Barack and the Kingfish Tuesday, Aug 2 2011 

History and Politics , , victorgold 10:43 am

About that debt limit problem . . .

George Will, who has seen more erudite days as a political sage, screwed up badly in a recent column when he dismissed Barack Obama as “Huey Long with a better tailor.”

A story from my Louisiana youth to show how inapt is any comparison between the Kingfish and this president:

In the worst days of the Great Depression, midwinter of 1933, the Hibernia National Bank of New Orleans was about to close down after massive withdrawals. Desperate, the Hibernia’s directors turned to Huey for help and in short order the Kingfish lined up funds from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Federal Reserve.

One problem, however: The transfer of funds couldn’t be made until Monday, February 6, and since the bank would have to open on Saturday, February 4, the withdrawals would continue. Huey’s answer? Find some reason to declare a bank holiday. The problem, as historian T. Harry Williams put it, was that “February 4 was apparently the most unmemorable day in the history of the nation.”

But February 3, that was another matter. On that date in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson had severed diplomatic relations with Germany. That was good enough for Huey. Hell, said the Kingfish, a move that big couldn’t have been completed in just one day.

So it was that in 1933 both February 3 and 4 became Louisiana state holidays, the Hibernia National Bank was saved from defaulting, and the Kingfish could turn his attention to the serious business of teaching bartenders at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria the proper way to mix a New Orleans gin fizz.

Huey Long was many things – a demagogue, a megalomaniac, a clown — but he understood that leadership comes not from the audacity of hope but of action.

That said, if George Will’s comparison were apt, what would have happened had the Kingfish handled the Hibernia problem in the patented style of our 44th president?

First, he would have called a news conference, followed by a radio address, to announce the appointment of a “balanced” commission composed of auditors and creditors to conduct a study of possible options to save the bank.

Second, he would have called a news conference, followed by a radio address, to announce a meeting of New Orleans business, labor, and religious leaders to arrive at a consensus on solving the crisis.

Third, by this time the Hibernia having gone under, he would have appointed a Banking Czar to explore the possibility of asking the RFC and Federal Reserve for funds and, if necessary, declaring a holiday to prevent such a bank failure from happening again; after, of course, calling a news conference, followed by a radio address, to give us his thoughts on the upcoming 1933 basketball, baseball , and football seasons . . . .

 

L’Affaire Weiner (postscript) Saturday, Jun 18 2011 

Politics victorgold 10:28 am

Not to beat a dead horse (or in this case donkey) back to life, but here’s a prediction of things to come:

Within six months Anthony Weiner will be a frequent guest on Rachel Maddow’s show and gagging it up (to audience applause) on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show; within nine months he’ll be filling in as guest host when Maddow takes time off and making the rounds on the night-show circuit (to audience applause); within a year he’ll be a featured commentator for MSNBC’s 2012 election coverage, following which (like Eliot Spitzer on CNN), he’ll get his own show.

Oh, did I forget the book contract? The college lecture tour? The Vanity Fair Comeback Kid cover? The Jockey underwear ads?

 

It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Puerility Wednesday, Jun 15 2011 

History and Politics victorgold 5:27 pm

“What I do after seven in the evening is my business.” 

                                               — French President Georges Pompidou (1972)   

 Before the story is buried under an avalanche of irrelevant news about the war in Afghanistan, the economy and the deficit, a few wayward thoughts on L’Affaire Weiner:

1. This isn’t a case in which the Pompidou Rule — that even a public figure is entitled to a private life — applies.  Having 45,000 “followers” on Twitter doesn’t suggest a lust for after-hours privacy. When public figures go public with their private lives, they’re fair game.

2. Neither is it a scandal brought about because Anthony Weiner merely did a “stupid” thing. Stupid things are done out of ignorance or lack of understanding.  Weiner knew exactly what he was up to. Call it arrogance, call it puerility, but let’s not give the stupid among us a bad name.

3. Nor is this a case of the cover-up bringing on the problem. That’s a conventional canard that dates back to Watergate. Does anyone seriously believe that if Richard Nixon had gone on television to confess, “I approved the break-ins,” The Washington Post and Democrats on Capitol Hill would have dropped the matter? Or that Anthony Weiner’s confessing that he sent a photo of his crotch to a 23-year-old co-ed would have led Fox News and Republicans on the Hill to laud him for candor?

No, for politicians it’s not the cover-up that leads to trouble. It’s being guilty of something that needs covering-up.

4. Finally, about this business of Weiner seeking “professional help.” That’s simply the secular politician’s equivalent of calling in Billy Graham for a prayer session; which, I recall, has a 50-50 track record as a tactical ploy. It worked for Clinton but not for Nixon.

 

Sound Bite to Remember Wednesday, Jun 15 2011 

Politics victorgold 5:27 pm

“I was never worried about any sex investigation in Washington. All the men on my staff could type.”

— New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug (1974)

 

Goldwater in 2012? (Too Much Baggage) Monday, May 23 2011 

Politics , , , victorgold 6:24 pm

Mitch Daniels says he’s not running for president for family reasons. Maybe.  I don’t doubt that his wife’s wishes figured into Daniels’ decision, but it’s likely that, along with Haley Barbour, Mitch sees the road to the Republican nomination running through Cuckooland.

Rational men stay clear of irrational callings, and much as I hate to quote Charles Barkley on any subject other than dribbling basketballs, the Auburn blowhard had it right when he said, “The Republican party has lost its mind.”

How else to explain a bloviating horse’s ass like Donald Trump running up double-digit numbers in Republican polls – not to mention the presidential aspirations of the twitter-brained Sarah Palin and her airhead doppelganger Michele Bachmann?

Once the party of Lincoln produced women like Clare Booth Luce and Margaret Chase Smith, either of whom could have qualified as serious presidential candidates, but who today would be blown away by the same inhabitants of the cuckoo’s nest that last year defeated Utah’s conservative Senator Bob Bennett and helped re-elect Harry Reid by nominating Sharron Angle as his Republican opponent in neighboring Nevada.

So why did Daniels and Barbour drop out of the race? A guess: Early on, Daniels suggested we might give the social issues a rest, then had to spend the next three months backtracking; while Barbour took heat from the Cuckooland establishment because he had the subversive idea that we ought to rethink our commitment in Afghanistan.

Rational men, rational decisions. Other than political crackpots like Bachmann or pandering flippers like Mitt Romney, who needs to spend the next 18 months hyperventilating about secession, same-sex marriage, and the socialist secular plot to override the Constitution with Sharia law?

And what would my political mentor Barry Goldwater think about all this? Can’t say, but if he were alive I know he wouldn’t be running. Too much baggage for the cuckoos: His wife, Peggy, was a card-carrying member of Planned Parenthood.

 

Soundbite to Remember Monday, May 23 2011 

Politics , victorgold 6:24 pm

“He’s off his meds and out of therapy.”

—Colin Powell aide Richard Armitage re Newt Gingrich, after Gingrich called for Powell’s firing as Secretary of State (2003)

 

Sound Bite of the Week Tuesday, Apr 19 2011 

Politics victorgold 6:09 pm

About the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency: If the country’s really headed for bankruptcy, there’s something to be said for having a man-in-charge who’s had experience at it.

 

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