U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, is greeted by a South Korean government official Ahn Young-jip upon her arrival at Seoul military airport in Seongnam, South Korea, Saturday, April 16, 2011. (Photo: AP)
Morning, news junkies. As you probably know, the April 15th tax deadline is pushed back to April 18th this year because of Emancipation Day. My roundups are usually jampacked with headlines–it’s out of control, I know–but since it’s tax season and nobody needs any more homework, I’m going to cover a few headlines and then switch to some lighter stuff.
Newsy Reads
So I guess you’ve heard about the “Huntsman love letters“ that were leaked to the Daily Caller by now. Full text of Huntsman’s letters to Obama and Bill Clinton here. I haven’t checked out all the heads exploding on rightwinger blogs, and judging from the headlines piling up on memeorandum alone, I have no interest in doing so. As usual, the right wants to marginalize the one GOPer who I would consider voting for in 2012, which figures. What’s struck me more than anything else about these not-shocking-at-all letters is that Huntsman’s praise of Obama is exceedingly generic while his praise of Bill and Hillary Clinton is full of specifics and gives a sense of how completely engaged they both are in public service.
In other not-surprising news, Obama was caught on a mic at a fundraiser taking jabs at Paul Ryan and the GOP and now poor witto Republicans are complaining that their fee-fees have been hurt. Hard to feel sorry for them when they’re always so quick to criticize everyone else in the world for playing the victim. Anyhow, I caught a few seconds of Rove commenting on the Obama fundraiser comments as I was flipping through channels on Friday night–after he got done with his obligatory hagiography of Paul Ryan, Rove said Obama is probably just jealous of the attention Paul Ryan is getting. I had to laugh at that part.
What I want to know is after the Bittergate and Naftagate episodes from 2008, why is anyone surprised by anything Obama says to different audiences anyway? He’s a Nowhere Man trying to raise money from Democratic donors while chasing after right-leaning Independent voters. So publicly Obama hailed Ryan’s proposal as a serious one, and privately he told his donors that Ryan’s proposal is “not on the level.” All of it is just words to Obama.
In the midst of this, almost as if on cue, David Brooks bumbles away saying that “Obama and Ryan are the smartest, most admirable and most genial men in Washington” and laments over what a pity it is that Obama won’t ask Ryan over for lunch.
If Obama and Ryan are the best DC has to offer (I don’t think they are, but if they are…), then perhaps the great American experiment is already over.
On that note, I’m going to switch over to the fun stuff.
First Lady Reads
Lately I’ve been coming across items about “first ladies,” various and sundry. I’ve rounded them up to share with you. I hope you enjoy.
The (first) First Lady of Flight: Harriet Quimby… On this day in history (April 16) in 1912, America’s first licensed woman pilot, Harriet Quimby, became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Click here to read the NYT article that ran on Quimby on April 17, 1912. To quote Ed. Y. Hall, aviation historian: “Harriet Quimby was flying 25 years before Amelia Earhart. She carried airmail as early as 1912.” Quimby’s achievement went largely unrecognized, but she continued to break ground in the few months she lived after, until July 1, 1912, when she became the first American woman to die in a plane crash in the US. (Julia Clark died two weeks earlier in a US crash, but she wasn’t American.) For more information, check out this fantastic post about Quimby: Pioneering Aviatrix Harriet Quimby flies into history from Michigan. There’s a nice youtube and neat pictures of Arcadia, Michigan, Quimby’s hometown.
First Lady of the World meets the First Lady of Television… See here. Eleanor and Lucy. My two favorites together. To quote from Carl Anthony’s post:
Within a decade of this meeting, both women would be accused of being Communists, the former for her social activism, the latter for once registering with the party to please her old grandpappy who did belong. In truth, neither of them was Red. Not one hair.
First Lady of the United States meets First Lady of American Cinema… Part 1 and Part 2. There are three pictures of Jackie O and Liz meeting (the only known photos), as well as a wonderful essay by Carl Anthony which reads like the True Hollywood Story of First Ladies, only better. Here’s an excerpt from Part 2:
The death of Onassis on March 15, 1975 and the divorce from Burton in June 26, 1974 (although Liz gave it a second try from October 10, 1975 to July and separated on February 23, 1976, finally divorcing five months later) began a process that helped the real Jackie and Liz to begin defining their lives on their own terms, regardless of the public narrative defined by what the former once called “the little cartoon that runs beneath one’s real life.” Treating them as proprietary commodities, the tabloids felt free to print the most outrageous claims to make their Liz-Jackie storylines sell, but strangely refrained from treading into sensitive areas of the real women’s lives which they themselves had used to craft the public images they wished to convey – and didn’t want contradicted.
First Lady Betty Ford turned 93 this month… One more link to Carl Anthony because he wrote a refreshing “Beyond Rehab” retrospective on Betty Ford’s legacy. Teaser:
The imagination correctly conjures 1974 with maternal pleasantness and welcoming comfort, tied up in a daisy yellow ribbon of straight talk as “The Year of Bettys.”
