David Brooks Is Clairvoyant!

David Brooks hit a dinger yesterday before The Hopester announced that he had tagged Jumpin' Joe as his presumptive VP runniing mate. Brooks doesn't even drink The Hopester's Kool-Aid! In addition, Brooks is one of the token Op-Ed Righties for the NY Fishwrap. (Brooks' fellow Righty columnist is William Kristol-Unclear who has drunk not only The Dubster's Kool-Aid, but wants seconds from The Geezer's pitcher with the smiley face.) So, a Brooks endorsement of Jumpin' Joe a day in advance of the Big Announcement has to go down as simply amazin'. Brooks went all in, as they say in "Texas Hold 'Em," and proclaimed Jumpin' Joe to be "the one." If this is (fair & balanced) paranormalcy, so be it.

[x NY Fishwrap]
Hoping It’s Biden
By David Brooks

Barack Obama has decided upon a vice-presidential running mate. And while I don’t know who it is as I write, for the good of the country, I hope he picked Joe Biden.

Biden’s weaknesses are on the surface. He has said a number of idiotic things over the years and, in the days following his selection, those snippets would be aired again and again.

But that won’t hurt all that much because voters are smart enough to forgive the genuine flaws of genuine people. And over the long haul, Biden provides what Obama needs:

Working-Class Roots. Biden is a lunch-bucket Democrat. His father was rich when he was young — played polo, cavorted on yachts, drove luxury cars. But through a series of bad personal and business decisions, he was broke by the time Joe Jr. came along. They lived with their in-laws in Scranton, Pa., then moved to a dingy working-class area in Wilmington, Del. At one point, the elder Biden cleaned boilers during the week and sold pennants and knickknacks at a farmer’s market on the weekends.

His son was raised with a fierce working-class pride — no one is better than anyone else. Once, when Joe Sr. was working for a car dealership, the owner threw a Christmas party for the staff. Just as the dancing was to begin, the owner scattered silver dollars on the floor and watched from above as the mechanics and salesmen scrambled about for them. Joe Sr. quit that job on the spot.

Even today, after serving for decades in the world’s most pompous workplace, Senator Biden retains an ostentatiously unpretentious manner. He campaigns with an army of Bidens who seem to emerge by the dozens from the old neighborhood in Scranton. He has disdain for privilege and for limousine liberals — the mark of an honest, working-class Democrat.

Democrats in general, and Obama in particular, have trouble connecting with working-class voters, especially Catholic ones. Biden would be the bridge.

Honesty. Biden’s most notorious feature is his mouth. But in his youth, he had a stutter. As a freshman in high school he was exempted from public speaking because of his disability, and was ridiculed by teachers and peers. His nickname was Dash, because of his inability to finish a sentence.

He developed an odd smile as a way to relax his facial muscles (it still shows up while he’s speaking today) and he’s spent his adulthood making up for any comments that may have gone unmade during his youth.

Today, Biden’s conversational style is tiresome to some, but it has one outstanding feature. He is direct. No matter who you are, he tells you exactly what he thinks, before he tells it to you a second, third and fourth time.

Presidents need someone who will be relentlessly direct. Obama, who attracts worshippers, not just staff members, needs that more than most.

Loyalty. Just after Biden was elected to the senate in 1972, his wife, Neilia, and daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash. His career has also been marked by lesser crises. His first presidential run ended in a plagiarism scandal. He nearly died of a brain aneurism.

New administrations are dominated by the young and the arrogant, and benefit from the presence of those who have been through the worst and who have a tinge of perspective. Moreover, there are moments when a president has to go into the cabinet room and announce a decision that nearly everyone else on his team disagrees with. In those moments, he needs a vice president who will provide absolute support. That sort of loyalty comes easiest to people who have been down themselves, and who had to rely on others in their own moments of need.

Experience. When Obama talks about postpartisanship, he talks about a grass-roots movement that will arise and sweep away the old ways of Washington. When John McCain talks about it, he describes a meeting of wise old heads who get together to craft compromises. Obama’s vision is more romantic, but McCain’s is more realistic.

When Biden was a young senator, he was mentored by Hubert Humphrey, Mike Mansfield and the like. He was schooled in senatorial procedure in the days when the Senate was less gridlocked. If Obama hopes to pass energy and health care legislation, he’s going to need someone with that kind of legislative knowledge who can bring the battered old senators together, as in days of yore.

There are other veep choices. Tim Kaine seems like a solid man, but selecting him would be disastrous. It would underline all the anxieties voters have about youth and inexperience. Evan Bayh has impeccably centrist credentials, but the country is not in the mood for dispassionate caution.

