My first lessons in how to be a man came from my Daddy. Be a man and you’ll always be OK he said.
He was a very patient man, tended toward passive-aggressiveness, but when the time came to act, he acted. He might have been slow to move, but when he moved, he was like a force of nature. And before he acted, he had a cold stare that could cut through steel. People left the room when they saw that stare. People would start running, start jumping off buildings if necessary. The only man I ever saw insult my Mother (called her a Jezebel) ended up on his backside with about 20 stitches decorating his face later that day.
I’ve grown up to be just like my Daddy. Better watch for that cold stare.
My next teacher was George C. Wallace. He taught us Alabamians that we didn’t have to take a backseat to anybody.
“Yankees don’t put their pants on a nail and run and jump in ‘em. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like we do,” he assured Alabama boys. I was so reassured by that, growing up being called a redneck and poor white trash.
The Guvnuh taught me about liberal arrogance---the pointed-headed pseudo-intellectuals who wanted to bus us all over creation and yet sent their own kids to private schools. The effete defeatists who wanted to cut and run in Viet Nam just like those who want to cut and run from Iraq today. Those Washington bureaucrats who trampled all over states rights, who didn’t understand what Palin calls “real Americans.”
There was my Uncle Elmo, who lived in a little community called Bankston in Fayette County. He taught me to always protect myself and my loved ones.
Uncle Elmo believed in self-sufficiency. He and Aunt Ruby had a huge garden. They could have lived a year on what they had canned. They could have fed the entire county supper.
Then there was Uncle Elmo’s munitions room. He had enough weaponry and ordinance to kill everybody in the county three times over.
“Sooner or later we might have to fight ‘em again, and I’m gonna be ready,” he said.
“You think so, Uncle Elmo?’ I asked him.
“Shoot, yeah,” he said, employing his favorite phrase.
I’ve already been to my local Pelham gun-seller to stock up (there was a long line as you can imagine). When Obamer comes around to confiscate my guns, I’ll go down fighting. When they take my rifle from me, like Chuck Heston said, my hands will be cold.
Having been taught how to be a man growing up, I think I’m ready for whatever comes. I’m not worried.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Books I'll Probably Read
Jon Meacham has a big biography of Andrew Jackson coming out next week that has already received rave prepublication reviews.
H.W. Brands has a new biography of FDR.
Fred Kaplan has a new literary biography of Lincoln. As the anniversary of Lincoln's 200th birthday approaches, Lincoln books will proliferate.
H.W. Brands has a new biography of FDR.
Fred Kaplan has a new literary biography of Lincoln. As the anniversary of Lincoln's 200th birthday approaches, Lincoln books will proliferate.
Beyond the Angry White Guy
Though I am a Democrat, I peruse the Weekly Standard, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, and the National Review to keep up with Republican thinking. In the midst of the Republican soul-searching that is going on now after last Tuesday's GOP debacle, Fred Barnes says one thing that is undoubtedly true.
"Republican Weakness. Where is it? In the Northeast, across the upper Midwest, and in cities and upscale suburbs. To gain a majority in Congress, Republicans will have to win House and Senate seats in those places. To win the presidency, they'll have to appeal to voters in those locations.
Republicans in Washington must keep these voters--they're more moderate than conservative--in mind and avoid alienating them. Republicans don't need to jettison conservative principles. Ryan, the party's most innovative thinker, says Republicans need only apply these principles to the new political era, and moderates will be comfortable with the result.
One more thing is essential, according to Ryan. "We've got to be happy warriors," he says. "We've got to stop being the angry white guy party." Otherwise, Republicans will play right into Obama's hands."
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
"Republican Weakness. Where is it? In the Northeast, across the upper Midwest, and in cities and upscale suburbs. To gain a majority in Congress, Republicans will have to win House and Senate seats in those places. To win the presidency, they'll have to appeal to voters in those locations.
Republicans in Washington must keep these voters--they're more moderate than conservative--in mind and avoid alienating them. Republicans don't need to jettison conservative principles. Ryan, the party's most innovative thinker, says Republicans need only apply these principles to the new political era, and moderates will be comfortable with the result.
One more thing is essential, according to Ryan. "We've got to be happy warriors," he says. "We've got to stop being the angry white guy party." Otherwise, Republicans will play right into Obama's hands."
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Brains are Back!
Here is an absolutely marvelous article celebrating the change in the intellectual atmosphere that is now upon us.
THE WORLD FROM WASHINGTON
Michael Hirsh
Brains Are Back!
After eight years of proud incuriosity and anti-intellectualism, we now have a leader who values nuance and careful thought.
