Obama, Abba Etc.

POLITICAL COMMENT OF THE DAY: A few thoughts about Obama, Race and the Presidential race.

My overwhelming response to the Obama speech:  Wow.  Beautiful.  Intelligent. Nuanced.  Historic. The 800 pound gorilla in the national room is finally being addressed in a balanced, candid, non-recriminatory and eminently adult way by an individual uniquely positioned to do so.  In terms of basic human truthfulness and the promise of a more enlightened and adult politics, this is an order of magnitude above what any of the other candidates is offering.  And if America doesn't elect this guy, it is clearly not as great a country as it likes to believe that it is. 

I think the highest praise I can pay the address is this:  When I finished watching it, I really wanted to share it with everyone I loved and cared about--including my father. I wanted to call him and say “Dad, you should see this.  It's really something.”

That said, a fear and a couple of minor but enduring nitpicks and quibbles.

The fear: That goodwill being a far more fragile thing than mistrust and fear, I couldn't help but be afraid that this message of nuanced hopefulness and collective responsibility could never survive the abuses, reductions and misrepresentations of our soundbite, spin-happy culture. 

The nitpicks and quibbles: My biggest reservation about the speech (and the moment in all Obama's eloquent paeans that makes me cringe a little), is when -in the course of his inspirational appeals to the forces of unity prevailing over those of divisiveness --he alludes to the new common enemy of the corporations "who outsource our jobs to foreign countries."  After being so refreshingly candid and eminently adult in acknowledging the complexities of the race issue, it just seems so disappointingly un-adult and cheaply manipulative to invoke American protectionism as a way of denying the difficult realities of globalism. I would have preferred that he not try to unite the races behind the common enemy of the outsourcing corporate villains--as this constitutes little more than a convenient displacement of the societal rage. The adult reality --and one almost as complex and nuanced as the reality of race in America--is that "outsourcing" is an irrevocable and vital part of new global economy in which we live. As McCain of all people has been candid enough to admit, those jobs are gone and they're not coming back. Nor, necessarily, should they. In the larger picture, every outsourced job is arguably just the flip side of an unacknowledged societal benefit. It is up to us as Americans to meet the challenge of the new century by retooling and retraining ourselves to accommodate these inevitable and irrevocable changes--just as it's up to us as Americans to grow up and face the challenges of being a multi-cultural, multi-racial society. (But that said: I can fully appreciate Obama's reasons for not asking us to be face such complex adult realities on all fronts. We all need our shelter and we all need our illusions. And by way of clarification: I do not deny that there are huge, systemic problems with our current corporate culture. I am merely taking issue with the attack on the corporate outsourcing of jobs.)

The other nitpick: It seems somewhat unfortunate that it took this potentially explosive political controversy surrounding Rev. Wright for Obama to deliver this speech. In other words, it is highly unlikely that he ever would have addressed this critical matter in such candid, eloquent and powerful terms had it not become politically expedient--indeed necessary --to do so. But, again, a minor quibble that does not diminish my overall appreciation of the power and importance of the address or my appreciation of his compelling virtues as a candidate.

MUSICAL NOTE OF THE DAY:

When I heard that the drummer from ABBA had been found dead, my first response was "ABBA had a drummer?" I really wasn't trying to be funny (ok, well, maybe a little bit.) It was just that it was sort of like being told the drummer from Bread or from Enya had passed away. I love Abba--but in my mind's ear I can only hear the sweetly moving, deeply innocent melodies, never the rhythm or the beat. Oh wait: One exception: "Dancing Queen." And yet still--the beat and danceability of that song seem sustained by the synth/keyboard, bass and guitars--not the drum. Anyhow, it's obviously a sad thing--as all death is. But it really shouldn't prevent a reunion tour.

LFAQs OF THE DAY:

Which was the more important and uncomfortable topic candidly addressed by an African American politician this week:  Race in America by Barak Obama or Adultery (or man's prediliction towards unfaithfulness) by David Paterson?

When did Kathleen Turner turn into Tony Curtis in a wig?

