This Is Not News

The Audacity of Hope is something of a published stump speech – a collection of broad proposals, general principles, and personal anecdotes that gives the reader a sense of where Barack Obama would like the country to go, but not a lot of specifics about how to get there. By no means is it a boring read – Obama has incredible skill with words and a gift for storytelling. But the veering between the personal and the political leaves me, as someone who enjoys both subjects, feeling like the book is shallower than it could be. On the other hand, a reader who is less familiar with Obama, his background, or his stances would probably find this to be a useful introduction.

From the beginning, Obama makes clear that he believes that the tone and style of our political discourse must change. He expresses an interest in finding common ground, and suggests that even though he feels his party is more correct than its opposition, there is room for improvement. This conciliatory tone fits with the Obama I read about in his previous memoir, Dreams from My Father, which was written before Obama began his political career. So I don’t believe that he is engaging in pure political calculation here, trying to make himself look good by making everyone else look bad. I must say I was pretty sure that Obama would be running for president when I saw how much time he spent praising ethanol, as that has become almost stereotypical behavior for candidates looking to curry favor for the Iowa caucus.

While I believe Obama is sincere in what he’s saying in this book, there is a problem with his presentation that is especially noticeable in the chapter on religion, which is an expanded version of a speech Obama gave in the summer of 2006. Obama criticizes the political leadership of the religious right and explains how he reconciles his own faith with his political stances. In doing so, he offers a vision of deliberative democracy, the notion that we must justify our position to others in terms that are publicly accessible. I have strong sympathy with the deliberative democratic position, so I was happy to see Obama support it.

But within the chapter on religion, he exhorts other progressives to be understanding of those who have religious faith, and criticizes “secularists� who want to completely remove religion from the public square. What is noteworthy here is that Obama never cites specific examples or quotes that would indicate that such secularism is a major force within his party, even though he does go into detail about the other side. While I have read various blog posts or comments that take a strictly secular perspective, and I am sure Obama has encountered activists and constituents who feel the same, I can’t think of a leader or public figure who has – and Obama has done nothing to remind me. Without knowing what Obama is specifically talking about, it is very easy to ignore the point altogether because it seems unsupported, or to assume that it is a generalization that applies to a vast majority of Obama’s colleagues. Neither is an effective point.

Even though I agree with many of the policy suggestions Obama makes – such as simultaneously increasing teacher salaries and the expectations that we place on educators – I believe that the most effective parts of The Audacity of Hope are the autobiographical segments – the stories of the conversations he’s had at town hall meetings; the strange experience of senators speaking to an empty chamber and a C-Span camera; the challenges his Senate career has posed for his family. Reading the entire book, there’s an interesting dynamic that plays out in those family stories – when Obama met his future wife, she was a successful lawyer while Obama was beginning his legal career. Now Obama is a senator, and much of the burden of raising their children falls on his wife. He seems more than a little chagrined that his wife feels herself pulled in competing directions far more than he does, which is an interesting commentary on the expectation we place on parents in this day and age. Whatever the situation, it’s when Obama starts talking about people that he seems the most genuine, and the reader can best assess what kind of leader he would be.

Interesting post at TVWeek about Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s announcement that the producers were talking to ABC about when to bring Lost to an end. I’d read the story elsewhere, but the blog entry is the first indiciation that maybe ABC wasn’t quite so on board with making any pronouncements.

Down the hallway, ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson is having lunch, and seems less-than-thrilled by the producers’ comments. After all, producers don’t cancel shows, network presidents do. He admits he didn’t know Lindelof and Cuse were going to make the announcement, then objected to the term “announcement.�

Of course, if you read John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey, you might have the idea that network presidents might not be deciding much of anything for much longer.

And through it all, I can’t help but think of J. Michael Straczynski, who was crazy enough to declare that there would only be five season of Babylon 5. First everyone thought he was nuts for believing the show could go on that long. Then everyone – many of his own cast included – thought he was nuts for ending it on schedule.

• It’s official – R.E.M. will be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. In a nice bit of timing, Patti Smith, one of Michael Stipe and Peter Buck’s musical idols, will also be inducted. After I posted this, I read a story where Stipe told Reuters that Bill Berry would play with the band at the induction.
• Speaking of Berry, the R.E.M. fan club single this year included the four-piece performing “So. Central Rain” and “Begin the Begin” at an Athens tribute. “Begin the Begin” rocks – I’m very glad to see that one in their playlist frequently these days.
• Broke down and started buying some tracks from iTunes. Gotta be careful with that. But it was a quick way to get Dada’s new EP, A Friend of Pat Robertson. The title track is excellent – great harmonies and a beautiful but disconcerting melody. “7 Dot 1” is a good rocker that kinda feels like a followup to “Information Undertow.” I’m not sure about the other three tracks, but for four bucks, I got my money’s worth.
• Among the other tracks I picked up: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris’s “This Is Us.” I firmly believe that Mark Knopfler knows how to speak Guitar. I don’t know what would be like, but he must do it. The song sounds great, and I love Knopfler and Harris’s performance as a married couple looking back on a happy life together. Hopefully I won’t have too much trouble converting the track into a listenable format in 30 years or so.

