Archive for the ‘Public figures’ Category
A Bunch of Stuff — new Publications, Yoplait Yogurt lids, and Brett Favre observation.
Well, I don’t have enough for a full blog post today, but I do have a lot of little things to discuss.
First, e-Quill Publishing has accepted an original story; for those of you who’ve known me a while, this story started as “Dream/Reality,” then became “Betty goes to the Fair.” It’s now entitled “The Fair at South Farallon,” I think — Lawrence at e-Quill liked that much better. I do not know when it will be available, but I am glad that it’s been accepted.
Second, I am writing a collaborative novella with Piotr Mierzejewski for e-Quill Publishing that’s titled “Iron Falls.” It is near-future military suspense; I’ve never written anything like this before, and have been doing a great deal of research. It is in Piotr’s world with Piotr’s characters; we’re still hammering out the plot. Two chapters have been written with a third on the way; estimated time for this story’s completion is late December 2010. (Lawrence is very confident and has already announced this at the e-Quill Publishing Web site. I would’ve preferred to wait until at least four chapters were completed. But now that the cat’s out of the bag . . . . )
Third, anyone who eats Yoplait yogurt knows that around this time of year, they start making all the lids pink for breast cancer awareness. My Mom is taking part in all that; it’s called “Save Lids to Save Lives.” So please, save your pink lids and send ’em to Yoplait down the road, OK?
Finally, my Brett Favre observation. I’m sure most if not all of you know Favre is in trouble due to some allegations made by two massage therapists working for the New York Jets and a “game hostess” also employed by the Jets. (I don’t know what a “game hostess” does. Sorry.) These were all attractive women, and Favre is alleged to have sent racy text messages to them and also to have sent naked “below-the-waist” pics. He also left voice mail messages for the “hostess.”
Look. Favre is a married man; his wife is the inestimable Deanna Favre, who has beaten breast cancer once (though it may return). They’ve known each other all their lives, have two children (one who is grown and has already reproduced, so Favre is the NFL’s only known player that’s also a grandfather), and have been married fourteen years. Their marriage has been strong, though there have been allegations in the past of Favre cheating on her — I’ve always thought that Favre loves Deanna like no other, but maybe has trouble being faithful to her, even though I could be wrong about all of it.
What I am sorry about is that Favre’s life is played out in public. These problems are difficult for anyone to deal with; infidelity is not easy for the non-cheating partner to have to deal with. And women, more than men, have to deal with this — it’s an awful situation even if it’s all happening behind closed doors. It is a thousand times worse, it seems to me, to have all this happen in the public eye.
Favre is a major, big-time player with many NFL records; he’s still playing at 41 and is still highly competent as a QB (though it seems to me he now has to pick his spots; last night’s game against the Jets, where Favre played a good fourth quarter but the first three weren’t good at all, is a case in point). He has the consecutive games-played record — not just for quarterbacks, but for all NFL players — and is considered the “iron man” of professional American football.
All that being said, he’s a man like any other. And his faults seem to be remarkably similar to many other men; he apparently has a wandering eye, and now his marriage may be in major trouble.
I believe the publication Deadspin.com, who has reveled in these Favre allegations (even to the point of paying $20,000 for the voice-mails and “corroborating evidence”), is mostly to blame for all this. They don’t need to be muckrakers. Yet to get publicity for themselves, Deadspin.com has played this for all its worth — and I find that disgusting.
I would prefer that Brett Favre re-commit to his marriage, if indeed any of the allegations against him are true. Deanna Favre is a remarkable, strong, intelligent lady and she’s stood by him through many difficult times — including Favre’s Vicodin addiction in the ’90s. She deserves better treatment from her husband. And Favre really needs to learn that, at 41 years of age, he should appreciate the great woman he has and stop trying to re-live his youth or behave in a crass, classless manner. He’s not young; he’s a grandfather. He should set an example for his teammates and clean up his act.
Ken Macha out as Brewers manager; more on Brewers.
The Milwaukee Brewers, who finished with a 77-85 record, fired manager Ken Macha today by the simple expedient of not picking up his option for next season. Macha said here (http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/104276948.html):
“Nobody likes to be let go, but I understand baseball, too,” Macha said. “I’ve been around a long time and been through this stuff. I told (Melvin) this Milwaukee experience for me was tremendous.
