It ain't all pizzas and cream

Spring has sprung...slowly

Where's that global warming everyone's been wetting their diapers about?  Around here, spring's arrival has been slower than a drunk paying his bar tab. Nonetheless, we headed out with friends to one of our favorite local hikes on Saturday. We didn't bring the backpack carrier for the baby, figuring she'd want to walk. Well, she didn't. Nor did she want to be carried. Mostly, she wanted to sit. And eat. And sit. 

Mommy sported her new pink hair. 

The baby enjoyed the playground far more than the hike.

Looking for precedent? There's no place like Rome.

A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked a random sample of pedestrians in New York's Times Square the simple question: "What Religion is Barack Obama?" A surprising 13% answered, "Muslim."

An erroneous email about the candidate has insisted that if elected President, Mr. Obama will be sworn in with his right hand on the Koran rather than the Bible.

Add to these the recently leaked photo of Obama in Somali attire, and one might conclude that there is some kind of conspiracy bent on giving us the impression that, on some level, Mr. Obama is 'not quite American.'

Interestingly, despite this tidal wave of misinformation, the news may not be all bad for Mr. Obama.

*  *  *  *

Thanks to my father's love of ancient Rome, I have grown fond of fleshing out the parallels dad frequently sketched out between the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the rise and (impending) decline of America. 

So many of my childhood dinner conversations centered around the decline of Rome and what my father considered the impending decline of America that I can still hear him warn, “The Barbarians are at the gates!”  Of course, my dad voted for Nixon.  Twice.  So today I take his comments in that context.  But it is nonetheless interesting to note that even Rome had its precedent for an Obama Presidency. 

Emperor Marcus Julius Phillippus (244-249 AD) was Syrian, though his father was Roman.  ‘Philip the Arab,’ as he was known, is best remembered for ending a Teutonic tribal invasion, putting down a rebellion by one of his generals from that campaign, and for his tolerance of Christianity.  So, overall, he was considered a rather successful Emperor, though the Empire itself had begun its long slow slide into oblivion.  It is not beyond imagination that Senator Obama could become America’s Phillippus, and give us at least a few years of stability and prosperity. Tho for now, my money's still on Hillary.

Fear of a Black Cabinet (Pt.2)

So, as Senator Barack Obama gains ever more momentum in his quest for the White House, why are we still unable to address race?

Several members of Mr. Obama’s team recently stood together at a press conference to address Geraldine Ferarro’s recent comments about Obama and race.  Coincidentally or intentionally, all were African American.  It was probably the first time many Americans considered the possibility of an all-Black Cabinet.  Of course, because we cannot discuss race in America, nobody in the media (as far as I’m aware) made mention of it.

Ever since Mr. Obama became a serious contender for the Democratic nomination, what  the talking heads in the media have been asking is whether America is ready for a Black president.  Comedian/commentator Jon Stewart  pointed out in a recent interview with Larry King (and I’m paraphrasing here), ‘when George W. Bush was elected, nobody asked if America was ready for a moron President.’  Mr. Obama is clearly more knowledgeable, more erudite,, more charming, and more open to progressive ideas than is Mr. Bush. So why should his race matter? In that same Larry King interview, Jon Stewart said (again paraphrasing), ‘do people think that Obama will just let Black people do whatever they want? ’  The answer to that, by the way, is no.  But for a more real answer, I think we have to look at that press conference again. Would the idea of Caucasians being a minority in the Presidential Cabinet prove challenging for even the bluiest of Blue Staters to overcome? Time, and the Superdelegates, will tell.  And of course, when the dust settles, we may end up with President McCain, another old White guy telling us what’s what.  Which would not surprise me. Every time there’s a “throw the rascals out” movement in American politics, the incumbents and Conservatives seem nonetheless to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. 

But I think that until we can discuss race openly in America, neither collapsing in shame nor erupting in violence, we will get nowhere in addressing the racism that affects all of us. 

Why Can't Americans Discuss Race (Pt.1)

Everyone in America is a racist. That is, every American over the age of 6 has, at one time or another, made a judgment about someone based primarily on race.  Whether it’s the Korean grocer who checks to be sure his billy-club is within reach when three African-American teens enter his store.  Or the Black man who sees that the timid driver causing the traffic jam ahead of him is Asian and mutters, “that figures,” under his breath. Or the Hispanic day worker who sees the White diner manager approach his table and assumes that he’ll be asked to move to the counter. Or the more conventional Jim Crow type of racism. 

Even the most liberal Caucasian woman whose array of close friends resembles the United Nations will be unlikely to conclude that the four tattooed Hispanic young men in “wife beater” t-shirts approaching her on the street are on their way to a graduate conference on ethics.  And then there’s the bizarre “reverse racism” in which the Black man is presumed to be more ‘cool’ or the Native American more spiritual by virtue of his very race and is thus made into a cartoonish figure of hollow admiration. (I blame Kerouac and his friends for this one).

So, if we’re all racists, why can’t we talk openly about race?  Why is the only socially acceptable standard to pretend that any cultural differences that exist within American society simply aren’t there…even when we make judgments based on these differences daily?

Perhaps part of the answer is that we don’t want to admit how complex the issues of race truly are in America. Or that to face these issues directly would be to admit openly that America at its most fundamental level has been steadfastly untrue to the very ideals it claims so boastfully to espouse.  Like freedom.  And equality.  And justice. 