On February 18, 1974, spiffy Betty Furness began looking out for housewives as not just theToday Show’s consumer advocate but for NBC’s evening news as well, her smoky voice ratting out manufacturers of household goods for high costs and poor quality. On September 14, 1974, after five guest appearances a year before, veteran actress Betty White joined the television sitcom cast of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, appearing as the character Sue Ann Nivens, who hosted a show called “The Happy Homemaker,” dishing out frank-and-beans-on-a-budget as easily as sex advice.
And on August 9, 1974 Betty Ford became a White House wife, at ease before the press whether dispensing chicken hash recipes as evidence of her inflation-fighting meals, making the case for women’s reproductive rights, or pondering whether her kids might have tried pot or how they’d handle pre-marital sex like the nation’s Den Mother chatting over a backyard fence. On the face of it, she was traditional, her Episcopal faith a rock in times of difficulty, her love of husband unabashed and demonstrated in public. The first sign this was a First Lady like no other has been attributed to a reporter asking the startling question of how often she slept with the President and Mrs. Ford shrugging, “As often as possible.”
First Ladies of Rhythm and Jazz Appreciation Month (April)… The Smithsonian has an excellent theme for Jazz appreciation month this year– Women & Jazz: Transforming a Nation. Excerpt from the Smithsonian website:
Jazz Appreciation Month 2011 – the 10th Anniversary – examines the legacies of jazz women, and their advocates, who helped transform race, gender and social relations in the U.S. in the quest to build a more just and equitable nation. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, founded in 1937 at the Piney Woods School in Mississippi, will be the focus of the JAM Launch, a museum display and special online and public programming offered by the National Museum of American History to highlight the unique legacy of the school that music built and their dynamic, women’s jazz band.
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm gained global recognition as the nation’s first, integrated, female big band. Founded in 1937 at the Piney Woods School, band members were students, 14-years old and older, who paid for their education by performing as a jazz band to help promote and sustain the financially struggling school. Traveling nationwide in a customized, tour bus named Big Bertha, the Sweethearts performed at churches, state fairs, dance and civic halls and later entertainment venues such as the Howard Theater and the Apollo, setting box office records.
The Sweethearts confronted dual biases of gender and race and excelled during a period in history when many Southern blacks lived in slavery without chains and women were second class citizens. The band performed in Battle of the Band competitions against bands led by Fletcher Henderson and Earl Fatha Hines, played the Jim Crow South with white band members who disguised themselves as minorities, and toured overseas for the USO during World War II, when integrated performances were taboo. Original band members had come from a school with a legacy of excellence and overcoming difficulties.
And, of course who can forget the First Lady of Song herself. Some fun Ella quotes from the end of this blog tribute:
“It isn’t where you came from, its where you’re going that counts.”- Ella Fitzgerald
“Ella’s amazing! My daughter says that every time she makes a mistake, it becomes a hit record.”
– Lucille Ball“The best way to start any musical evening is with this girl. It don’t get better than this.”
– Frank Sinatra
That’s it for me. What’s on your blogging list this Saturday?
[originally posted at Let Them Listen; crossposted at Sky Dancing and Liberal Rapture]
Some of the headlines reacting to Huntsman’s letters aren’t showing up on the memeorandum shortlink, so here are all the relevant ones they have listed:
The actual letters are pretty short and anticlimactic compared to the hype from these headlines.
The Republicans seem to be going through a rather lengthy list of “current favorites,” which isn’t unusual at this stage in the 2012 games. At least at this point, Palin, and whichever favorite of the week, seem to have lost the spotlight to Trump. An Intrepid Report piece entitled “Could Donald trump Obama?” includes any number of quotes from Trump that are of the laugh or cry caliber, including, ““I’m only interested in Libya if we get the oil. The world is laughing at us (but) they won’t be laughing if I’m elected president.” (W. chuckles in the background, fondly recalling, “Bring it on.”)
Ryan comes across less clownish, and as a comment from paperdoll, over at Let Them Listen says, cold. W.’s coldness came with some clownishness, the “Bushisms” sometimes getting laughs and distracting from the “out of touch and not caring” realities. Ryan is something else. If Obama did invite him for dinner, my guess is that Ryan would be blunt and Obama would assume he was so much smarter that even if he ended up accepting Ryan’s demands, he’d think he’d won. Actually, I’m not at all sure Ryan and Obama are all that far apart anyway, not on substance. As you write, Wonk, it’s all “just words” to Obama. Of course, that’s mostly true (always some exceptions) of Electeds and wannabes in general — adjust the spin depending on the current audience.
Hey Wonk, great roundup as usual!
As for the Huntsman letters I think that the one thing in the Democrats favor is that the GOP is moving so far to the right that Reagan couldn’t get elected in today’s GOP climate.