“It’s too bad we didn’t win more games, but I appreciate him bringing me here. … The expectations were to put up more wins and we didn’t do that. That’s the game.”
Macha’s words were classy, especially as he found out he’d been fired last evening via the media rather than by his good friend, Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin. Macha continued:
“When you sit down and build your club … you really got to compare your club to the other teams that have won,” Macha said. “How do we stack up with say St. Louis? We signed Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins. … Yeah we filled some holes, but are we on the same level with (Chris) Carpenter and (Adam) Wainright? So maybe the expectations were a little high but you still have to win.
“We lacked that No. 1 guy going out there. That’s my thoughts. If you could put someone at the top (of the rotation) and move everybody else down, you’d give yourself a much better chance to win.”
Now, this is something I, as a fan of the Brewers, said all year long. Yovani Gallardo is not an ace. He is a good pitcher and would probably be just fine as the second pitcher on the Brewers staff, but he is no ace. And Randy Wolf, who’s a fine number three pitcher, has too much pressure on him as a number two pitcher — all of those roles, ace, number two pitcher, number three pitcher, are clearly defined now in major league baseball, and the ace of the staff is expected to be the guy who shuts down the opposition no matter what’s been happening with the rest of the club. (In other words, if the Brewers had lost six or seven in a row and Gallardo’s turn was up, he was expected to keep the other team in check while he was out there and get the Brewers a better chance to win thereby. Gallardo can do this, but he mostly doesn’t — that’s why he’d be better as the number two pitcher on the staff because he’d have far less pressure on him thereby.)
Going on in Anthony Witrado’s blog from today’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Macha also acknowledged his trying relationships with stars Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder while noting that several other players he had good relationships with thanked him after yesterday’s season finale, including Corey Hart, Casey McGehee and Wolf among plenty of others.
Skipping ahead in the blog:
“If the effort wasn’t reciprocated, then there’s not a whole lot I can do about it. You can’t force guys to do that,” Macha said. “Some guys were open to discussion and some guys weren’t, I guess, but that’s the same with every club.
“I talked a lot to Ryan, almost every day, but he does his own thing. He’s going to do what he wants to do.
“With Prince, I think he had some issues this year to deal with, the contract probably being the main thing, and at times he was hard to talk to. I don’t know if there were any guys on the staff that talked a whole lot to him this year.
“Those are the two guys, but the rest of the guys it was all positive. I opened up to (Braun and Fielder) but you have to have a back and forth. The faces of the franchise, that’s what they are.”
After reading all this, while I remain convinced Ken Macha was always the wrong man for this job, I feel rather sorry for him. I’ve been in positions where I came into a job and wasn’t really given a chance, and it sounds like that’s exactly what happened between Macha and Brewers’ stars Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, who were both extremely angry after Ned Yost was fired in 2008 with only twelve games remaining in the season. (For the record, I was, too. I liked Yost a great deal.)
Macha had nothing to do with Ned Yost’s firing whatsoever, but I think because he was known to be such good friends with Brewers GM Doug Melvin, those two players in particular never gave Macha much of a chance. But what really surprises me is that apparently no one could reach Fielder this year — which explains Fielder’s extremely poor year, where he dropped in home runs from 46 to 31, dropped in RBI from 141 to 83, and dropped in batting average from .299 to .261. Fielder is the Brewers clean-up hitter, yet he had the fewest RBI of anyone who batted in the top five of the Brewers batting order, as you’ll see by this quick list:
Brewers RBI leaders:
Casey McGehee, 104 (bats fifth) — .285 BA, 23 HR, .464 slugging percentage
Ryan Braun, 103 (bats third) — .304 BA (led team), 25 HR, .501 slugging percentage, .365 on base percentage
Corey Hart, 102 (bats second) — .280 BA, 31 HR (8th in league), .525 slugging percentage (led team)
Rickie Weeks, 83 (bats first) — .269 BA, 29 HR, 184 strikeouts (led team), .366 on base percentage
Prince Fielder, 83 (bats fourth) — .261 BA, 32 HR (sixth in league), .401 on base percentage (led team), 114 walks (led team)
Now that you’ve seen that list, here’s some more information. Corey Hart started the season on the bench because he’d had a horrible Spring Training; he played so well Macha had to play Hart, and eventually Hart not only made the National League All-Star team, he took part in the Home Run Derby as he was among the league leaders in home runs at that time. Corey Hart finished with career highs in home runs and RBI and greatly improved his defensive play in right field; pretty good for a guy who started out on the bench, eh?