Published Nov 7, 2009
For two days now Americans have celebrated the idea that we may have atoned finally for our nation's original sin, slavery, along with its long legacy of racism. We have rejoiced in the world's accolades over the election of a multicultural African-American to the presidency after nearly eight years of cringing in shame as the Bush administration methodically curdled our Constitutional values and sullied our global reputation as a beacon of hope. Every once in a while, it seems, we Americans do manage to live up to our ideals rather than betray them. Hooray!
I am just as happy as everyone else over all this global good feeling. But there's something else that I'm even happier about--positively giddy, in fact. And the effects of this change are likely to last a lot longer than the brief honeymoon Barack Obama will enjoy as a symbol of realized ideals. What Obama's election means, above all, is that brains are back. Sense and pragmatism and the idea of considering-all-the-options are back. Studying one's enemy and thinking through strategic problems are back. Cultural understanding is back. Yahooism and jingoism and junk science about global warming and shabby legal reasoning about torture are out. The national culture of flag-pin shallowness that guided our foreign policy is gone with the wind. And for this reason as much as any, perhaps I can renew my pride in being an American.
I'm under no illusion that Barack Obama will turn out to be Barack Panacea. In terms of holding major office, he's the least experienced president in memory. He'll probably screw up a lot of things, especially at first. The problems he faces – from the economic crisis to Iran's nuclear program – are just too hard. And I occasionally worry that in his eloquent eagerness to empathize and reach across cultural barriers, Obama may overreach in the opposite direction from Bush, stumbling into the appeasement of adversaries like Iran (whose buffoonish president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, practically invited him to do so this week by sending him the first letter of congratulations from Tehran since 1979). Obama must also guard against the sort of intellectual arrogance that characterized the "best and the brightest" of the Vietnam era.
But, frankly, these are all risks worth taking after nearly eight years of a president who could barely form a coherent sentence, much less a strategic thought. We can finally go back to respecting logic and reason and studiousness under a president who doesn't seem to care much about what is "left," "right" or ideologically pure. Or what he thinks God is saying to him. A guy who keeps religion in its proper place—in the pew. It's no accident that Obama is the first Northern Democrat to be elected president since John F. Kennedy. The "Sun Belt" politics represented by George W. Bush – the politics of ideological rigidity, religious zealotry and anti-intellectualism--"has for the moment played itself out," says presidential historian Robert Dallek.
From the very start of his campaign, Obama has given notice that, whatever you might think about his policies, they will be well thought out and soberly considered, and that as president he would not be a slave of passion or impulse. While his GOP opponent, a 72-year-old cancer victim, was cynically deciding for political reasons that a woman who apparently did not know that Africa was a continent rather than a country should be a heartbeat away from the presidency, Obama was setting up working groups to study every major international issue and region of the world. Through three debates with John McCain, he refused to be baited into personal attacks. And the more we have learned about his transition process, the clearer it becomes that he intends to be that kind of president as well. Against the very political concerns of some of his loyalists that he, the candidate of "change," is bringing too many ex-Clintonites on board, he is dispassionately welcoming in the best brains (like Larry Summers, Laura Tyson and Gene Sperling) and most experienced hands (considering an extension of Bob Gates' tenure at the Pentagon, for instance). He is actively considering other Republicans for high posts.
How very presidential. And how very unusual.
THE WORLD FROM WASHINGTON
Michael Hirsh
Brains Are Back!
After eight years of proud incuriosity and anti-intellectualism, we now have a leader who values nuance and careful thought.
Published Nov 7, 2009
For two days now Americans have celebrated the idea that we may have atoned finally for our nation's original sin, slavery, along with its long legacy of racism. We have rejoiced in the world's accolades over the election of a multicultural African-American to the presidency after nearly eight years of cringing in shame as the Bush administration methodically curdled our Constitutional values and sullied our global reputation as a beacon of hope. Every once in a while, it seems, we Americans do manage to live up to our ideals rather than betray them. Hooray!
I am just as happy as everyone else over all this global good feeling. But there's something else that I'm even happier about--positively giddy, in fact. And the effects of this change are likely to last a lot longer than the brief honeymoon Barack Obama will enjoy as a symbol of realized ideals. What Obama's election means, above all, is that brains are back. Sense and pragmatism and the idea of considering-all-the-options are back. Studying one's enemy and thinking through strategic problems are back. Cultural understanding is back. Yahooism and jingoism and junk science about global warming and shabby legal reasoning about torture are out. The national culture of flag-pin shallowness that guided our foreign policy is gone with the wind. And for this reason as much as any, perhaps I can renew my pride in being an American.
