“There is a short passage near the very end of the Mahler in which the almost vanishing violins, all engaged in a sustained backward glance, are edged aside for a few bars by the cellos. Those lower notes pick up fragments from the first movement, as though prepared to begin everything all over again, and then the cellos subside and disappear, like an exhalation. I used to hear this as a wonderful few seconds of encouragement: we'll be back, we're still here, keep going, keep going.”
“Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony”
Lewis Thomas
Dear Friends,
What, you may ask, do the essays of Lewis Thomas and the symphonic works of Gustav Mahler have to do with the musings of a guy from the Bronx named Ben Wattenberg -- other than the eclectic, nonlinear inclinations of TMR?
Good question. You be the judge.
Last week, at a highly animated session honoring the publication of political scientist Ben Wattenberg's newest book -- Fighting Words -- the American Enterprise Institute's prickly eminence grise offered a succinct observation about why Republicans have out-pointed Democrats at the presidential ballot box during the last few decades:
“Democrats are always crisis-mongering . . .”
Because the session was held on the home field of AEI, heads were nodding approvingly and metronomically, although the distinguished co-panelists -- Michael Barone, Karlyn Bowman, and E. J. Dionne -- showed more restraint.
Because Wattenberg has a way of being right (and to the right, of course) when you least want him to be, I gave his observation some thought.
And, guess what? He's right.
Close your eyes and think about it.
The hapless McGovern-Eagleton-Shriver campaign of '72, Jimmy Carter holed up at Camp David in the last year of his presidency trying to figure out what was wrong with the American spirit and psyche, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry. Crisis crooners, all.
Now, what Wattenberg didn't point out is that these Democrats weren't simply baying at the moon: Republican presidents during the last 40 years have committed egregious unconstitutional acts, which, for the most part, they have paid no penalty -- from Nixon and Watergate to Reagan and Iran-Contra to George W. Bush and Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and mounting evidence that this Administration has willfully condoned and conducted acts of torture while wantonly contesting them.
Add to that the willful fiscal irresponsibility of the Reagan and Bush 43 presidencies, which undermined the nation's financial condition by creating serious budget deficits and long-term debt.
These facts still don't make it smart for Democratic candidates to be “crisis-mongers,” a lesson that this year's presumptive nominee seems to have understood long before he announced his candidacy.
And that -- Obama's eloquent appeal to our 'better angels' and the spirit of hope and optimism -- has Republican knickers in a serious twist, and some of its most ardent publicists, like Charles Krauthammer, for example, in a purple rage.
So the question before us -- commencing with this historic election and extending to the out years -- is whether Democrats can tone down the crisis-mongering and whether Republicans can cease creating them -- a tall order for both parties.
And, of course, the biggest hurdle -- which only the most naive hope-and-optimism mongers dare to imagine -- is whether we can leach enough of the blame game out of American politics so that substantive public business can be conducted.
This may seem the equivalent of proposing that the NFL convert to flag football, but I prefer to think of it as simply suggesting that we try to get through at least one quarter without a spate of personal fouls.
Most Americans understand that the agenda for the 44th president is staggering -- the most profound since Franklin Roosevelt took the helm during the nation's greatest financial crisis or when Abraham Lincoln followed the feckless James Buchanan to the White House to confront a 'house divided.'
We have before us a complex and complicated set of challenges -- Iraq and Afghanistan; Israel and Palestine, Iran and North Korea; Al Qaeda and its progeny; in homeland security and with the economy; on energy security and climate change; in health care and K-12 education; and in retooling domestic and international governance institutions and practices that are inadequate to the new contours of the “age of nonpolarity,” as Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass has characterized the world order in the opening decade(s) of the 21st century.
The task of political leadership is to address these challenges promptly and conscientiously -- to see them for what they are, and not to “spin” them into something they are not.
Truth is, we've lost much of our will and some of our capacity for doing that lately. It's become a bad habit. Instead, we have developed a taste for crisis-mongering, fear-mongering, and blame-gaming -- profligate uses of our resources and debilitating to the health of a democracy.
What we seek in 44 is the willingness to deal with challenges before they become crises; the competency to manage the affairs of state so that new ones are not created of our doing; and the maturity and wisdom to level with the American people.
43 has failed on all counts, utterly.
44 cannot.
It's about that simple.
And that's what led me to a re-reading of Lewis Thomas' “Late Night Thoughts,” because we need to feel -- again -- about our country the way he felt about Mahler's closing measures:
“ . . . and then the cellos subside and disappear, like an exhalation. I used to hear this as a wonderful few seconds of encouragement: we'll be back, we're still here, keep going, keep going.”
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