Then there’s Casey McGehee, who in his second full season led the team in RBI. McGehee is a third baseman who was an older-than-average rookie last year that GM Doug Melvin picked up prior to 2009 — McGehee had been buried in the farm system of the Chicago Cubs, but was a good, solid hitter and Melvin knew it. Signing McGehee, who started 2009 on the bench and eventually became the starting third baseman, then continued on in that role in 2010, was probably one of Melvin’s best — and most unheralded — moves of the past two years.
The other three guys — Weeks, Braun and Fielder — were all expected to do well. But Weeks, in the past, had trouble staying healthy due to problems with his wrists that required operations; that he finished a whole season credibly, improved his defense, and led all major league lead-off men in RBI was impressive. Braun got hit on the hand by a fastball thrown by Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson early in the season, had a huge dip in all batting stats during the summer, but rallied to have his usual excellent year in RBI, batting average and on base percentage (this includes hits, walks, and getting on base via errors). It was only Fielder who had a rotten year, especially by his standards — and as Macha said, that’s probably due to contractual reasons as Fielder is eligible next year for arbitration, then is a free agent, so for the moment does not have financial stability assured. (That Fielder is a client of hard-nosed agent Scott Boras is another concern, but of course Macha would never mention that even though everyone knows it’s part of the problem. The Brewers offered Fielder $100 million for five years — $20 million a year — but Boras said that wasn’t enough. That didn’t go over well with Brewers fans at all, though no one blamed Fielder, a bluff, genial, good-hearted man, for Boras’s actions even though Boras works for Fielder, not the reverse.)
Since this will probably be my final blog about the Brewers for a while, I may as well give my end of the season awards now.
Brewers Most Valuable Player: Corey Hart (Casey McGehee, second) — this is because when the Brewers still had a shot to get back in the pennant race and everyone else slumped, Hart carried the team through much of May and June.
Rookie of the Year: John Axford, who took over the closing job from Trevor Hoffman and never looked back, going 8-2 with a 2.48 ERA, and saving 24 out of 27 games.
Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher: John Axford.
Comeback Player of the Year: Chris Capuano — Capuano’s stats of 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 24 appearances (and nine starts) are a little misleading, though they’re perfectly fine. As it stands, “Cappy” is the first player to effectively pitch in the major leagues after a second “Tommy John” ligament replacement surgery on his pitching arm. He also is a study in perseverence, as his second comeback required nearly two full years of rehabilitation. Capuano deserves serious consideration as major league comeback player of the year.
The Brewers had many good players who had fine years for them in 2010; they just did not jell as a team. Here’s hoping that next year, the Brewers will be much better and give the fans a great deal more excitement overall.
Updates on Past Blogs: Kratz out, Capuano finishes season.
Today I wanted to write a quick update about what’s going on with some of those who’ve been featured in my past blog entries.
First and best, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz is now the former DA of Calumet County as he has resigned. As I’d previously written — and hoped would happen — Governor Jim Doyle (D-WI), who used to be the Attorney General of the state of Wisconsin before he was elected as Governor, had started the process to formally remove Kratz from office, which put an enormous amount of pressure on Kratz to resign. Doyle had said in this article from 9/21/2010 (http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100921/MAN0101/309220021/Wisconsin-Gov-Jim-Doyle-sees-Calumet-County-DA-Ken-Kratz-sexting-case-as-very-serious-issue-), which was widely covered by Wisconsin newspapers:
An outraged Doyle said Monday he would start the process to consider removing Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz and that he hopes to make a decision in a month. At a news conference five days after The Associated Press broke the story, Doyle said any prosecutor who would have behaved that way on his watch would have faced repercussions.