Did the beautiful young woman who said I looked like Burt Bachrach (an absurdity!) just say that because that was the oldest living person whose name she knew?

After trying (and happily failing) to commit actual suicide, is Owen Wilson's decision to star in Drillbit Taylor an attempt at committing career suicide?

Y'all????  When did that creep into every well educated northerner's vernacular?

CARTOON WITHOUT ILLUSTRATION OF THE DAY:

A sheep leader telling a herd of sheep: "Repeat after me: I am not a sheep."

OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:

There is a joy that is inseparable from sadness and a sadness that is inseparable from joy.

JOURNO-POLITICO-COMEDIC OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:

Heard Ben Karlin (Former head writer of the Onion, Executive Producer of "The Daily Show" and co-creator of "The Colbert Report") interviewed on NPR's "Sounds of Young America" this weekend. I was struck by his mystification about how at the peak of The Daily Show's popularity, journalists would always come up to him and express envy. "Wow, we wish we could do what you guys do!", they'd exclaim, like the Onion boys were the coolest kids in the class. But in reality, what were the Onion guys doing? They were simply digging up old clips of Cheney and Bush saying the exact opposite of what they were now saying. In other words, they were simply exposing the lies, hypocrisies and contradictions that were a matter of public record. And this was precisely what the cowed and abdicating journalists had convinced themselves they were not allowed to do. Really kind of amazing.

MY TWO FAVORITE FILM QUOTES OF THE DAY: (Or self portrait through two film quotes).

"I made a mistake...ok. I made a mistake!" -Sean Penn, shattered and alone at the end of "Sweet and Lowdown."

"I want to become immortal and then to die." --From Godard's "Contempt"

ABSURDITY OF THE DAY:

President Bush let his inner adventurer out while discussing the state of the war in Afghanistan with military and civilian personnel. While those in Afghanistan detailed the logistical and diplomatic problems via teleconference, the President took a much more whimsical approach to their mission. Via Reuters: "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.

Just like he felt about Vietnam at the time.

ART COMMENT OF THE DAY:

Saw the Cai Guo Qaing exhibit at the Guggenheim. Certainly the most compelling use (and transformation) of that iconic space I've ever seen. The central piece de resistance is the installation of a time elapsed car explosion. We see the car at the base of the museum and then in 8 subsequent stages of twisting suspended elevation as if in the wake of a bombing. There is also a stunning piece comprised of a pack of wolves running so hard that they elevate off the ground. As we ascend the spiral rotunda, we follow them as they continue to "run" through the air until they suddenly smash into an invisible (plexiglass) wall and pile-up in mangled and distended fashion on the ground.

A couple of striking things about the show: One is, that while it's one of the coolest art experiences you'll ever see, you never even remotely feel like he's showing off. He truly feels like he's in the grip of larger concerns. History, movement, violence, beauty etc.

Another interesting thing is the way that, in these exercises in carefully aestheticized violence, the beauty is somewhat abstracted from the destruction. For example, in both of the works described above, there is an elision of the moment of actual impact. The car is catapulted through the air, but is never mangled or misshapen by the implied explosion. And when it finally comes to rest at the top of the museum--after vaulting over the wall at the top of the spiralling ramp--it is in perfect mint-condition, ready to be driven away. SImilarly while the wolves are seen piled up in agony after the moment of terrible impact, we never see them crushed grotesquely against the plexiglass. They are already turning as they collide--already protected from the worst of it.

The imaginary reworking of the trauma; abstracting the beauty of the violence from its terrible effect.

STRANGE COINCIDENCE OF THE DAY:

No sooner did I write the description of the wolves running into the glass wall than I read that that poor ABBA drummer died in a freak accident after smashing into a glass door.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY:

Everything felt tampered with. Like someone had come in and subtly rearranged everything in his innermost room. Or perhaps had just picked up each thing and returned it to its exact same position--changing everything and nothing in the process.

RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:

He fought like a girl, but he cried like a man.

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Posted on 3/21/2008 ( Permanent Link )
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