I once got in a taxi driven by a first-generation African-American.  We’d scarcely left the curb when he asked me (his White passenger) why the Black panhandler on the corner was too lazy to go out and get himself a job.  I was put in the bizarre position of having to explain to a Black man in America why another Black man in America might feel hopeless or defeated.  It was a truly strange conversation.  The best answer that I could muster was that the cabbie had arrived in America a free man, and that the great great great grandfather of the panhandler had arrived in irons.  And that the cabbie grew up in a society that told him he could reap the benefits of hard work, while the panhandler grew up in a society that told him he was worthless, no matter how hard he worked. After that, we talked about the weather. 

But what struck me most about the conversation was that the chasm between these two men was not one of race.  It was one of time. America itself had gotten in the way.  The America of 300 years ago, of 100 years ago, of 50 years ago.  This was the America that had brought the panhandler to his present state.  But the cabbie, living only in the America of today, couldn’t see that.  And so these two men were isolated from each other by the very thing that held them together: America.

(next segment to follow soon)

Splash

One day you will wake
unable to stop coughing
or defecating
or bleeding.

The doctors will suck
at their pen caps
and nurses will whisper
your name in the corridors.

Your grown children
will regard you
as a squirrel crushed
beneath their car’s front tire.

And when you’ve gone
everyone you know will eat
roast beef with horseradish
sauce and potatoes,

And talk about the time
you stood up drunk
in the rowboat
and sang
                  Blue Moon.

__________________________________________

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It's the little things that send a man to the madhouse...

Bukowski told us...

it’s the continuing series of small tragedies
that send a man to the
madhouse…
not the death of his love
but a shoelace that snaps
with no time left …"

This year so far has been a string of broken shoelaces.  The vacation was more work than relaxation and left us all exhausted and sick (Cecily's at the doc's right now with an ever worsening sore throat and fatigue); the Maverick is  becoming a money pit (now into it for $5500 in restoration and still won't run, needs a new gas tank and a rebuilt carb); I've lost my bread-n-butter client (who'd decided it's cheaper to use in-house staffers to write its promo materials); the baby's been extra fussy lately (a preview of the 'terrible twos' and going thru a 'mommy mommy' phase). And we haven't done our taxes yet.
      I could go on.

Today's shoelace...my last working harmonica managed to dismantle itself in my pocket.  I'm not really sure how this could have happened. But of course one of the tiny parts that should hold it together is missing.  I know this seems very trivial.  It is trivial.  But somehow it just seems like an extraordinarily bad omen when things just begin falling apart without reason.

Every night I go to bed thinking, "Well, maybe tomorrow won't suck." But then tomorrow arrives.  And sucks. Not cancer bad. Not divorce bad.  Not lost-the-dog-in-the-fire bad. But certainly kick-in-the-nuts bad.  I feel like I'm trying to run a marathon while wearing sandbags.

I'm not fishing for consolation here. Or spiritual advice (tho I do see how those who believe in  a Big Mind in the Sky feel they have some recourse in these matters).  I'm just saying these things for the sake of getting them out of my own head.

Funny, when I was drinking and found myself under the boot heel of a particularly vicious hangover, I used to recite poems I'd memorized (mine and those written by others) until I felt better.

And strangely now I can't remember a single line (the Buk quote I looked up on the web).

Perhaps it's just that some days you're the dog and others you're the hydrant.

Photo finish

Well, after the TX and OH primaries, it looks like the Dems' race for the White House is going to come down to the wire.  It's so rare that the PA primary matters a rat's smashed ass that I'm wondering if we'll get the glam treatment here by the media. Probably not but hey, we can hope for a media circus, can't we.

As for how it's gonna play, here's my pick:

Going into the nominating convention, Obama will have the lead in delegates.
But Clinton will walk away with the nomination.

Why?  Well, unlike the Republicans, who settle things in a clear winner-take-all manner, the Dems apportion delegates to candidates based on their popular vote, even if a candidate fails to win a state, he/she still gets delegates.  Had the Dems employed a winner-take-all system, Obama would have been out after Clinton took CA, NJ, NY and a few other big states.

And then there are the Superdelegates, who, come convention time, can vote any way they damn well please, regardless of how they're pledged.  And I think they'll swing to Hillary. Why? Because anyone who remembers Jimmy Carter's presidency knows that no matter how appealing a fresh uncorrupted face may be, it takes alliances to get the job done. 

Hillary, in my opinion, has missed a key opportunity up to this point.  Rather than focusing on Obamas lack of "experience", she should have focused on his lack of "alliances".  Plainly put, he hasn't been in the system long enough for people to owe him favors...favors he'll need to call in when building a cabinet, getting
laws thru Congress, etc.  Don't get me wrong, he gives a hell of a speech.  Goosebump worthy.  But Jimmy Carter was charming in his time too, and had a Democratic Congress to work with.  Except that he didn't. He and the legislative branch fought and bickered and squabbled, and in the final analysis, nothing got done. Which opened the door to Ronald Reagan, and well, you know the story from there.  I don't want to see the same happen to Obama.  He's young, he can run again.  Maybe in 8 years when Hillary's two terms are done. ;-)