CAN THEY FIND THE WAY BACK?

REPUBLICAN CONTEMPT

   The setting is the great beyond. The card players are Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

    "Say fellows, did you read what David Brooks said about the Grand Old Party?" Reagan reaches for a jellybean.

     "Well, I've got to say even though he works for that liberal Jew New York Times, he's a good man!" Nixon wipes sweat from his upper lip.

      "I couldn't agree with him more," Ike says.

      "How's that Mr. President?"

      "I'll tell you how Ronnie. Ever since that gas bag Rush Limbaugh got the holy, holy treatment from Republicans our old party has, as Brooks said, become 'bombastic, hyperbolic and imbalanced.' They remind me of the old John Birch society."

      "Let me just say I stand four square for Republican values, but these people are radicals. They're as destructive as the yippies and SDS. All they want to do is tear down government," Nixon pokes himself in the eye as he gestures.

      "Well, you know boys, Old Tip and I didn't see eye to eye on things but we still took time to visit and you know we got things done." Reagan eats another jellybean.

      "These damned fools who call themselves the Freedom Caucus don't know the first thing about freedom or the price so many have paid. It's like Brooks said, 'Self-expression is more valued than self-restraint and coalition building.' Think we could have won the peace if we didn't build coalitions or I couldn't find a way to work with Mongomery for crying out loud?" General Eisenhower stands and straightens his tie.

     Nixon stands and almost salutes Ike. "I just want to put it out there, put it on the record so to speak, that I believe in the practice of politics, the whole enchilada. Politics is America and as American as the flag. These people are anti political. They don't know how to make a deal."

      "Dick I've never doubted your ability to be a wheeler-dealer, so I'll give you credit on that.  Brooks says this have it their own way "anti political ethos produced elected leaders of jaw dropping incompetence." He's right-jaw dropping incompetence. Hell, all you have to do is turn on C-SPAN and watch some of these damned fools. Brooks is right, the Freedom Caucus and the tea party are "insurgents, incompetent at governing and unwilling to be governed. If I could I'd bust them all to buck privates and make em spend the rest of their life cleaning latrines."

       "Mr. President I want it clear that I am not in favor of these people being called Republican." Nixon mops his brow.

       "Leave it to these people and everything we worked for will disappear. None of the three of us could pass their litmus test. They are not the Republicans we used to be. They should be thrown out on their asses."

        The door of the card parlor opens and Tip ONeill enters,

"Hey Gents. I've been listening and all I can say is thank God that orange haired carnival barker is now calling himself a Republican. Dick, hand those cards to the General so he can cut the deck."

        Meanwhile back here-Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan campaigned on and worked for ideas the Freedom Caucus and Tea Party right wing fringe now reject. Ideas like rebuilding slums, "eradicating racism," attacking poverty, income inequality, low cost housing, expansion of social security, equal pay regardless of sex, support for the UN, closer federal scrutiny of mergers, better anti trust enforcement, better SEC policies, protection of employment benefit programs, federal funds to train doctors and scientists, low rent programs, environmental protection, fair immigration and citizenship programs and occasionally even a tax increase. 

        Surprised? Either memory fails you or more than likely the restricted and partisan atmosphere of the last few years has made old fashioned Republican and conservative ideas look liberal. The same is true for Democrats as they, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, have become more centrist and business friendly. Conservatism has been drubbed and so has liberalism.  

         In old fashioned "politics" the nation has been moving right under corporate sponsorship. Sociologically the US has been fragmenting by income, education, gender and sexual identity, ethnicity and aspirations.  It is harder to find the "old center" of the commonweal and as an aging democratic republic with a dysfunctional government and towering maintenance issues, we should find our way back to consensus, negotiation, pragmatic solutions and survival.

The first who get tossed out of my ship of state are the ideologues, zealots, numb skull egoists and narcissists.

EATING IN THE BARN

   See you down the trail.

THE CURSE OF OBAMA and BEAUTY ONLY A FEW EVER SEE

WITHOUT PARTISAN DEFERENCE

    My first big city newsroom boss told me we weren't doing our job unless both democrats and republicans were mad at us. As you read on, know that I invoke that principal, as I have over the decades.

     President Obama has himself to blame for many of his problems.  And he has the mutant spawn of the old Gipper for the balance.

     Obama emerged as America looked for and needed a change.  He was fresh, historic, appealing to new generations and with communication savvy. David Axelrod read the mood of America, fashioned a political campaign in response and unleashed a passion for change.  Hope, you remember.  