I'm under no illusion that Barack Obama will turn out to be Barack Panacea. In terms of holding major office, he's the least experienced president in memory. He'll probably screw up a lot of things, especially at first. The problems he faces – from the economic crisis to Iran's nuclear program – are just too hard. And I occasionally worry that in his eloquent eagerness to empathize and reach across cultural barriers, Obama may overreach in the opposite direction from Bush, stumbling into the appeasement of adversaries like Iran (whose buffoonish president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, practically invited him to do so this week by sending him the first letter of congratulations from Tehran since 1979). Obama must also guard against the sort of intellectual arrogance that characterized the "best and the brightest" of the Vietnam era.
But, frankly, these are all risks worth taking after nearly eight years of a president who could barely form a coherent sentence, much less a strategic thought. We can finally go back to respecting logic and reason and studiousness under a president who doesn't seem to care much about what is "left," "right" or ideologically pure. Or what he thinks God is saying to him. A guy who keeps religion in its proper place—in the pew. It's no accident that Obama is the first Northern Democrat to be elected president since John F. Kennedy. The "Sun Belt" politics represented by George W. Bush – the politics of ideological rigidity, religious zealotry and anti-intellectualism--"has for the moment played itself out," says presidential historian Robert Dallek.
From the very start of his campaign, Obama has given notice that, whatever you might think about his policies, they will be well thought out and soberly considered, and that as president he would not be a slave of passion or impulse. While his GOP opponent, a 72-year-old cancer victim, was cynically deciding for political reasons that a woman who apparently did not know that Africa was a continent rather than a country should be a heartbeat away from the presidency, Obama was setting up working groups to study every major international issue and region of the world. Through three debates with John McCain, he refused to be baited into personal attacks. And the more we have learned about his transition process, the clearer it becomes that he intends to be that kind of president as well. Against the very political concerns of some of his loyalists that he, the candidate of "change," is bringing too many ex-Clintonites on board, he is dispassionately welcoming in the best brains (like Larry Summers, Laura Tyson and Gene Sperling) and most experienced hands (considering an extension of Bob Gates' tenure at the Pentagon, for instance). He is actively considering other Republicans for high posts.
How very presidential. And how very unusual.
David S. Reynolds - Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson
This book is a marvelous, so readable, survey of the country during time of Andrew Jackson, from roughly 1815, when Jackson burst on the American scene with his incredible over the British in New Orleans, to 1848, when the last Whig president, Zachary Taylor, was elected.
During this election season, I've been thinking about and reading again about Andrew Jackson, the founder of the Democratic Party. Over the years, starting in 1971, I have read many of the leading books on Jackson. To understand this country fully, I submit that you have to understand Andrew Jackson and his times.
This book reflects the mature historical writing of a seasoned historian, who carefully balances the strengths and weaknesses, the accomplishments and the failures, of our seventh President. A rebalancing is underway in this part of our history where Jackson is seen in greater clarity and appropriate credit is given to John Quincy Adams.
To his everlasting credit, Andrew Jackson was our first non-elitist, common man, president of all of the people. He was a true democrat. The people loved him, not just as a military hero, although for that reason too, but because they knew he was on their side.
The Democratic Party has always been the party of the working people of this country, and it all started with Andrew Jackson.
During this election season, I've been thinking about and reading again about Andrew Jackson, the founder of the Democratic Party. Over the years, starting in 1971, I have read many of the leading books on Jackson. To understand this country fully, I submit that you have to understand Andrew Jackson and his times.
This book reflects the mature historical writing of a seasoned historian, who carefully balances the strengths and weaknesses, the accomplishments and the failures, of our seventh President. A rebalancing is underway in this part of our history where Jackson is seen in greater clarity and appropriate credit is given to John Quincy Adams.
To his everlasting credit, Andrew Jackson was our first non-elitist, common man, president of all of the people. He was a true democrat. The people loved him, not just as a military hero, although for that reason too, but because they knew he was on their side.
The Democratic Party has always been the party of the working people of this country, and it all started with Andrew Jackson.
Our Monster Days are Over (we hope)
Paul Krugman is getting lots of notice for saying that the monsters that have sullied our country the last 8 years are going away.
The monster years
Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.
What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.
And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”
Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.
The monster years
Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.
What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.
And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”
Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Latest Palin Joke
The latest Palin joke is all over the airwaves. I first heard it today on FOX (of all palces--the Republican network that I occasionally listen to on my satellite radio just for laughs). During the campaign she thought that Africa was a country, and that South Africa was a part of the country of Africa. Also, she spent much more than $150,000 on clothes. The Wasilia Hillbillies go to Neiman-Marcus. That we might have elected this stupid woman VP and potentially President speaks volumes about conservatives. Unbelievable.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)