So often I am tempted to write up some dumb, and not always so dumb, observations about politics and society in general. Finally, I chanced upon just the right format. Hope you enjoy it.
The Obama-Douglas defensives:
President Obama’s fiery defense of U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice over the fatal raid in Libya was impressive, but hardly original. No surprise if Obama saw the 1995 film “The American President” starring Michael Douglas as a widowed president attacked for having a girlfriend played by Annette Bening. People who yearned for a real president to issue his defiant speech got their wish, sort of. Check the similarities:
President: “She has represented the United States and our interests in the United Nations with skill, and professionalism, and toughness, and grace.”
Douglas: “Sydney Ellen Wade has done nothing to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through school, represent the interests of public school teachers, and lobby for the safety of our natural resources. You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me, ’cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.”
President: “If Senator (John) McCain and Sen. (Lindsey) Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me…I’m happy to have that discussion with them.”
Douglas: “If you want to talk to me about character, Bob, you’d better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I’ll show up.”
As they say in the movie, Susan E. Rice, knock ‘em dead.
Filibuster busters: What does Elizabeth Warren know that Harry Reid doesn’t? Warren, who ousted Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, vows to seek to end or curtail the power of the filibuster in January on the first day of the Senate’s session. Until recently, even some Democrats saw nothing wrong with a legislative rule that in effect requires 60 votes to allow a majority vote on legislation. Reid, the Senate majority leader, made a deal with GOP leader Mitch McConnell two years ago to retain the filibuster so long as Senate Republicans do not abuse it. Of course, the GOP abused it and often incited Reid to rave and rant about it. Finally, Reid last May declared that he changed his mind about the filibuster, but was vague about what he would do. Warren, a half-dozen other new senators and three incumbents who pressed for filibuster reform in January 2011 appear likely to remind Reid. Let’s hope so.
Death to…us? Arabs holding a vigil in Bethlehem outside the Church of the Nativity held up banners that read: “We would die for Gaza.” They almost did. A Hamas rocket targeting Jerusalem landed in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Ironic if their brothers in Gaza were to level the Church of the Nativity by accident.
Post-traumatic Berman-Sherman Disorder: The long nightmare suffered by my brethren in Los Angeles may be over, but now Jewish Angelenos must endure the emotional aftermath. Because of California’s strange and counter-productive new primary system, the vast majority of L.A.’s 600,000 Jews live either in the merged congressional district in which Brad Sherman fought and won two monumental contests against fellow incumbent Howard Berman, or where Henry Waxman had to stave off a so-called independent who previously contributed $285,000 to Republicans. Now these poor Jews - not to mention their righteous Gentile neighbors - must contend with…Shetl shock.
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