The State of Barack Obama

What is being said about Obama, by friends and opponents alike, was said about John Kennedy when he was president. Too aloof, too much head and not enough heart, a manager but not a leader. Eloquence gets tiresome when it doesn't set people on fire, and he should live up to his own stirring language. Suddenly, Kennedy was gone, and he seemed lovable, warm, a member of the family, and of course he had been right all along.

Obama's State of the Union tonight was superb--he knows his Lincoln--and it is always thrilling to see a man actually thinking on a live telecast. The conversational tone towards the end had to attract every ear: he spoke as a friend or family lawyer giving his somewhat slow clients the straight talk they are resistant to hear.

My point here is that Barack Obama, as exceptional presidents always are, will be gone before we know it, and then the great period of catch-up to what he was all about begins with the people. How much better it is to pay close attention now and see the fight he is in, and, in sensitive response, join him.

It all ends suddenly.

I Hope He's Not Lost

The news tonight is that President Obama will call for a large freeze--lasting three years--on domestic spending Wednesday night in his State of the Union Address. Is this a new idea cooked up to please the people who hate him the most? Does he believe that he has the everlasting support of all those who voted for him in 2008 and that they will meekly swallow this while the Pentagon budget goes untouched? He would be wrong in each case. My doubt about him these days does not mean that I have given up on him, but he does need some wins any time now. That health care bill--is that not domestic spending?--needs to be passed and signed or the entire first Obama year will be judged a failure. Where is he right now? And where are we? We cannot be lost.

Brett Favre, Thanks For the Memories

The game between the Vikings and the Saints tonight was entertaining in its way but not what would be called a great game. Minnesota fumbled so often that one came to expect it every time they had the ball. I think they are the better team but just not tonight, as Brad Childress said. How many times can you hand the ball to a 14-3 team and still expect to win? Not as many times as the Vikes did in New Orleans. I don't have any interest in a Super Bowl between the Colts and the Saints and the network and NFL bosses are even now contemplating the lost viewers and dollars caused by a game without the drama of Brett Favre leading the Vikings. They were magic this year but every player and fan knows that magic cannot be repeated. It is only remembered.

Miep Gies, 100 Years

Miep Gies died Monday at age 100. Most people may not know her name but she is mentioned frequently in one of the best-selling books of the 20th century, Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl. Miep was an employee of Otto Frank in his Amsterdam business and for two years, 1942-44, she helped hide the Frank family from the Nazi occupiers. She brought them food, kept the secret, and went into the hidden rooms where they had lived after they were taken away. Anne's diary was lying on the floor after the Nazis had ransacked the place. Miep Gies put it in her desk and kept it there until Otto Frank, the only member of the family to survive the concentration camps, returned in 1945. The diary was published in 1947.

A noble life has ended and the good that rippled from it is incalculable.

Two Close Calls

The kind of Christmas we almost had this year should have all of our security people back at work imagining the worst possible tragedies in order to prevent them. On Christmas Eve, as he was entering St. Peter's for Midnight Mass, the pope was assaulted and dragged to the floor. If the assailant had had a weapon the world would today be dealing with a murder that would be considered one of the most shocking in history. Who would believe that one "unbalanced" woman could have done this alone?

About twenty-four hours later a terrorist was able to set off a highly destructive powder on a plane near Detroit with almost 300 on board. If his plan had been completely successful, and with an assassinated pope lying in Rome, Christmas 2009 would be the start of another, and much darker, New Reality. No thanks to bodyguards and airport police two disasters were averted--this time; this kind of luck will not hold.

The security systems we rely on to stay alive and keep our world stable have been proven, in the past few days, to be Wizard of Oz trickery full of special effects and authoritative voices that do not deter the ones determined to hit us. The little dog has pulled back the curtain and we now can see how very vulnerable our sense of daily order and safety is.

Sit Down and Shut Up

It was a treat today to see Sen. Al Franken in the presiding chair in the Senate tell Sen. Lieberman that his time had expired and he would not get another minute's extension. "Oh really?," laughed the Traitor Joe. Yes, really; the senator from Minnesota informed the senator from John McCain's backyard that enough was quite enough and that he should return to his seat as any other coddled brat would be told to do.

There is justice in this world and not far away is the day when Democrats will settle the score with Sen. Lieberman. He has much to answer for and he deserves as much mercy as that smirk on his face affords the party that nominated him for vice-president not so long ago.

May We See Your Invitation?

The two NWA pilots who overshot Minnesota recently seem to have found new positions--working security at the White House for State Dinners. Two people without invitations or places on the guest list are allowed in by the pilots--sorry, Secret Service--shake hands with Obama, write about it that night on their website and are still--one week later--not in jail. Is there no law against this? Illegal entry at the White House?

That picture of the pretty,uninvited and unknown blonde shaking hands with President Obama in his house should be freeze-frozen into the mind of every Secret Service agent. If there had been a tragedy, who would believe it was not an inside conspiracy? Very important people would now be under suspicion of assassinating the president and the trust between the people and their government that our Republic rests on would be ruined. Why are these two interlopers not in jail? And why have no heads rolled at the Secret Service?