While the media slobber over the Ryan plan and the GOP freshman, absent from any real commentary from the Establishment media is the fact that the GOP really could drive themselves off a cliff. I love how the media constantly warn against Obama “playing to the far left base” while portraying the far, far right of the GOP as merely principled.
Much of what will happen depends on the economy of course, but I’m wondering when the Democrats will realize that the GOP plan is to ensure that the economy stays in the crapper to boost their chances in 2012? Their economic plan is suicidal- huge cuts that basically target the stuff they’ve always hated while giving the DOD a huge pass, without offering any plan to actually have some money coming in to the federal government- I keep waiting for the Middle Class of both parties to realize they/we are being royally screwed so that Jamie Dimon and the Wall Street crew can engage in business as usual.
When is one of the dunderheads from the MSM, like David Gregory for example, going to ask one of these geniuses why the corporation GE pays no income tax while the middle class struggles to pay theirs? Also, Obama is seriously considering getting rid of some key middle class income tax deductions (interest on mortgage payments for example) which is a big f*ck you to the middle class, most of whom have few deductions that can take to begin with. Meanwhile, the rich (and corporations) have so many tax loopholes you could maneuver the Titanic through them.
It’s just a disgrace.
Based on their reactions to what happened last election, I’d say late November, 2012 at the earliest. They haven’t shown any evidence that they think a change in political direction is needed, even though they’ve lost the enthusiasm of their base and a lot of independent votes. It’s going to take at least one more drubbing to get it through their heads that their current strategy has played itself out.
Plus, as many folks have pointed out both here and elsewhere, there’s no real money for politicians in working for the poor and the middle class. Working for the rich is what lands politicians those cushy lobbying jobs after they’re voted out of office. Given that added motivation, it may take the Democrats even longer to figure out that their current strategy is made of fail.
Oh for the days when Republicans were like Gerry and Betty Ford!
I remember all the the photos and stories depicting them as a regular American family, Betty’s utter normalacy,Gerry’s lack of pretention. They were more liberal than ninety percent of Dems are now.
I believe that Gerry made a well meaning fatal mistake for our country when he pardoned Nixon. I think there is a direct link to that decision and the imperial presidency we have today.
The old tabloid covers were delightful. Brings back memories of my Mom a voratious reader whose one literary vice was the Tabs. She was up on it all chapter and verse.
Watching Obama shape shift between corporate place holder president and campaigner,sweet talking money out of the stupid,gullible celebrity loving wealthy doners is beyond depressing. Going to a $500 dollar a plate function and hearing a rousing liberal speech is their idea of activism.
All the talk is how the obese are costing this country so much in medical dollars. That may well be true but it is the financially bloated fat cats that are taking it down.
What could be more gross than Obama expecting to raise a billion dollars this campaign cycle?
They’re the best at being in charge of the debate on the economy, which tells me that the American Experiment is in a lot of trouble.
Thanks Wonk. You always bring an interesting dynamic to the forefront. I would ask why you’d consider voting for Huntsman, since he’s a corporatist and that’s the last thing America needs running it, today.
Personally, I would like to see a REAL Democratic candidate running for President in America in 2012. In my lifetime, we’ve never had one. Always Republican-Lite, CORPORATIST. Done with that fascist direction.
My anger is real. I love America and I’m not laughing at the politicians, like they’re laughing at us. I hate them. Nor do I want to be entertained or bamboozed by them.
When the American empire is falling, I’d like to see some real solutions and some seriousness. That’s what is lacking.
I am deeply appalled by parasites like Donald Trump, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. They offer nothing but noise (diversion), the last thing America needs. They should be shunned, but our corporate media adores them. Why should you?
RWers are enamored of pornographic tabloid. This Lefty is not. His feelings and views are torn between Main Street America suffering to the nth degree today while Wall Street and its media, Congress, Senate, banks, corporations and President, party like it’s 1999. I do not like being mocked and I shall ignore those that bring that diversion to me. It’s called enabling the Wall Street chattering nabobs of negatism and I reject it IN FULL.
I pray that we can primary Obama, but we have way too many corporatist, Democratic pundits in the way. Millions of Americans are not ignorant that are not taking part in our voting process. They don’t see a difference in either party and will not enable this race to fascism and a third world America, by their votes. I think they’re the silent majority I will join to find solutions away from the current oligarchy we have in power, governtment-wide.
If a real Dem were running, I wouldn’t consider Huntsman…but we aren’t going to see a real Dem run in 2012. We’re stuck with Obama.
Huntsman has got policy substance on Asia, the environment, immigration, education, etc. He’s not the tea party wing of the GOP. I don’t like his fiscal views, but at least he’s not insane. He’s a better option than Obama or Romney. There are reasons to actually vote FOR him. IMHO.
I’ve just been listening to the Washington Week gang. They say that the White House people are really “agitated” about Huntsman and hope to “smother him with love.”
Hah!
I agree with Wonk