      But there were two shortcomings.  Obama himself, a smart young man, but without the wisdom that comes with years of survival in Washington or the learning that comes with being knocked down a few times. The other was the naive belief that controlling the White House meant you had the most power, or the biggest club in the fight.

      When they had the chance, back when American was sick and tired of W and Cheney, and as the economy was coming undone, Obama, Axelrod and team should have built a true political movement, a gradual revolution if you will.

      They could have, in fact should have seen that a compliant congress was necessary to affect the CHANGE they promised. Instead of the White House only, they could have been effective in bringing about a wholesale change-House and even in the Senate.  There was a time in America when a campaign for the Presidency was a product of a top to bottom party movement-state legislative races, Congressional Districts and Senate campaigns. A full package. More than anyone in the last couple of decades, they had that potential and capacity.

      And there is the diffident, distant, professorial and even arrogant style of Mr Obama himself.  Had he been around the Senate a little longer, he would have learned the wisdom of the old boys and girls.  Collegiality, friendship, schmoozing.  For those of you old enough, think of Sam Rayburn, Lyndon Johnson, John McCormack, Carl Albert,  Tip O'Neil, Ronald Reagan, Ev Dirksen, Charlie Halleck, even the depraved and aberrant Newt Gingrich. They could deal, horse trade and find a way to make things happen.

     In addition to their shortsightedness and inept use of power there is the buzz saw of the Tea Party. Here's where I lay its ancestry to Reagan.  The great communicator spent years telling people the federal government was the problem. He was very effective at selling that point of view, even though all the while he was himself adding more debt and growing the government.  But one thing he and his guru Michael Dever understood was that it's all about appearance and image.  So the great Conservative/Neo Con progenitor unleashed a couple of decades of a "the government is the problem" mantra until latent generations believed it. Enter the disgruntled if not overly bright Tea Party players.

      Old fashioned traditional Republicans worry the Tea Party, who represents a strident, loud, belligerent and obstinate base, minority though they are, will continue to make the once GOP a laughing stock or kill it by a suicide of ignorance.

       I agree that Speaker Boehner is like a besotted eunuch  when it comes to political combat, with his own charges even. The recent SNL parody which had him parading around in panties and vamping was brilliant. But I am not so sure my Republican sources aren't a little out of phase. I sense that an increasingly tribalized American body politic, fed by an increasingly stupid media, mainstream and partisan, and a growing number of low information voters only plays into the hands of those who's intellectual depth goes to bumper sticker slogans.  Currently I fear that thought, analysis and a sense of history has been eclipsed by volume, rancor, selfishness and presided over by inept government.  It is a bit as though our highest level of aspiration or accomplishment is to look like a Greek or Italian government in search of yet another spiral down. 

       Maybe it is time to give each member of the house a walking stick and to urge them to use it as a tool of persuasion.  We have a long history of Congressional fistfights. Link here as you ponder if it might not be time to let them rumble!!  By the way, my money would be on Barry Obama to take crybaby Boehner down, quickly!

FROM THE PROFANE TO THE SUBLIME

   After enduring that rant you deserve something nice.  This is about as nice as it gets.  Included here are scenes from a hike that began at about 9 thousand feet and continued around alpine lakes and mountain streams to just below 11 thousand feet.  This is from Rock Creek Lake, in the eastern Sierra over the Mono and Morgan Pass trails to some of the most pristine sights on the planet.

   The frame above and below was our view as we paused for a back pack lunch.

     We were impressed by the "landscape painting" in the striation of this boulder.

     This is where the trail ended for us. Lana had a bad altitude headache.  I had no desire to hike alone as you can see the trail was becoming a little more difficult.

    So we decided to settle in and simply be overwhelmed by the quiet, serenity and beauty of creation.

    See you down the trail.

WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?

FEELING THEIR PAIN

     From what some of them are saying, the skies are less 
than blue for Young Republicans.  I've read a few pieces over the last week that hint some of the junior members of the GOP are doing what their moderate seniors have been unable to do, put some distance between them and the far right tea party mind set that has taken over the steering wheel of the Republican party.

     Many of the young politicians have different views on social issues and believe the party elders have acquiesced or become strident.  In an article written by Susan Saluny of the New York Times a young GOP member is quoted as saying "when it comes to what you do in your bedroom, or where you go to church or where you put your tattoo, we just couldn't care less."

