Grown Ups Talking

Think of all those poor Norwegians shivering away in the icy fjords and midnight sun. All year round they live in a peculiar alcoholic daze first waiting for the sun to rise for six months, then waiting for it to set for the next six.

Then the Nobel Prizes roll around. Suddenly they are the people on everyone’s lips. Attention resounds and they get to have their own version of an Oscar moment, handing out prizes, ecstatic achievers on the other side of the dinner table, generally being patrician benificence dolers.

But its all a little passive. People who have already done something magnificent, for instance Paul Krugman who “for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity", are celebrated and clapped on the back and given modest lottery-sized checks. They are the ones who have achieved something, the Norwegians are just clapping.

I think this time round they wanted to be more of part of what’s going on. Catch them young, point them in the right direction. Obama is just an innocent young president, set him on the right path and the Nobellers can give an encouraging shove along the way to salvation.

I mean face it, the U.S. President still has more power to affect more peoples’ lives than anyone else on the planet, why wait to see if he screws it up before giving him a prize?

Why not, gulp, help him out? I mean that’s what it’s about isn’t it? This human existence we have? This human existence that could very well come to a watery end if we can’t move as a species to change our habits and preserve our planet?

I think it’s great they gave his the prize. And I think we should all help him too.—Pomerol

Hot weather has finally hit our mercurial borough and I went out on the first leg of my annual round of not-jogging-very-far regimens. I’m feeling ridiculously proud of myself, though most of my sweating is due to the weather rather than any actual exertion. Hot to trot indeed!

Being not very employed at the moment like many many many of my fellow humans, we try to fill the day with economical time-killers. Jogging not very far but taking a long time over it is a good one.

Another one is lunch, providing it’s cheap and they don’t throw you out too soon. The slipper is an excellent luncher. In his day he has been known to make lunch last until dinner. Of course he learned the art on Fleet Street where lunch used to be not just the reason for being a journalist, but the means by which you were a journalist. Or so he claims. I’m not sure how much actual news was gathered at these marathons, but they certainly talked about it a lot.

Our leaders have also been setting the lunching pace. A couple of days ago the Republican Party, in the form of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, and, God help us, Jeb Bush (yes, he’s a brother), met in a pizzeria to lay out the “new” Republican goals and ideals before a munching press corps.

Not to be out-lunched, Obama and Biden (both of them!) flanked by top reporters and senior writers, stopped in at a trendy greasy spoon in Washington to get down with the people and wade in on some serious hamburgers. Biden was in hog heaven, Obama obviously hadn’t had a burger for a long time and stumbled a bit over the condiments. Yes we can, indeed!

And finally the presidents of both Afghanistan and Pakistan met for lunch hosted by Senator John Kerry. The Senator expressed support, the presidents extended their sweaty palms for large checks, and then they all had coffee and dessert.

So lunch is either a way to get through the day, make a point, fund a war. One of our more flexible meals.

Thankfully today I teach a class in the afternoon and may even skip lunch.

I’ll save it up for a rainy day. With dark times ahead, I’ll need all the lunches I can get.—Pomerol

I watched the first Obama press conference on Friday with somewhat bated breath. I didn’t want my new hero to screw up. It’s the same anxiety that grips parents when their kid is pitching a baseball game or performing in the school play.

Then I remembered that President-elect Barack Obama is not mine to worry about, but a public servant of the highest order, that has to measure up to my standard – that of the voter. It’s just that this election was so emotionally charged for me that I have to begin to disengage my Obama-as-Superman mindset and start evaluating his efforts on a more practical level. (Secretly, I still enjoy feeling passionate about the possibilities ahead and hope about a new leader.)

So my first practical observation comes at the prompting of some colleagues, who said that during the press conference, Obama was very serious and did not come off as having very much fun. To that I say: thank god.

Since Reagan, we have been brain washed to seek an entertaining president, not a leader. But I don’t want a comedian, I want a president. I don’t want some in the Oval Office that I can have a beer with, or kibitz with after work.

I’d much rather like Obama for his strong policies, for the way he puts the economy back on track, for the way he helps the middle class, children, older Americans, and the sick. I’d much rather enjoy his musing on foreign policies, ending the wars, and planning for energy independence, than hear him tell a joke.

His seriousness, pragmatism and smarts now, will mean he has the last laugh later. And that makes me very happy. – Chianti

With the presidential primaries in full swing, and Hillary and Obama in a neck-and-neck race for the nomination, it is time to think about Cowboy Bush’s presidential legacy. (I admit it, I love to think about Bush leaving the White House, it brings hope to my heart.)

Here’s one perspective to consider: Two experts – one a Nobel prize winner in economics, testified before Congress yesterday about the cost of the Iraq War. In Bob Herbert’s terrific op-ed piece today, he writes about the congressional testimony of Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Hornats of Goldman Sachs, who estimate that the cost of the Iraq War could reach $3 trillion.

There are many gut-wrenching aspects to the war, the most heinous being the loss of life and maiming, both physically and mentally, of the survivors and their families. But let’s focus on money for a moment, which is easy to do since this war was started over oil. The focus on cash paints a sad, sad picture.

To be sure, if the U.S. funneled some of the cash spent on the Iraq War into domestic programs, Social Security and Medicare could have been put on firmer footing, underprivileged kids could have been sent to Head Start programs and college, more cops and border patrol agents could have been hired, and maybe more jobs would have been created.

What a great use of cash.

Instead, Bush & Co. ran up the U.S. deficit, among other things, to make sure that he and his cronies keep laughing all the way to the bank. Still, I never understand how a family that is so void of simple financial sense can make so much money.

Recall that in the 1980s, Dubya’s little brother Neil got tangled up in the Savings & Loan scandal when he didn’t understand why he couldn’t take more out of his banks than he put in. Today, at the end of a sordid presidency, big brother George can’t quite figure out why he just can’t keep using his presidential credit card (the national deficit) and ignore the payment notices. I think it’s the parents fault. After all, isn’t money problems something daddy always takes care of? – Chianti

Dear oh dear of dear.

On his prancing pony trip around Africa today, P. Bush denied rumours of US plans to create military bases on the Africa continent. A journalist had finally asked some tough questions: what about this AIDS programs that won’t release funds unless they concentrate of (completely unrealistic and unworkable) abstinence programs? And what’s this we hear about the US planting boots on the ground over here?

As the New York Times reported, “I know there’s rumors in Ghana, ‘All Bush is coming to do is to try to convince you to put a big military base here,” Mr. Bush said at a news conference with President John Kufuor of Ghana. “That’s baloney.” But they might create some kind of office,"We don’t know yet. It’s a new concept.”

Well it turns out that oil was discovered in Ghana last summer. Heavens to Betsey! That changes everything! Well lil’ ol’ Ghana has suddenly become very important.

Ghana is relatively calm compared to other African nations. And the discovery of oil is a godsend, millions of barrels of oil can support a lot of development, education, and health care.

Or can it? How much industry has Saudi Arabia developed? Every single top 100 company is in oil. How has oil encouraged democracy in Venezuela? How much oil money filters down into the population of Nigeria?

The discovery of oil (see The Beverly Hillbillies) equals lots of money and lots of unsavoury interest from big oil users. Before China swoops down, do you really think P. Bush, or for that matter, P. Obama or P. Clinton or P. McCain wouldn’t put pre-emptive American boots on the ground some time real soon?

Those guys are in troooooouble.Pomerol