“I consider this to be a very, very, very serious issue,” said Doyle, a former district attorney and attorney general who leaves the governor’s office in January.
“It’s one that personally strikes to a lot of things I have worked very hard on in my career: crime victims’ rights and domestic violence. It troubles me deeply that somebody turns to the criminal justice system for help and receives the kinds of texts we have seen.”
And Gov. Doyle delivered, as Kratz, as of today, has resigned his position as DA. Kratz’s resignation was covered widely as well; one account of it is here at this link:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101004/GPG0101/101004091/1207&located=rss
Kratz’s resignation was quiet and done via press release, which stated:
“It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce my resignation as Calumet County district attorney, effective immediately,” Kratz wrote in a statement. “I have lost the confidence of the people I represent due primarily to personal issues which have now affected my professional career.”
I am very happy that Kratz is gone, and hope the people of Calumet County will now rest a bit easier with Kratz’s resignation.
Next, Brewers pitcher Chris Capuano completed his comeback season; as previous blogs have reported, left-hander Capuano came back this year from his second “Tommy John” ligament replacement surgery in his left arm and pitched effectively, going 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 66 innings, starting nine games and appearing in 24. The rest of his statistics are available many places, but I prefer FanGraphs.com, an excellent baseball resource site for the serious fan; here’s that link:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1701&position=P
Capuano started his final game last Saturday and struggled against the Cincinnati Reds, giving up three runs, ten hits and a walk in 3 2/3 innings. After the game, a 7-4 loss (Capuano did not lose the game due to the Brewers offense tying the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning), Capuano said:
“It was a battle,” said Capuano. “It was one of those games when even when I had them hitting my pitch, they found holes. They hit a couple of balls hard.
“They never took the pressure off me, never really allowed me to settle into a groove. As a pitcher, you’re aware of the pace of the game (3 hours, 39 minutes). I was saying, ‘Let me have a clean inning. Let me move this game along a little bit.’ ”
But as Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Tom Haudricourt said at this article (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/104209094.html):
Capuano wasn’t going to let the shaky outing tarnish the comeback season he enjoyed after sitting out two years following a second Tommy John elbow surgery.
He quoted Capuano, who said:
“Physically, I’m feeling great,” said Capuano, who is eligible for free agency. “That’s everything that I hoped for out of this year. I had an uphill battle today. They’re a good team; they have a good offense.
“I don’t know what to expect (on the market). I’m glad now I can take a rest from throwing. I really haven’t stopped throwing since this rehab program began.”
I’m very, very proud of Chris Capuano, and I’m glad the Brewers re-signed him to a minor league deal last year. Capuano is an outstanding example of patience, resilience and endurance, and I truly hope the Brewers re-sign him for next season as he’s shown he can still be an effective major league pitcher.
Calumet County (WI) DA Ken Kratz — one of the World’s Worst People.
Wisconsin’s District Attorney of Calumet County, Ken Kratz, must be one of the world’s worst people. He sexually harassed a victim by sending her text messages showing his sexual interest in her — mind you, doing this to a young woman who’d sought help from his office due to being physically abused by her ex-boyfriend — and believes he has done nothing “ethically wrong.”
How he can live with himself after sending these racy texts — one of which called this poor abused woman a “hot, young nymph” — I just don’t know.
Read the initial story at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/102983229.html
A few relevant quotes:
According to the police report, Kratz, 50, began sending text messages to Stephanie L. Van Groll, 26, after she met with him Oct. 20 regarding domestic abuse charges that had been filed against her ex-boyfriend. Van Groll reported the text messages to Kaukauna police two days later.
Kratz wrote in his first text that it was nice talking with Van Groll and that she should feel free to text him between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., according to copies of the messages included in the police report.
“You have such potential,” Kratz wrote in the initial text message. “See ya. KEN (your favorite DA).”
Van Groll thanked Kratz in a reply text message, but he continued texting her, sending 30 messages over three days, according to the report.
Yet Kratz did not quit — here’s one of his racy text messages to Van Groll:
“Im serious!” Kratz wrote in another text. “Im the atty. I have the $350,000 house. I have the 6-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!”
