Author Archives: Julian O. Long

ill winds

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Ben smith picked up this snippet today from First Read:

A polarized electorate: NBC/WSJ pollster Peter Hart (D) passes along this finding from a recent poll he conducted: 37% of McCain voters say they detest Obama and would have a hard time accepting him as president, while a similar number of Obama voters (36%) say the same thing of McCain.

Smith’s comment is “Whoever wins, doesn’t look like we’re in for a new era of good will.”

And speaking of ill will, I’ve been trying to sort out Leon Wieseltier’s antipathy for Louis Menand, most recently displayed in the current New Republic. Wieseltier takes Menand to task for several crimes against right thought (and Lionel Trilling) in this week’s column. Here’s a little of it:

what really rattles Menand is Trilling’s magnitude. In his conception of the intellectual life, Trilling was big. Menand is the professor of littleness. He is a man in flight from the seriousness of his own vocation.

It turns out that Wieseltier is using Menand’s recent New Yorker essay on Trilling as a reason for continuing an attack on Menand that goes back some years, at least to 2003 when Wieseltier accused Menand of impure thinking about George Orwell. Here’s a site that reviews some of this, though a few links are out of date.

So — the culture wars aren’t over. Whatever change we’re engaged in runs deep and generates powerful antipathies. I guess I’ve written a bit about that already, but it’s beginning to seem to me (even though there’s no longer a real academic debate about it) that vituperation like Wieseltier’s against a fellow humanist is maybe an index of something deeper than disagreement. I’m going to think about this and write some more after a bit.

snakes and end times

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Bloodlines? I’m thinking this election may be all over but the shouting. Ben Smith posted this video today from a liberal Ohio blogger. As I watch it I’m thinking that the folks I see are not representative of Americans as a whole, as some believe, and that the current McCain/Palin strategy is pretty desperate.

Obama needs a mandate: In contrast to the views expresssed in the video, I’m remembering especially a young couple with whom my beloved and I stood in line last winter before an Obama rally here at the Edward Jones Dome. They had driven all whe way from Oklahoma with their two small children to attend. They are farmers, though one has a day job (guess which). As we talked it became clear that they are also quite knowledgable about issues and quite definite about why Obama is their candidate. Their chief concerns are schools and health care, though they seemed excited about Obama’s uniqueness and about the Obama movement, too.

These days, the McCain/Palin strategy, in real danger of being overwhelmed by Obama voters nationally, seems to me to be aimed at garnering enough votes at the margin to tip the balance in critical swing states. But I don’t think it’s going to work this time. For one thing, the election isn’t close enough. And the Republicans are betting that there’s more of a racist pushback against the idea of an Obama victory than I think there actually is. The real question now may be whether Obama can achieve the mandate he will need to accomplish very much in his first term.

For a contrary view and some good discussion of the Bradley effect, read here.

McCain deconstructed: Rolling Stone is carrying a serious examination of the McCain myth by columnist, Tim Dickinson. It’s called “Make-Believe Maverick.” Dickenson marshalls a wealth of fact and anecdote to deconstruct the familiar McCain story — what was on display at the RNC. “Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness,” Dickinson writes.

In McCain’s version of his life, he is a prodigal son who, steeled by his brutal internment in Vietnam, learned to put “country first.” Remade by the Keating Five scandal that nearly wrecked his career, the story goes, McCain re-emerged as a “reformer” and a “maverick,” righteously eschewing anything that “might even tangentially be construed as a less than proper use of my office.”

It’s a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year’s campaign, the mask has slipped. “Let’s face it,” says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. “John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn’t bend his principles for politics. That’s just not true.”

Read the whole piece here. And speaking of strange videos, how about this one from the Wasilla Assembly of God?

mush Bush calls for concerted international effort

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President George Bush today called for a coordinated international effort to solve financial problems that threaten to bring down the world economy. Good for shrub, but I can’t forbear to point out that this is the same President Bush who just a few short years ago seemed to believe in the invincibility of the United States, much as Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, seems, today, to believe. The BBC is updating the Bush story with new video, but the first version carried under the President’s picture the very interesting caption, “Mush Bush warned it would take time for the financial crisis to pass.” I wish I had thought to take a screen shot.

Meanwhile, the DOW is down over 500 points. I could almost feel sorry for shrub these days, maybe even admire him for trying to rise to the occasion. Nah — I’d rather remind myself of this:

markets (but not all) and McCain gone sour

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Financial markets may be in the tank, and luxury cars may be an embarrassment to hucksters, but capitalism is alive and well in niche markets where small-time entrepreneurs find ways to take advantage of fads du jour. Ben Smith today notes the following examples of campaign chic:

Maybe Jewish voters are warming up to Sarah Palin. For a mere $295 more than a John Edwards haircut, an Orthodox wigmaker is offering the “Sarah P.”

Meanwhile, a Park Slope hair salon is doing an “Updos for Obama” fundraiser.

But some sort of prize has to go to this one, for which I am grateful to my friend Dale Cannon. Dale sent me a video that I can’t now get to, but here’s another.

There are three versions of the Palin doll. Read all about them here. Too bad if you need one fast. Apparently they’re sold out.

Meanwhile, as Palin rallies continue to have all the charm of lynchings, McCain advisers are worried about their guy’s demeanor. All the negative campaigning is getting to him, some believe. He’s grumpy, seems angry all the time. Others are pooh-poohing the idea and urging that McCain reinvent himself as Ronald Reagan — ah that magical name — advising that the negative campaigning be left to Palin and the ad blitzes. One could almost feel sorry for McCain. Having run an increasingly filthy and dishonest campaign, he has put his reputation and his legacy as a public servant in jeopardy.