The Invisible Counterpoint

The Democrats, as usual, are still fighting the internecine party battles of the '90s. While Jerry Brown struggles with the 1992 presidential primaries out in California, Bill Clinton is attacking a prominent liberal critic and defending his legacy of triangulation. At a joint appearance with former British prime minister and warmonger Tony Blair, Clinton complained about MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (without naming her) for, basically, telling the truth about his presidency. (Alex Pareene, “Bill Clinton peeved that Rachel Maddow called him a Republican,” Salon, 14 Sept. 2010) Chelsea I foremost think of Republicans as emotionally-neutered individuals. Subdued blues; nothing bright, pink, and affecting. As such, Maddows and Obama (and Jon Stewart / Colbert) feel more Republican to me than do either of the Clintons. Take a look at who they begat: bright, spunky, welcoming Chelsea: the Democratic essence stirs in them. Too bad they had their reign when they could only reign, R...

Lloyd, research does nothing if one is the mood to imagine someone a certain
way. Everything you're saying about Obama's mother could lead to different
conclusions, though. She could have woken up at 4 o'clock every morning in
order help her son become the person he wants to be, but how many mothers
devote themselves to their kids primarily out of their own self-assessment
needs, out of a desire to fashion for themselves their preferred son? Every
hockey mom in Canada wakes up at 4 in the morning ostensibly for their
children, and how many of these kids end up living out their mother's
dreams -- of course, not all, but many, many, many. You write of her
"abandonment by her spouse and [of how she] had to work." Come on, Lloyd,
you're the one who always talks about how put-upon mothers are hardly the
ones to look to for great nurturance. And why narrate it as of her being
"abandoned." You know this type of narrative plays to our desire to protect...