Listen. This is so wrong — so very, very, very wrong — that I have a hard time containing my disbelief and anger.
First off, the way Kratz has handled this has been plain, flat wrong. Yesterday he confronted a Journal-Sentinel reporter and was abusive over the invasion of Kratz’s privacy — and today, all he did was to read a prepared statement saying he was “willing to seek counseling” (I heard the statement on WTMJ-Radio, AM 620 in Milwaukee, WI) and that he didn’t do anything wrong — but that he felt it was “inappropriate” and “disrespectful.”
Not strong enough, Mr. Kratz. And not nearly enough for Wisconsin’s victim advocates, who are calling for Kratz’s removal as DA (since Kratz defiantly said today he “will not step down” but only may seek some “personal time off.”)
Here’s a link to one article about that:
http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/Victim-advocates-call-for-DA-Kratzs-resignation-103156264.html
This article is important, because in it, you see that the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, American Indians Against Abuse and victim advocates statewide — all of them — released this joint statement in reaction to Kratz’s abhorrent behavior:
Since Ken Kratz’s sexual harassment of a domestic violence victim has come to the public’s attention, he has had the opportunity to acknowledge and take responsibility for the full impact of his actions. He has failed to do so and must resign.
Absolutely! But I’m going to keep posting their statement, which is lengthy, with my commentary in between.
Going on:
In his public statement, Kratz said his sexual harassment was a ‘lapse of judgment’. Rather, his conduct and failure to take responsibility show a lack of character.
Once again, absolutely! I can’t think of a worse example of a public servant anywhere, because Kratz was elected to the position of District Attorney, not appointed. Remember, he was elected — which is why I put this in “United States politics” as one of my categories for this blog.
Going on:
As former chairperson of the Crime Victim Rights Board, Kratz knew that subjecting a domestic violence victim to unwanted sexual advances violated the Wisconsin state constitution’s guarantee that crime victims should be treated with fairness, dignity and respect for their privacy. Moreover, once his misdeeds came to light, he should have understood the real issue—victims in his community will have legitimate concerns in coming forward to report abuse.
Now, do you see what the problem is with Kratz’s behavior? Kratz knew exactly what he was doing — and he didn’t care. Appalling!
And Kratz can’t try to tell me he didn’t understand the implication of his actions, because he’s a lawyer who’s worked on behalf of victim rights’ advocates for a long, long time. (He had to resign from a victim’s rights board over this — and rightfully so.)
Going on, and talking specifically about Kratz’s resignation from the board:
Instead, he has attempted to minimize and mislead. Kratz said that stepping down from the Crime Victim Rights Board was a ‘self-imposed sanction’. This is not true. It is clear from released email correspondences that the Wisconsin Department of Justice required Kratz to resign as a condition of not disclosing the victim’s complaint.
Why am I unsurprised?
Going on:
His mishandling of this incident is consistent with his authorship of the appalling text messages. In both instances, he has shown an entitlement to his own position and power and a willingness to manipulate others for personal gain.
That’s for sure.
Going on — note that I broke the paragraph, not the various organizations who wrote this condemnatory and effective press release:
About one year ago, Kratz wrote to a battered and bruised strangulation victim, “I’m the atty. I have the $350,000 house. I have the 6-figure career. You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!” He further demonstrated his willingness to emotionally exploit the victim by writing, “Hey..Miss Communication, what’s with the sticking point? Your low self-esteem and you fear you can’t successfully play in my big sandbox?” Later when authorities investigated the victim’s complaint, Kratz pressured investigators to not pursue the matter, characterized these messages as compliments and expressed concern only for his ‘reputational interests.’ Now, he feels he owes victims and citizens no further comment or explanation.
I’d call Kratz a Neanderthal, but that’s insulting the poor Neanderthals, who didn’t do anything to anyone — and couldn’t help what they were, for that matter. (Innocent savages, mostly.)
This guy, Kratz, is a man who has abused his position for attempted gain at absolute best. But in the process, he sexually abused and harassed this poor woman, Ms. Van Groll, which makes his offense a thousand times worse. That it apparently is not illegal is no excuse — it is immoral, and is shockingly bad conduct.