      I have long time friends in both major parties as well as long time relationships with political operatives on both sides.  Democrats are delighted that fewer young Americans want to associate with the Republican party.  A Republican friend says it is no wonder when the current crop of house and senate republicans have become so ideologically "narrow" (his word).  

      Women's health and rights has become a huge dividing line for young women. Young Americans, according to polls, are more accepting of gay rights and same sex marriage. Any organization that seems to balk at, contend or challenge on those issues stands to loose millennials as well.

       It's a bit like the old Kermit song..."It hard to be green"

or a young republican.  As a long time political junkie it is

weird to see sitting republicans bad mouth policies that were once put forward by "radicals" like Bob Dole, Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, and even the old Gipper.

    DAY FILE

COOL SCENES

HERE'S AN EXERCISE IN PATIENCE

SUN SET TO FULL MOON RISE

See you down the trail.

A LION GOES DOWN

A LOSS OF EXCELLENCE

    All political careers end eventually and rarely does the last act play out in grandeur, but I am saddened by the defeat of Richard Lugar. 

    Indiana voters did a shabby disservice to America. A small turn out in a strident and nasty campaign ended the reelection hopes of one of America's longest serving senators. He is also one of the most capable to grace the US Capitol's upper chamber.

     I first covered Lugar when I was assigned to city-county government.  The Mayor's office was part of my beat and I learned rapidly this young mayor meant to serve with intelligence and a sense of vision. 

Tom Cochrun and Richard Lugar in May 1979 at Fitness Fest

I was producing a documentary. Senator Lugar was an active runner and fitness advocate

     David Halberstam called the John Kennedy team The Best and the Brightest, though the highest meaning of that phrase could apply to the Lugar administration in the Indianapolis City County building.  Dedicated and imaginative people helped turn Indianapolis from a decaying rust belt city toward the dynamic and exciting urban success America saw most recently in the saturation coverage of the Super Bowl. Lugar planted the vision and started the renaissance.

     For the better part of the next 4 decades I covered Lugar.

His 36 years in the Senate is worthy of study and will no doubt be the subject of historians and political scientists. He continued to be a visionary, a consensus builder, he chided presidents, of even his own party, he was a conscience and remains one of the world's wisest on matters of national security, foreign policy, nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction.  

      He and Sam Nunn did more to save the world from harm, after the fall of the Soviet Union, than people can imagine.

He has also advocated farm and agriculture reform and continues to campaign on issues of nutrition. 

     Some of my favorite memories are of those nights when I was president of the Press Club and when Senator Lugar 

and Representative Lee Hamilton, another foreign policy stalwart, joined us for dinners and debriefs. It was the end of the cold war, the wall was coming down, the USSR was breaking up, the world was changing and on long winter nights Lugar and his friend Hamilton analyzed and gave us

insights they gave to Presidents.

      Pundits, fellow politicians and journalists have all said

Lugar would have been a great President, but was too bright to be a good candidate.   

      Presidents, current and past, admire and respect him.  World leaders have sought his wisdom. Members of both parties acknowledge he is one of the smartest.  But even that does not make one immune from the voice of the voter.

      In this time when a tea party mind set exerts power, when reason gives way to anger, when invective and right wing money have sway, Lugar's time for departure came in a sad little primary vote.  Eventually the clock would have run on his time of service, but when reason and skill are in such short supply, it is unfortunate his service is being checked now.  America will be the poorer because of it.

DAY BOOK

SPRING SCENES

See you down the trail.

EXTRAORDINARY MATTERS

THE WINNINGEST

Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

THE SUPER K's

It was an historic moment when Duke Coach Mike  Krzyewski and his mentor, former Coach Bob Knight

embraced after Coach K surpassed Knight as the 

college basketball coach with the most wins.

And it was special. Touching even.  Coach K

played for Knight at Army and was an assistant to Knight.

I consider it good fortune to have spent time with both

men.  I covered Bob Knight for a couple of decades.

The men admire each other.  Both are brilliant students of the game and they have an unequaled success. And as Knight mentored Coach K, Coach K has mentored many others.  Before moving from Indiana, one of our "farewell tour" events was watching Duke play IU at Assembly Hall.

My WISH TV sports anchor Anthony Calhoun arranged for tickets immediately behind the Duke bench.  What a show!

When Coach K, stood, his assistant coaches stood.  When

he unbuttoned his blue blazer, his assistant coaches unbuttoned their blue blazers, and so it went.