In a column published this morning about Allen Iverson’s feelings about being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers, Inquirer columnist David Aldridge drew on his experience of being let go from ESPN:

Anyone who’s been fired, or laid off, or taken “early retirement,” or gotten the Ziggy, to quote Dick Vitale, or whatever euphemism is used, should understand the anger in Iverson, no matter the $17 million he’s getting, the way that being dispatched twists the good memories into unrecognizable mush and pushes the bad ones to the front.

I remember it as if it were yesterday. Remember what I had for breakfast, what I was wearing, and the absolute shock that went through my brain when told my services no longer were required. It must have been what fighters go through in the seconds after a KO. And the numbness that lasted for days, weeks.

David Aldridge was one of 68 people laid off from the Inquirer last night/this morning. I doubt it’s any easier this time.

Pete Yorn’s new album Nightcrawler comes out next week. Ordinarily, I would have already pre-ordered it. Possibly twice. (But probably not.) But Yorn’s on Columbia Records, and they’re owned by Sony, and Sony has a recent history of putting obnoxious software onto its music CDs that can royally mess up a computer. From the news reports I’ve read, Sony has cleaned up its act. But now I’m seriously wondering whether it’s worth it to me to order a CD that might damage my machine. So rather than protecting an artist, Sony’s created an incentive for me to not purhase his work.

And the punchline is, if I decide to purchase it over iTunes to avoid this problem, the artist will likely see less of a cut. What a racket.

So Sci Fi began its summer season last night. It looks like the network is trying to expand first-run dramas to more nights of the week, and run shows during more of the year, because they’re spacing things out a little. Last year they ran three shows on Friday night, now they’re only running the two Stargate shows. I’m kinda curious as to how that will affect the ratings.

As for the shows themselves – I still have not gotten into Stargate Atlantis, but I was there for the tenth season premiere of Stargate: SG-1. It’s kind of interesting the degree to which they’re resetting the status quo, with Earth the plucky underdog against the overwhelmingly powerful godlike foe. I’m hoping they have enough variations on the theme to make it interesting, but I figure the selling point will remain the cast and main characters. I know I’m hoping Ben Browder has a solid run on the show. I’d hate for the guy to be typecast, but the guy just belongs as the leading man on a sci-fi action show.

And from the god of comedy setup lines comes this corker of a story:

Terrell Owens claims he was misquoted in his autobiography.

I tell you, the Owens fiasco is one of those things that really reminds you how much a sports fan can rationalize. I remember thinking to myself, “Well, hey, maybe it’ll all work out here.” Turns out, not so much.

I guess I just have to hope that Dallas discovers the same thing, and even sooner than Philly did.

In my effort to re-listen to my entire CD collection, I’m getting down to the discs I haven’t put on in years, discs that I might have only listened to once or twice. I wonder if this is a relic of a different period. Thanks to online services like Rhapsody, I can listen to an entire album before I decide if I want it, so I won’t get fooled by a particularly solid single. (And I can just buy that one song I like if that turns out to be the case.) And if I buy an album or a song electronically and decide I don’t like it so much after all, it doesn’t have to physically stick around and take up space anymore.

Then again, I’m still somewhat attached to having a physical disc that I can bring from place to place if I want. But in a few years we’ll probably just carry our iPods around and stick them in whatever docking stations we have around. The CD tower manufactures must be crying in their beers.

Pattie and I caught Superman Returns over the weekend. I really enjoyed it; it may be #3 on my superhero movie list behind Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. (It’s really amazing to me that we’ve gotten so many good additions to the genre over the last couple of years.) My full review is over at the LogBook.

Before the movie, Pattie and I were joking about whether or not Bryan Singer would have an eight-minute credit sequence a la Richard Donner’s 1978 version. He didn’t, but both of us broke out laughing when we saw that he did emulate the style of those credits, complete with zooming names. Gotta admit I got a goofy grin on my face when I saw that one.

Looks like there’s a release date for Pete Yorn’s next album, called Nightcrawler – August 29. And it looks like you can listen to a song from the album on Yorn’s myspace page. Sounds pretty good, pretty typically Yorn, and as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with that.