanted us to look at some of his art – computer art — not pornography. That was all. So we looked. When we arrived at our destination I handed him $10. He refused to take it. But I insisted that it would, at least, cover his gas. He thanked us for the conversation, gave us his number and said he hoped to see us again. It was a lovely, I thought, precious encounter.

On Saturday we decided to go to the Union Square market to buy apples. It was noisy, crowded, and bustling with activity. Luckily, what started out as a fairly bleak morning turned into a perfect crisp, windy, cool, fall day. A perfect day for a brisk walk to a hearty breakfast. First, we wandered through a street fair (my personal favorite NYC activity). Then we walked through the Gramercy Park area and on to Murray Hill. As we crossed 33rd Street I noticed a shabbily dressed, elderly man using a walker, carrying a handwritten sign. There was something familiar about him. It took a few minutes until I recognized him as Professor Irwin Corey, a zany comedian who, always dressed in a tuxedo, and was often on the Johnny Carson show. David couldn’t believe it was the Professor. But we stopped to say hello and make some amusing conversation. He was still entertaining– this time by raising money for Cuba. Even at the end of the conversation we had no idea why. We took a few pictures and went on our way. The encounter was entertaining but, like so many things over the last few days, it took me back to a time that precious – times when I made memories I never want to forget.

I think it is important to treasure moments, relationships and possessions we think are precious. And it is equally important to fight as hard as we can to pay attention to more elusive things like personal freedoms, so that they don’t disappear with the items we might chose to discard.

How do you judge a debate? Many pundits had pretty much the same things to say about last nights debate, but that’s no surprise.  Most thought Biden was good and Palin wasn’t horrible and that was such a relief and a surprise.  Wow, she didn’t appear to be a total idiot—reason enough to cast your vote for the Republican team.  It was difficult not to be bored by editorials this morning but the most interesting was Charles Krauthammer who I never read because he makes me cringe. But I heard that his editorial “Hail Mary vs Cool Barry” was quite unusal – he said nice things about Obama.  In fact, he comes very close to what could be called an endorsement only it’s Krauthammer so you know it is not something he would ever do.   At least he didn’t say Palin is not a dope so she is absoutely prepared to be Commander in Chief.

I was looking through my old files this morning —I was at one time an actual ‘speech’ teacher.  That was before it became communication arts and I became a communication strategist or as I prefer, a communication tactician (that means I know how do something as opposed to just talking about it).  Anyway, when I taught debate and argumentation  part of my job was to prepare an evaluation of substance and presentation for the students—so they would know how effective they were in communicating their message or how victorious they were in beating the verbal crap out of their opponent. In a debate there is an affirmative side and a negative side with the question phrased in a way that makes it defensible by each team.  Each side must support positions through clear argumentation and legitimate supporting evidence. As you know, what we see in a Presidential campaign is not actually a debate.  It’s more of a discussion about positions and ideology.  So let’s skip the technicalities and move to how we evaluate whatever they did.  When I was teaching I had to look at style, content, and  for example was it adapted to audience, appropriate for occasion. Think about these things relative to what you saw.  Did the content have: Interesting ideas.  Was it supported by facts and/or examples.  Did the speaker have adequate knowledge of subject?  Did they use appropriate appeals  (logical, ethical, emotional) and information using syllogisms, analogies, facts, references, quotes etc.  Was it organized with attention getting introduction and good points. Did they have a strong conclusions.  Then I looked at delivery, because if they are boring or not emphatic they might as well not have come to the party – that’s with a small p.   So I looked at things like projection, phrasing, grammar , gestures, articulation, enthusiasm, eye contact, poise, distracting habits, vocal variety/tone and appearance of truthfulness.  The media would simply ask, was it authentic?  That is the new favorite word and I find it so pretentious. When the pundits have nothing else to say they talk about whether or not the candidate is authentic?  Candidates are never authentic.  That’s why they got where they got.  But that’s a different blog.

It is unclear who won the debate because as I said, it wasn’t really a debate.  It was more of a “you did, no you did” or “he wants no he wants.”  I had those conversations when I was getting divorced. There was never any good news, just bad feelings.  Sarah Palin didn’t screw up and that seems to be a measure of the fact that she can be the Vice President. She didn’t give the comedy shows much material – except when she winked at the audience like there was a secret that she and some of the folks watching shared, and everyone who knew anything already knew what she meant.  Oh, and then there were the “Betcha’s” and the “Golly gee wiz” phrases.  So maybe she did give the late nights some material but not even close to what it could have been.  Her speech pattern was just plain down home and her presentation folksy and adorable, (yech) but does this mean she’s qualified to be the Vice President or maybe even the President?  I’m not comfortable with it.