And I know if I were living in Calumet County, I would already be starting to find out how quickly this guy could be recalled. Because as he was elected, he should also be able to recalled if he refuses to step down — as so far, he has refused.
Remember, Kratz did all this last year, in 2009. He’s known about this for a year and done diddly-squat. So it’s obvious he won’t go on his own.
Now, I heard Kratz’s press conference, carried live on WTMJ Radio — and I was quite displeased by it. Seeking counseling is not enough, and saying it was “inappropriate” and “disrespectful” is also not nearly enough.
I am with these victim advocates, who conclude their statement with the following:
As Ms. Van Groll’s case demonstrates, domestic violence is a matter of life and death. 67 people died in Wisconsin last year during domestic violence incidents. A victim’s confidence in the system can make all the difference in whether he or she gets help and safety or becomes a murder victim. Sadly, this is a fact that despite claiming to have a ‘25 year career… as a vigorous advocate for crime victims’ Kratz is too self-interested—on many levels—to understand. He must resign.
(Emphasis mine.)
As I said before — how can this man live with himself?
Oh, one more thing. Kratz is now going through a divorce. (Is anyone surprised, except Kratz? I think not.)
Do the right thing, Mr. Kratz. Resign. Now. Or face recall. Or possibly even be removed by the Governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle (WTMJ Radio reported around 6 PM this evening, 9/17/2010, that Doyle will be meeting with State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to see what can be done in this case, which sounded plenty ominous to me), something that has never before happened in my lifetime.
Because one way or another, Mr. Kratz, you will be out very soon. Which seems to me to be a very good thing for the people of Calumet County — the victims in particular!
Can Presidents be people, too? Or, why are all recent Presidents so “into themselves?”
Today, President Obama spoke in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at a Labor Day pep rally down at the Summerfest Grounds (right next to Lake Michigan, located in downtown Milwaukee), and said that the Republicans are talking about him “like a dog.” (See link at Mediaite, available here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/pres-obama-on-dc-opponents-%e2%80%9cthey-talk-about-me-like-a-dog%e2%80%9d/ ) President Obama went on for quite some time in this vein, which at first annoyed me because it felt self-absorbed.
I mean, here we are in the US of A sitting at 9.6% overall unemployment for the entire nation, last I checked. Many people, including myself, are out of work. Many people, including myself, are looking for work and can’t find any work at all — and yet, while President Obama discussed why he thinks nothing is improving for the nation (the Republicans are blocking many bills in the Senate on procedural grounds, something that is quite possible for them to do under existing rules, even if the R’s in question believe in the bill or bills), it seemed to me that the President saw this whole conflict as being all about him, rather than all about the nation.
Which made me wonder — can Presidents be people, too? Or will they internalize everything to the point that they can’t quite reach out to the public — rather seeing things like the current US economy as their own, personal failings instead of something that can be fixed with prudent management?
This may seem like an odd question to ask, but think about it: our recent Presidents, from Jimmy Carter onward, have not really known much in the way of privacy. There has been an exponential degree of media scrutiny, first from regular over-the-air television (1970s), cable TV (started in the ’80s), then the Internet (started in the ’90s), then the profusion of blogs that continues to this day (including this one) that mention the President, whoever the current American President is, and dissect his behavior (still, always, his behavior — maybe next time we will finally get a deserving woman **) from all angles. And things that are the fault of the President are discussed, as well as things that couldn’t possibly be his fault — this is true of all Presidents in my lifetime, and probably true of all Presidents since the start of the US of A.
Now, it’s obvious that Presidential candidates sign up for the lack of privacy — they know their lives as they knew it are over, or they should. (Gary Hart didn’t — witness his “monkey business” on the yacht named the same — but he should’ve.) They know every single thing they say at any rally is taped, or photographed, or videotaped . . . with the expansion of cheap and readily usable technology, Presidential candidates have less privacy than ever before. And anything the President says — anything a Presidential candidate says — is fair game for the media — for the television (cable and over-the-air), for the radio, for the Internet, for satellite radio/blog talk radio, etc.