Biden’s the one. The only question is whether Obama was wise and self-aware enough to know that.

[David Brooks is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and has become a prominent voice of politics in the United States. Brooks graduated from the University of Chicago in 1983 with a degree in history. He served as a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its inception, a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly, and a commentator on NPR and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Brooks has written a book of cultural commentary titled Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. Brooks also writes articles and makes television appearances as a commentator on various trends in pop culture, such as internet dating. He has been largely responsible for coining the terms "bobo," "red state," and "blue state." His newest book is entitled On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.]

Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company

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Earth To Hopester: Forget H. Rap! Channel Bryan, (Either) Roosevelt , FDR, HST, & RFK!

The Hopester needs to get tough. At the last Donkey convention in Denver (in 1896), the delegates heard a fire-eating speech from The Boy Orator of the Platte, William Jennings Bryan (D-NB). After Bryan finished the "Cross of Gold" speech, the convention delgates tore the auditorium seats out of the floor and nearly tore the auditorium down. Bryan flamed out and lost to a Dumbo (William McKinley) who never left his front porch during the 1896 campaign. Give 'em hell, Hopester! Turn Joe loose on The Geezer and Mittens. Hit 'em and hit 'em hard. Presidential campaigns are not for the faint of heart. If this is (fair & balanced) realpolitik, so be it.

[x NY Fishwrap]
Voters Want More From Obama
By Bob Herbert

After being pummeled for weeks by John McCain, and losing some of his slender lead in the polls, the Obama campaign may finally be showing signs of life.

Barack Obama was always a long shot to win the White House. It’s no secret that some portion of the electorate will never vote for him because of his color. But he has made the odds even longer by running a campaign that, since the primaries, has seemed directionless, uninspired and addicted to the empty calories of generalities.

And the candidate himself has seemed flat. No fire. No passion.

I’m all for thoughtful, reasonable, even cerebral candidates. John Wayne has had way too much influence on our politics. (“Bring ’em on.” “Bomb, bomb Iran.”) But if ever there was a presidential campaign that cried out for a populist’s passion, this is it.

The last eight years have been calamitous. We’re struggling with two wars, one of which we never should have started. The economy has tanked big time. The housing market has collapsed and foreclosures have skyrocketed.

Motorists are reeling from high gasoline prices. The financial-services sector is teetering like a skyscraper in an earthquake. Robust budget surpluses have morphed into deficits stretching to the horizon and beyond. And cash-strapped, debt-ridden working families are viewing the future with high anxiety, if not outright fear.

Senator Obama should be invoking F.D.R., who wanted to make the U.S. “a country in which no one is left out.” And Harry Truman, who had no qualms about getting in the face of the political opposition. (“I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”) And Robert Kennedy, who wanted the government to get behind a massive effort to rebuild the country and create millions of new jobs.

Senator Obama has been talking about the economy lately, but his approach has been tepid and his remedies vague. The electorate wants more. A so-so appearance in Martinsville, Va., this week warmed up considerably when Senator Obama began talking about jobs and the nation’s infrastructure.

“We need a policy to create jobs here in America,” he said. Suddenly, the crowd was paying closer attention.

Feeding off the heightened energy, Mr. Obama talked of the need “to invest in people and our infrastructure right here in the U.S.A.”

He went on: “At a time when Iraq has a $79 billion surplus — they have parked it in banks in New York City — it doesn’t make too much sense for us to be still spending U.S. taxpayer dollars, $10 billion monthly, rebuilding Baghdad.

“We should use some of that money to rebuild Virginia, building roads and laying broadband lines and putting people back to work.”

There was a burst of applause and the crowd was completely with the candidate. It was the kind of connection that Senator Obama will have to make repeatedly, across the country, if he expects to be taking the oath of office in Washington in January.

At that moment in Martinsville, the senator was speaking plainly and his listeners had no trouble relating. “If we create a world-class infrastructure,” Mr. Obama said, “we create jobs now, but we also create the competitive platform for the future.”

A new sense of excitement has been building around the Obama campaign, fueled by anticipation about his running mate, the upcoming convention and John McCain’s inability to master the inventory of homes that he and his wife Cindy own.

But that’s summertime excitement. It’s not the sort of thing that will carry a candidate across the finish line. Senator Obama needs a first-rate, crackling-with-excitement populist message, which means a laser-like focus on the economy and jobs.

And he needs to show a lot more fire.

Mr. Obama likes to say he’s skinny but tough. But with all due respect, he hasn’t yet demonstrated the degree of toughness needed to prevail in a presidential campaign. There is nothing genteel about these contests.