Obama has spent over a year making the case about why he should be President.  While his Presidential experience may have been limited he has had to discuss his vision, developed a world view (he has also lived in another country and had a passport for more than a year), and his management ability is easily seen by looking at the fact that he has actually put together quite an amazing campaign.  Sarah Palin might be personable even delightful (although I was offended by the winks),  but with the serious crisis in the economy, the war,  immigration, loss of jobs, the lack of opportunity for so many and the greedy nature of not a few, we cannot afford to have an untested, cutesy, less than worldly (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) inexperienced person only a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

The phone rang and I hesitated to answer it because it was usually a press person wanting me to do them a favor. “I’m just going to let it ring”, I said, trying to avoid the inevitable—more press aggravation. And then I heard someone yelling, “Jacobson, for God’s sake pick up the phone – you’re not going to believe who wants to talk to you.” We were in Philadelphia for the Udall Presidential campaign and it seemed no one of any importance wanted to talk to us—everyone wanted to talk to Jimmy Carter or Scoop Jackson.

“OK, I’ll answer it but it better be good or you’re a dead man”. It’s so long ago I don’t remember who I was talking to but I remember what I said because I was not happy about having to talk to anyone. The campaign was out of money and I was trying to put together a press schedule (a day of activities) which cost us nothing. It was not pretty.

“What?”, I said in my most unpleasant highly trained voice. “Who is this and what do you want?”

“Well, I was thinking I’d like to do some events with the Congressman. I like him a great deal and if I can be of any help, I’m happy to do whatever I can.”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and I figured it was yet another one of a hundred Congressional people who loved Mo and were willing to travel anywhere to do whatever they could to save the campaign. In fact, I had just been to talking to Shirley Chisholm who had promised us a whole day.

“That’s fine”, I said but what what’s your expertise. What kind of event do you want to do?” My tone was a little lighter because all of these people were friends of the candidates and I didn’t want anyone to tell him that I was either difficult or rude.
“I thought he might like to play pool with me”. The voice was becoming more familiar. “Gee” I said—because I thought ‘golly gee’ sounded infantile, “I don’t know if the Congressman plays pool. Is there anything else the two of you could do?”

“I don’t know”, he answered. “I’m here shooting a movie about pool, so I thought that might be interesting”. And then I realized who was on the other end of the phone.
“Oh, Mr. Newman, I’m sure Mo would be happy to do whatever works for you.”

“You can call me Paul”, he said. “And what should I call you?”
I couldn’t remember my name. I stuttered and then blurted—“Jacobson. You can call me Iris or Jacobson or whichever you prefer”. He laughed and said, “Hey Jacobson, what’s doin…?”

It was 1976 and Paul Newman was in Philadelphia shooting “The Hustler”. He had decided that Mo Udall was his candidate of choice and he was going to help us by doing an event with the candidate. For a campaign out of money, short on staff, and without much of a following, it was a blessing.

“Here’s the thing” he said, “I don’t want to have to talk to a lot of people and I don’t want this to be complicated. So I’m only going to talk to you about any arrangements and we’ll figure out how this is going to work. Does that work for you?”

“Sure thing”, I said still recovering from not remembering my name. And for the next week, Paul Newman called the campaign headquarters everyday—sometimes more than once and asked for me. When I got on the phone he’d say, “Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?” and my heart would stop. Actually it stopped when whoever told me he was on the phone and it would start again about an hour after we concluded our business. We became best phone friends but much to my disappointment, we never met in person.

We worked out all the details and Mo and Paul finally did a shoot pool event. We got some attention and raised a few dollars and it was over much to soon for my liking. But the campaign went on and when we were in New York for the convention and final concession speech, we went to an event where I finally met Paul Newman. “Mr. Newman”, I said looking into his incredible blue eyes, “I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Iris Jacobson.” He looked at me, smiled, shook my hand, said it was nice to meet me, turned his back and walked over to meet someone else. I was devastated. Surely I couldn’t have been that easily forgettable, I thought. I sulked around the room until I finally realized what the problem was. I walked back over to him. “Paul”, I said, “I wanted to introduce myself in a different way. I’m hey Jacobson what’s doing from Philadelphia.”