Perhaps this is the reason why so many of our Presidents have seemed to be very “into themselves.” These guys have pollsters dissecting every aspect of their public appeal (or the lack of it) — and remember, nothing is private or off-limits, or at best, very, very little. So the self-absorption shown by Reagan (who’d been an actor), George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama is not new — but it definitely has grown in my lifetime.
But there’s an obvious reason for that.
Think about it. If you had pollsters telling you every minute of every day what to wear (gotta have the flag pin; gotta have the power tie, etc.), how to act, how much to smile, how long you can sit with this person, how much time you have to spend with your family before going back out on the road, etc., you might be plenty self-absorbed, too.
Further, much of the media, even the friendly ones, blame you for everything going on — or so it seems, because that’s what gets the most airplay. The stories most people are commenting on now have to do with what Paul Krugman and Tom Friedman said on ABC’s Sunday morning program This Week with Christiane Amanpour, quoted at Mediaite under the heading “Paul Krugman and Tom Friedman are Fed Up: ‘Obama has had no Vision,’ available at this link — http://www.mediaite.com/online/paul-krugman-and-tom-friedman-are-fed-up-obama-has-had-no-vision/ , to wit economist (and frequent New York Times op-ed writer) Paul Krugman’s comment:
But what is true on all of this is that Obama has had no vision. He has not articulated a philosophy. What is Obama’s philosophy of government? He wobbles between sounding kind of like a liberal. Then he says, well, the conservatives have some points, too. He concedes the message.
Granted, Paul Krugman is not making a personal attack against the President. Krugman’s point is that the President’s administration has not articulated enough of a vision to the public to help anyone besides themselves understand what they’re trying to do. (This is the kindest and gentlest way to explain things, not to summon up one of former President George H. W. Bush’s quotes.)
Then, Tom Friedman (aka Thomas L. Friedman), who also writes for the New York Times, said:
Look, I’m for more health care. I’m glad we’ve extended it to more Americans. But the fact is, there is a real, I think, argument for the case that Obama completely over-read his mandate when he came in.
He was elected to get rid of one man’s job, George Bush, and get the rest of us jobs. I think that was the poor thing. And by starting with health care and not making his first year the year of innovation, expanding economy and expanding jobs, you know, I think, looking back, that was a political mistake.
These are fair criticisms, to my mind, but to anyone sitting as a President they must run all together with the folks who are calling the President a “socialist,” or a “Nazi,” or those who believe the President has a different religion than the one he claims — especially with the 24/7 media. And that might be why President Obama said that felt like he’d been talked about “like a dog” today — even though to those of us outside the Washington, DC fishbowl, it seems like the President is far more focused on himself than getting the economy taken care of, or the big banks loaning money to the littler banks (as was supposed to happen with those TARP bills), and as if the President is still running for the office of President rather than being the President.
Because being President has usually meant the person holding the office ignores a great deal of negative things said about him. Otherwise, it’d take too long to get past the negativity — besides, negativity is easy. (Check any history of the American Presidency if you don’t believe me. Every candidate, even George Washington, the father of the US of A, had his detractors.)
Even so. While I get plenty annoyed at the way much of the electorate seems to be ignored when we ask for fiscal accountability (please, tell us where our money is going! This doesn’t seem to be too much to ask.), I recognize that the Presidential office is a difficult one to hold. And that perhaps it’s easier for us to hate the officewielder than it is to demand accountability — it all runs together, and it shouldn’t.
I don’t know what the answers are, because it seems to me our technology has outstripped our compassion. Presidents do need to be held accountable for their beliefs, and how well they act on their promises, and their legislative records, if any — but perhaps scrutinizing every little thing down to the last detail might someday be thought of as counterproductive. Because just because these guys are our public servants, that doesn’t make them any less human.
So, can our Presidents be people, too? Or must they always be icons? Because if they must be the latter, I’m afraid the American public is doomed to eternal disappointment.
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**Hillary R. Clinton won the Democratic Primaries (not the caucuses, but the verifiable primary vote). She is the first woman in history to win one primary, much less a whole bunch of them — much less get 18 million votes overall. It is possible that someday soon, a qualified female candidate will win the Presidential nomination of her party, and thus I will finally be able to say his or hers, rather than his.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 