My all time favorite coach was the great Johnny Wooden

who combined class and decorum with brilliance.

Coach K is cut from that cloth. The kids who emulate him

are getting a good pattern of excellence.

Last night as I watched Mike and Bob embrace

I thought that if Bob had better controlled his

emotions and had found, at times, a better and more appropriate channel for his 

extraordinary perception of the game, Mike

might still be trying to better Knight's record.

ONE MORE TIME

GET THE BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICS

Tea party or OWS activist, conservative or

liberal, regardless of your stance, all should

agree that getting big money out of politics

will make for better government.

In fact experience leads me to believe until

corporate and big dollar influence is limited

we'll continue to see a deterioration of the quality

of government and a sell out to denizens of greed.

NPR presented a brilliant demonstration of the problem

with a focus on how the Nixon administration sold out

to the milk producers.  What was illegal then is noW

appropriate.  This might raise your blood pressure.

Link here for the audio.

DAY BOOK

COASTAL SCENES

 The Big Blue (and turquoise)

 Dunes Hiking

 Well off the beaten path

See you down the trail.

THE SENSITIVE PLANT AND SENSITIVITY

WHEN LEADERSHIP FAILS

       The doubles tennis foursome is a mixed group, conservative, liberal, democrat and

republican. In all the time we've played there is never conversation about politics.  We cover a lot of stuff and it is an affable group, but today there was anger, disappointment and outrage over the sad, sad, political sideshow of the debt ceiling issue. 

        Republicans embarrassed, democrats disappointed, all felt there was a lack of leadership and an ignoring of national best interests. 

        Broaden the conversation beyond the tennis court and I hear respected republican analysts admit the nation is almost ungovernable. Conservatives who are sensitive

about loosing a claim of integrity because of tea party "legislative terrorism", liberals

angered that Obama moved so far to the right and caved to what they consider to be

extortion.

        For my two cents-we continue to spend Trillions on two wars of dubious value, one of which was started based on lies and fabrications and should never have been launched.

In the aftermath however large corporations are making big money on both war material and reconstruction. Smart?  Smart in a time of financial crisis?  The end of Afghanistan will be a departure with a toll of trillions spent and thousands of broken bodies, lives and far too many deaths.  The result will be for Afghanistan to return the old Testament tribal world that is has always been. Smart?

       So we spend trillions there, but we cut funding to education and infrastructure.  We cut in these areas while the Chinese invest. Which nation do you think will be best equipped to deal with the future and demands of jobs of the future?  And here I'll anger some of you.  We cut social spending but refuse to provide a revenue increase because we refuse to tax fairly. In some cases we refuse to tax.  

      How can Warren Buffet, who by the way is willing to pay more, actually pay less than his secretary in taxes?  How can a corporation pay almost no taxes and in some cases pay none at all?  This is while their CEO is earning millions in bonus money because the profit margin is so high?  How can a congress allow companies who are providing no bid contract services in Iraq and Afghanistan to be sheltered in the Cayman Islands so while they are taking US Tax dollars and paying their employees they are withholding no tax money because "they are not a US company?"  How can a congress be held hostage by a small sect of "true believers" who would rather see the nation fail at meeting it's obligations than think of a big picture and the future? How can Republican leadership and Democratic Leadership and the White House fail so miserably at something that has been done 102 times previously without a government crisis?  

      Compromise is not a problem nor an evil.  It is what gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and our Constitutional Amendments. The history of this Republic is written by leaders who understand compromise is the glue of legislation.

Yes we have problems.  Yes government costs and spends.  Life is more complicated than a simple notion of a smaller government and no taxes.  Compromise is a road map to problem solving.  Not to compromise is to create a government or a state where totalitarian regimes rule.  Joe Stalin and Adolph Hitler were pretty good at refusing to compromise. 

How can such weak leadership prevail?  We have struck a low in American history.  Where is vision? Where is a sense of the future? Where is the art of governance? Where is creative problem solving?  Where is the skill at providing leadership for a nation on the ropes?  Where indeed? 


Sorry for the rant.  But these are days that demand response.

       

DAY BOOK

THE SENSITIVE PLANT

      The popular name is the Sensitive Plant. The fern like leaves restrict and close when touched.  In a few moments they begin to open again.  The bloom is something we've never seen before.

      In these shots, the time of day was perfect to capture a nice bit of shadow play.

See you down the trail.