“Hey Jacobson, what’s doin…?” he shouted. And he picked me up, gave me a big hug and we spent a whole bunch of time talking about politics and nothing. What a joy.
Over the years I would run into my phone friend at political events and reintroduce myself as Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?” and he always pretended to remember who I was. I like to think that maybe he actually did. Paul Newman died yesterday and I, like so many other fans mourn the loss. It is with sadness and gratitude that “Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?”  bids you a fond and loving goodbye.

Yesterday. When David Gergen and I sat at the adult end of the situation room table (this is how the younger, or at least, less experienced folk who worked in the White House, talked about our end of the table), we often had a chance to talk about the politics of the White House and politics in general.  Since David had been in three White Houses—Republican and Democratic, and I had only served Democratic President’s, I listened intently to cross political party rhetoric and agreed with him on most points. The first of which was about the “pig with lipstick” because politics—no matter party—is still politics no matter if you try to dress it up (a pig) and call it politics or leadership.  Anyway, David and I had lots of opportunity to talk about how we were going to deal (from a communication perspective) with the domestic and international crisis that the Clinton administration faced. So last night, when I heard David talking about the McCain ploy of suspending his campaign to lead his party into the White House and solve the financial crisis, I agreed that David was right  when he indicated  it was all yet another political ploy – the proverbial pig in lipstick –or if you are appalled by porcine analogies,  just window dressing to try and parlay the McCain campaign into a better place.

It backfired because McCain doesn’t have the support of people in his own party.  It backfired because he had no place trying to step on Chris Dodd and John Boehner.  He had no role, so in desperation he asked the President to call yet another meeting – or what turned out be a photo op – to showcase his importance.  He said the problem was so serious he was suspending campaign operations to rush back to Washington – but he’s not on the banking committee and all he did was interfere with the on going negotiations that were  apparently on their way to working.  Shame on him and woe is us.

Today.  What a surprise, John McCain has decided to go to the debate. It was really never a question. In the old days we would have had chickens out wherever  McCain happened to be but everyone knew McCain would never allow Obama to appear as a solo speaker.  Which brings us to the debate. McCain says our best days are ahead of us. Well that’s easy to say if you have seven homes and a wife with a multi million dollar a year income.  But what if you don’t. What if you’re a single mother or a working parent trying to pay college tuition or an elderly person with no health insurance or no way to pay for a place to live.  MCain is still talking about a 300 billion dollar tax cut for people who also have seven homes. What about the rest of us?   I’m listening to the blah blah blah of the debate and I’m hearing that Obama wants to make sure people have health care, can afford  education and wants  taxes on corporations who are already making millions of dollars.  John McCain wants to give more money to his friends and tax health care benefits.  Oh My.

I just don’t know who is telling the truth.  McCain says look at the record and so I did. MCain has never voted for any taxes incentives for alternative energy sources.  McCain has given tax breaks for oil companies, the drill, drill drill – much like the blah blah blah – I can’t understand the foggy explanations.

On a more humorous note… Wait, I’ll find one.  OK, John McCain voted 90% of the time with George Bush, but now he says, “I’m  maverick and people know it”.  Is that a good thing—well whatever it’s pretty funny.  “We are winning the war, we love the surge”, that’s pretty funny. We can fight more wars and we can win them.”  I’m doubled over. “War is good—let’s have more.”   He says,” there is a difference between a tactics and a strategy”.  Why am I not laughing.

Oye.  Obama says it’s not funny,  4000 lost lives, a resurgence of Al Queda, billions of dollars in foolish and wasteful spending and a war we should never have been in. The core issue is a surge that (might be working) but it covered up years of loss and waste. We need to end the war in a responsible way.  Sounds pretty good to me.

I have had to fast forward through some of the things on the debate that really piss me off – because, to be honest I know nothing about war and I’m looking for humor.  Here’s the bottom line, as they say.  McCain is old think—traditional war, fight to the death, we won’t come home in defeat, don’t tell any secrets, let the military guys make political decisions.  He uses his stump speech to make points (boring!). Obama is the future—let’s make our decisions based on the reality of today, let’s fight with the people who are really a danger, let’s not just keep sending our young people to places where they don’t need to die, how do we make good judgments to prevent war.   And neither of them knew the difference between the Republican guard and the Revolutionary guard – so let’s move on.

It’s getting harder to have a sense of humor about this candidate confrontation so lets turn look at something more amusing, the financial crisis—no agreement, no guarantee that any of us will have a home tomorrow, no way the Republican house is ever going to like John McCain.  This is not funny so I guess I’ll have to write on another day—maybe   tomorrow if the rain stops and the leaves change color.  Afterall, whatever else happens and doesn’t change, we will always have change in the seasons.