11/05/09 7:54 AM
Rites of Passage: A Yankee Family Story
When I put my son to bed at around 8:45 Wednesday night, after watching a few innings of the World Series, I read him a story and unavoidably looked at two items I've placed in his room: a 1956 Sports Illustrated cover illustration of a young superstar, Mickey Mantle; and a dinky plastic Yankees helmet autographed by a now-81-year-old man in The framed cover is on a wall and the helmet is atop a bookcase. Baseball was a potent vehicle for the assimilation of my German immigrant father into American culture. He arrived in New York from Munich in 1927, the year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs.
He went to lots of games and, when he married late in life and had a son, he took the son to Yankee Stadium all the time. We'd walk to 86th Street and Lexington Avenue to take what I've always known as the Woodlawn-Jerome (now romantically renamed the No. 4 train), watch a game (for a few bucks, lower grandstand, between home and first), maybe two games on a Sunday, then head home.
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10/16/09 12:54 PM
On Bono, Favoritism and College Admissions
It seems apt to open an exploration into favoritism by dropping a name: Bono.
Because of a friendship with him, I got complimentary tickets to a recent U-2 concert in Chicago where, shortly before he went on stage, we discussed a topic not traditionally associated with rock stars or their lyrics, namely private school admissions in New York City.
He told a funny tale of how his wife was grilled at one school about their "family philosophy" and how a son was interrogated as to any "special skills" he possessed; prompting the boy to apparently get up from a chair and humorously hop on one leg and bang his head with a hand. According to Bono, they were rejected at this school which, says its website, charges about $32,000 a year and aims to produce "global ethical leaders."
But the two sons of Bono, who himself inarguably rates as a global ethical leader, did get into a very fine place, nonetheless. While I suspect that the couple's offspring are as talented and decent as the parents, it obviously doesn't hurt if a parent or other sponsor is wealthy, talented and famous. And if the kids aren't somehow future Nobel Prize biochemists, would one be surprised that they'd be accepted most anywhere, even over boys and girls with better test scores?
09/20/09 11:38 AM
A TiVo Challenge: Watching ObamaVision on a Sunday Morning
For public policy mavens, a weekend which began with the passing of Irving Kristol, the influential conservative essayist, climaxed with President Obama being on most every talk show Sunday morning. And, throughout, there was Glenn Beck sticking out his tongue at us from the cover of the new Time magazine.
Kristol and Obama didn't have a lot in common ideologically but were united by a reflexive penchant for the systematic and analytical. Coming from different ends of the political spectrum, they each embodied an empiricist thrust; by and large looking at policies and wondering, "Does this really work?" In an age in which the provocative (Beck) can trump the smart and correct, one can imagine Kristol, who once called a conservative "a liberal mugged by reality," and Obama actually getting along for hours in some quiet den, shooting the intellectual breeze.
On Sunday, the aim of Cool Hand Obama aim was more tactical, namely in trying to cut through frustrations (and worrisome polling) with the health care debate in a less formal, less aggressive manner than in his address to the joint session of Congress. If one hadn't known what was up, it was clear in perhaps the most revealing of his ABC-NBC-CBS sessions, one with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, that this was surely one of those periods in which, "I've said I'm just not breaking through."
If one had any doubt that school's back in session, one had only to listen to Prof. Obama Wednesday night.
Addressing us on health care, he reminded at least one longtime Obama watcher back in Chicago of the intellectual and philosophical reality beneath the caricature of either fire-breathing liberal or compromiser too willing to appease political enemies.
At heart he's a traditional liberal who's deeply pragmatic in search of progressive values. Whatever works. It's the same with a key consigliere sitting a few feet away and apparently fully enjoying a stick of gum, David Axelrod. Perhaps Obama is more inclined toward the empirical. But, for both, it's a willingness to put reflexive ideology aside and ask, "What's the best way to do this?" Read More
In fact, this distinctly non-focus group gathering lacked any mention of Obama, or the "public option" in health care, or the improbable, confusion-shrouded "Gang of Six" in the Senate. It was all the more notable since there was one U.S. Senate candidate (Democrat) and one congressional candidate (Republican) in the mix, enjoying the beer, sausages and our kids playing whiffle ball or cavorting on a small trampoline.
There was no mention of the Sunday talk shows, which featured administration aides talking health care and underscoring what would seem obvious to even a C-minus student in government; namely that there's a lot more to the legislation than pleasing Nancy Pelosi and others on the Democratic left.
08/13/09 11:48 AM
In a Small Michigan Town, Even Meryl Streep Has To Cool Her Heels Amid a Small Act of Decency
Charlevoix, MI.---This is a town of fewer than 3,000 people, and it includes a dinky and charming movie theater with three small screens. After the previews preceding Julie&Julia the other night, the manager surfaced, the lights went back on and an unusual announcement came:
"Ladies and gentlemen, there are three cars parked right in front of Oleson's [a food market] in the lot across the street, and they're going to be towed if they're there much longer. So I just ask if the owners can move them somewhere else in the lot, then we can start the movie."
In Chicago or New York, it's safe to say that his counterpart wouldn't lift a finger even if he or she saw a small army of gang bangers breaking windshields, hot wiring the vehicles and brazenly heading down the avenue. Read More
07/24/09 12:55 AM
What do you get for a $15,000 dinner with the President? Try crab cakes, baseball highlights and a chance to debate the Honduran coup
A highly-placed kitchen source told Mike that the buffet for the 100 attendees included rack of lamb, beef tenderloin; Ahi tuna; crab cakes; mushroom tart; lobster and shrimp jambalaya; flat breads with chutney and goat cheese; and rice crackers and seaweed salad.
07/21/09 10:45 AM
Sex Degrees of Separation: The Fight for Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat
Admittedly, the nation's cable-fueled interest in
So now the race is a total muddle with only one sure thing: moderate Republican congressman Mark Kirk, who announced his candidacy Sunday, is supported by his newly ex-wife. This does serve as a reminder of the complexity of passions linked to this seat.
Read More07/21/09 8:27 AM
A British Lesson for American Media: Just Say No to Boring
At the end of a quickie trek to a nephew's wedding in Cambridge, and with unceasing rain allowing too many hours of newspaper consumption, I'm also reminded about a frequent self-inflicted wound back home: Too many of our papers tend to be a snooze.
Read MoreThe political strategy for any nominee who appears before the Judiciary Committee is crystal clear: Say as little as possible about your actual views of cases or your personal opinions. Of course, you should be prepared to be overtly contrite about controversial minutiae, specifically Tuesday morning hyperventilating over the now legendary "wise
But why not? What about being open and candid about your views?
