Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 7 Editor's Choice: 4
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Shapiro Scooped It
[Read the article: The Warner-less race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's funny that Walter Shapiro says here that although he heard Mark Warner voice caution about the '08 race in September, he didn't believe it, because the Warner quotes in Shapiro's September story made me think he wouldn't run. Warner knew exactly what he was getting in to and he knew why he'd eventually turn away.
My useless hunch is that the nominee will be Edwards or Obama. I suspect Hillary Clinton and Al Gore won't run either.
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Strong Year for Fiction
[Read the article: Best fiction of 2006]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was the best year for American fiction since 1997 (coincidentally, the last time Thomas Pynchon brought out a new novel.) Several great masters were back with strong (if not career best) efforts -- Pynchon, Philip Roth, Richard Ford, Richard Powers. I'm pleased to see Miller and Frey cite "The Amalgamation Polka", a highly underappreciated work. Of all the 9-11 novels this year, I actually prefer Jess Walter's "The Zero" (also a dark satire), but Kalfus's book is strong too.
But to me, the novel of the year isn't even a close call -- it's clearly "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Spare, poetic, terrifying and oddly hopeful, this is the end of the world great religions don't want you to ponder. All of life probably comes down to whether you ride with the cannibals or not. McCarthy makes a compelling case that there is inherent good and evil attached to the human condition, whether God exists or not.
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The Best, The Bleakest
[Read the article: The city of lost children]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The 13 episodes of The Wire were, for me, the best 13 hours of filmed dramatic fiction that I've seen this decade. And I love the fact that this show is a huge hit in inner cities while the supposed sophisticates ignore it ... for example, look at the idiotic Golden Globe nominations for Best TV Drama ... nominations for Grey's Anatomy, Heroes and Big Love, but nothing for The Wire.
Of course not, the comfortable don't want their values challenged. Their facile lives make the tragedies of communities like East Baltimore almost inevitable. We see it every day in every newscast ... 15 minutes of "reporting" about the dramatic events in the lives of celebrities, 20 seconds about dozens killed in Iraq, not a word about the hundreds of children we silently give up on every day by cutting their health care, letting a good teacher leave the profession or incarcerating their parents for crimes that get ignored in white communities.
Yes, The Wire is depressing. How do you expect to receive an uplifting ending when the vast majority of Americans can't even be bothered to watch the best show about the real America that's ever been produced?
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Author Responses
[Read the article: Look homeward, Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kate -- I"m actually in complete agreement with your comments about Obama's organizing skills, that's why I wrote this:
"I believe that this definition of post-partisanship -- a return to community values in politics -- works for Obama because it's authentic."
And Chris -- all due respect, I think you completely missed the point. Obama did not come of age in post-partisan Chicago, he came of age during the Council Wars. He knows how to operate in both a divisive and more peaceful environment and has seen first hand how to help build a lasting peace.
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More Author Responses
[Read the article: Look homeward, Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To ShawnWM: Thanks for comparing me to Walter Shapiro, the best political reporter in the business. I'm honored to be published alongside him and if that makes me a "clown," then I wear the red nose proudly.
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Malaise
[Read the article: The sacrifice-free election strategy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Speaking of the malaise speech, I re-read it recently and, no joke, think it was the best speech of the Carter Presidency. Much of that speech was prescient and if the Democratic Congress had adopted Carter's energy policies instead of obsessing over killer rabbits and the possibility of Ted Kennedy running against him, we'd have a much stronger hand to deal with the Middle East today.