From Watergate to the Swift Boat madness, we’ve seen how the struggle for the ultimate power of the presidency can degenerate to the rankest kind of ruthlessness and ugliness, usually at the expense of the Democrat.

Joe Biden is a good model to follow here. A few months ago, after being asked on MSNBC about attacks on Senator Obama that were being unleashed by Senators McCain and Joe Lieberman, Mr. Biden said:

“I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever. ... Every single thing they’ve touched has been a near-disaster.”

A populist message and a willingness to take the fight to his opponent is Barack Obama’s ticket to the White House.

He’s got 10 weeks to show if he’s got the right stuff.

[Bob Herbert joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist in 1993. His twice a week column comments on politics, urban affairs and social trends. Prior to joining The Times, Mr. Herbert was a national correspondent for NBC from 1991 to 1993, reporting regularly on "The Today Show" and "NBC Nightly News." He had worked as a reporter and editor at The Daily News from 1976 until 1985, when he became a columnist and member of its editorial board. Herbert received a B.S. degree in journalism from the State University of New York (Empire State College) in 1988. He has taught journalism at Brooklyn College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.]

Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company

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Calling H. Rap Brown

Say what you will about H. Jackson (Rap) Brown, the Black Power advocate had a way with words. Among a lot of other bon mots, Brown said:

"A racehorse that consistently runs just a second faster than another horse is worth millions of dollars more. Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place."

"Luck marches with those who give their very best"

"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity."

"Opportunity dances with those who are ready on the dance floor."

"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you."

"I never expect to lose. Even when I'm the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech."

Obviously, The Hopester cannot quote H. Rap, now known as Jamil Al-Amin, who currently is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder of a Georgia law enforcement officer in 2000. However, the ability of Brown/Al-Amin to utter pithy aphorisms is without question. The Hopester needs to drill The Geezer. The Hopester needs to channel H. Rap and give The Geezer what Patty gave the drum. If this is (fair & balanced) plain speaking, so be it.

[x NY Fishwrap]
McCain’s Drill Appeal
By Charles M. Blow

Mr. Obama, I’m stunned.

You’ve allowed John McCain to use the energy issue to steal your momentum and erase your lead in the polls. McCain told America that we needed to explore all our options to solve the energy crisis, including drilling offshore. He said that you disagreed. He summed up his argument in a powerful little phrase: “Drill here and drill now.” Brilliant!

Yes, I know. It’s a gimmick. The relatively small amount of oil that we may find by punching more holes in the floor of the Gulf wouldn’t be seen for years.

Furthermore, we have to come to terms with the fact that we are running out of oil anyway. We may be able to push back our day of reckoning, but it’s coming. According to the Energy Information Administration, our domestic production has fallen 40 percent since 1985, and not for lack of drilling. Since 2000, the number of exploratory and developmental wells has nearly doubled, while crude production has continued to slip.

We have to slake our thirst for crude and invest immediately and aggressively in alternative energy sources.

In spite of all this, people still took the drilling bait. Why? Because it was concise, catchy and positive. That’s the formula. I thought that you understood this, you of the “Yes We Can!” slogan and all. But, apparently not.

Lately, you’ve demonstrated an unsettling penchant for overly nuanced statements that meander into the cerebral. Earth to Barack: to Main Street America, nuance equals confusion. You don’t have to dumb it down, but you do have to sum it up.

For example, your performance at Rick Warren’s faith forum came across as professorial and pensive, not presidential. McCain was direct and compelling. Your initial response to the crisis in Georgia was tepid and swishy. McCain was muscular and straightforward.

Put the intellectualism on hold and get smart. Concise, catchy and positive: that’s the meat you feed the masses.

McCain recently slipped up, joking that it takes $5 million to make someone rich. A few days later, he couldn’t remember how many houses he owns. Jackpot for you, right? Wrong. This is how you played it: “I guess if you think that being rich means that you got to make $5 million, and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy was fundamentally strong.”

Really? Is that the best you can do? Maybe it is.

And that would be the problem.

[Charles M. Blow is The New York Times's visual Op-Ed columnist. His column appears every other Saturday. Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper's graphics director, a position he held for nine years. In that role, he led The Times to a best of show award from the Society of News Design for the Times's information graphics coverage of 9/11, the first time the award had been given for graphics coverage. He also led the paper to its first two best in show awards from the Malofiej International Infographics Summit for work that included coverage of the Iraq war. Charles Blow went on to become the paper's Design Director for News before leaving in 2006 to become the Art Director of National Geographic Magazine. Before coming to The Times, Mr. Blow had been a graphic artist at The Detroit News. Blow graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he received a B.A. in mass communications.]

Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company

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