Robert Schlesinger July 04, 2009

Sarah Palin Quitting Shows She's No Ronald Reagan

If Sarah Palin truly does plan to stay in politics, her resignation speech should have been a memorable philosophical statement akin to Ronald Reagan's speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. The Gipper's speech was an eloquent and enduring summation of his political philosophy and while it did little to help his candidate, it catapulted him onto the national political stage and laid out his governing vision. It was known among his staff simply as "the speech" and he would give variations of it for the rest of his career.

If Palin's speech proves memorable, it will be in the way that Richard Nixon's 1962 "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more" speech endures. Palin's resignation speech was a strange hodgepodge, a mix of self-congratulatory horn-tooting, sound-bites and catch-phrases, unexplained political shorthand references ("that liberal 9th circuit!") and awkward ad-libs that left the impression of someone of such towering hubris that she did not think something so mundane as practicing the speech was necessary. When message is secondary to messenger practice may seem a waste of precious time. But Palin would do well to learn a lesson from the Great Commmunicator: Reagan made speech-giving look easy because he was a great natural talent, but also because he worked very hard at it and practiced a great deal. As I recount in White House Ghosts, would sit in the Oval Office as TV crews were setting up around him and quietly re-read his speech.

Political success is about hard work and working hard. And progress is made through compromise. But in Friday's speech Palin dismissed hard work and compromise as … the quitter's way out.

Bonnie Erbe July 02, 2009

Gays Aren't Necessarily Atheists

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

My colleague Dan Gilgoff's latest filing is headlined, "Gays Step Up Efforts to Reverse Gay-as-Godless Stereotype."

I guess growing up in "godless" New York City, I, too, labored under the delusion that most gays and lesbians did not believe in god or go to church, as neither did anyone else I grew up with. I had two experiences, however, within the last 10 years ago or so, that made me realize some gays are extremely religious.

Robert Schlesinger July 02, 2009

Athletes Like Tiger Woods Are Right to Keep Out of Politics

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Jack made a good point this morning about the Tiger Woods-Jim Brown squabble. (Squabble? Has El Tigre actually said anything? Can you have a one-sided squabble?) Brown thinks Woods needs to do more in a social activism sense, and by do more he means speak up—be vocal, take a controversial stand (presumably safe stands are not what he's talking about), get in people's faces. (Be, in other words, Jim Brown.) As Jack (and, in the Post, Michael Wilbon) points out, Woods has made huge contributions—substantive and symbolic—to disadvantaged kids.

But beyond Woods's actual contributions lies the question of whether it makes sense for him to start weighing in vocally on political or social justice issues. And more broadly whether it makes sense for any athlete (or other kind of entertainer) to do so. And there are pretty good reasons for Tiger to keep his political views to himself. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk (now with peacock feathers!) opined last week:

Bonnie Erbe July 02, 2009

The Public is Catching on that Obama's Promises of Change Are Vacuous

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I share herewith some interesting observations offered by my colleague Ken Walsh. Even though recent public opinion polls show the president's popularity at 60 percent or above, America's confidence in his ability to meet the challenges of his time is thinning.

Peter Roff July 02, 2009

Boehner, Republicans Sick the Dogs on the Obama Stimulus Package

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The Republicans are going to the dogs.

With unemployment now at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio released a new video today (embedded below) poking fun at the Obama administration's claim that the stimulus package the president and congressional Democrats rushed into law earlier this year is creating jobs.

In the video, a job-sniffing bloodhound named "Ellie Mae" is shown on the trail of the stimulus, searching the country for the millions of jobs the Obama administration said its trillion-dollar spending bill would create.

John Aloysius Farrell July 02, 2009

Jim Brown is (Mostly) Wrong on Tiger Woods' Social Activism

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Today I am among the many thousand Washingtonians tramping the hallowed grounds of the Congressional Country Club, watching Tiger Woods and some of his friends hit a little white ball over sand and wave and across green fields.

I am drinking a beer and getting sunburned and being properly awed by the talent on display. And I am thinking about a mini-debate begun by the great football player Jim Brown about Tiger's social activism—or lack of it.

Bonnie Erbe July 01, 2009

Media Coverage of Sanford Affairs--TMI

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I don't know about you, but I can't take any more media coverage of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's increasingly chaotic and sorry life. This man is coming apart faster than a clunker car in a junkyard, and it's not pretty to watch.

Robert Schlesinger July 01, 2009

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford Must Shut Up. Now.

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Unlike many, I found Gov. Mark Sanford's initial press conference refreshing because he came across as a struggling human being rather than a politician reading the contrition script. But the contrition script has one redeeming line—the one that goes, And with that, I'm not going to discuss this any more. It's between me, my wife, and our family. Eschewing that line, Sanford has started behaving like a reality-TV show contestant who has spent his life dreaming of being in front of a television camera.

He's part of a star-crossed love story. He's found his soul-mate but, bravely, will try to fall back in love with his wife. (Does that remind anyone else of gays who subject themselves to heterosexual reprogramming on the theory that if they try hard enough they can become straight?) He crossed lines with other, other women but never the "ultimate line." What lines is he talking about? I'm sure he'll go into great detail in his next interview. He's become like a bizarro version of Bill Clinton, with his legalistic definitions of what constituted sex. WashPo's Ruth Marcus smartly points out that the "ultimate line is the one between thinking and doing."

Bonnie Erbe July 01, 2009

Obama's Presidency Biased the Supreme Court's On Ricci

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Among all the responses this week to the controversial Ricci v. DeStefano Supreme Court ruling, I have yet to see a commentator mention what impact the Obama presidency may have had on the justices' ruling. Supreme Court justices, like other people, do not operate in a vacuum. Was the ruling wrong?

In my humble opinion, yes, but also somewhat inevitable now that America has elected a president of color.