Federal Judiciary

The humbling of Obama? &c. -- By: Jay Nordlinger

Did you hear what President Obama said the other day about the Middle East? In an interview with his fan Joe Klein, he said, ?I?ll be honest with you. This is just really hard.? Oh? That?s a stunning observation, Sherlock. He went on, ?This is as intractable a problem as you get.? Again: Brilliantly observed, Sherlock.

As a senator and candidate, Obama was very hard on George W. Bush & Co., where the Middle East was concerned (and where everything else was concerned). You remember his rhetoric? The administration really wasn?t trying, they really didn?t care, they were indifferent to the Palestinians, blah, blah, blah. The reality was totally different: Bush, Condi, and the rest peace-processed their buns off. To no avail (as is usually the case).

Yes, the Middle East is ?just really hard.? Yes, the Arab-Israeli conflict is ?as intractable a problem as you get.? Nice that Obama has realized this, in his late 40s. And if the experience of the presidency makes him a little humbler, so much the better.

Yesterday, I spotted a related item (here). The article is mainly about the First Lady, and here is one sentence: ?She said that since Barack Obama became president last year, the couple have ?much more respect? for their predecessors because only presidents and their families understand the job?s pressures.?

Yes, but one might have sympathized even without the experience of the White House, you know? Maybe the Bushes -- all of them -- weren?t such flakes and boobs and knaves after all.

One more word, related to the Middle East -- to the Arab-Israeli conflict, specifically. Years and years ago -- the ?80s, I?m fairly sure -- George Will wrote that there were two intractable problems in the world: Northern Ireland and the Arab-Israeli conflict. No matter what you did, those conflicts continued. They just wouldn?t budge.

Well, Northern Ireland has faded as a world concern -- also as an Irish-British concern, thank heaven. Will the Arab-Israeli conflict fade? Let us hope so: and let us hope that it?s not because a non-Arab country, to the east of Iraq, has rendered the matter moot through its new toys.

According to this article, Europe is very down on President Obama -- and, by ?Europe,? I mean European political and cultural elites. I had the thought: ?If they don?t like America under Obama, they ain?t gonna like America never.? Obama is the type of president to whom they give the Nobel Peace Prize.

And I was reminded of something an ex-ambassador told me recently -- an ex-ambassador from the U.S. to a European country. Speaking of an important official in that country, he said, ?He?s not anti-American, but he does like America better when it?s governed by Democrats.?

I know that kind of European: many of them. They?re better than anti-Americans. But they?re still a touch annoying. (There are also people who like Israel when it?s governed by Labor, but not at all when it?s governed by Likud.) (What does Kadima do to them? I suspect it has to be Labor or nothing.)

(I know, I know: There are Americans who like the U.S. when it?s governed by Democrats, otherwise . . . not so much.)

(Are there conservatives who bail on America when liberal Democrats get in? That is a slipperier question.)

A few nights ago, I was attending a concert of the American Symphony Orchestra, which is conducted by Leon Botstein: an intellectual as well as a musician (and president of Bard College). The concert featured the music of Henry Cowell, the California composer who lived from 1897 to 1965. Botstein wrote an essay on him, and he said,

?Cowell was twenty years old when the United States entered the First World War. His career coincided with a time in history in which the America of his day was the China of today. The United States was growing rapidly and was at the cutting edge of industrial competitiveness. It had outstripped Europe and was on its way to becoming the largest economy in the world.?

Will China prove, indeed, to be the ?America? of the early 21st century (or the mid)? There is an intense debate about this today. But there is no true need to debate: because we will see -- the world will see -- before long.

Silvio kind of put his foot in it. I?m talking about the prime minister of Italy. Standing with Mahmoud Abbas -- or perhaps sitting; I have not seen a picture -- Berlusconi said,

?Whenever war takes the place of peace, whenever violence takes the place of reason, humanity disappears. The relationship between men that should always be kept intact disappears. So just as it?s right to cry for the victims of the Shoah, it?s right to show pain for what happened in Gaza.? (A news article here.)

Um, did Silvio compare the frickin? Holocaust to Israel?s operation in Gaza -- just as so many other Europeans do, so easily? I think he was trying to be polite: evenhanded, with his guest present. And that it just came out awful.

Anyway, that is my interpretation -- and, in European terms, Berlusconi is as supportive of Israel as, say, Joe Klein is of Obama.

A depressing story out of Egypt: ?Two senior Egyptian editors -- one a member of the country?s ruling party and the other an expert on Jewish affairs -- have been punished by Egypt?s Journalists Union for violating its ban on contacts with Israel . . .? One editor is Hala Mustafa, and the other is Hussein Serag. The latter has been prohibited from writing for three months.

I love something Mustafa said. She said, ?I am liberal, and I was targeted for my liberal views concerning political reform and even foreign policy.? And when she says, ?I am a liberal,? dear readers: She does not mean ?liberal? like Ron Dellums or Dennis Kucinich. She means more like Jefferson.

And I loved something -- and winced at something -- that Serag said: ?My field of specialty is Israel and Hebrew. If I don?t visit Israel, how can I understand these people??

Tough luck, Hussein.

One more thing: As an American journalist, I can?t tell you how glad I am that I don?t have to belong to a Journalists Union. And that there is none, so far as I know.

In a column some weeks ago, I noted a headline: ?Journalist killed in Mexico, 12th case in 2009.? I said, ?I realize that Mexico is a large and populous country. But doesn?t twelve sound like rather a lot?? I have now read this: ?Gunmen have slain a Mexican journalist -- the third such killing so far this year -- and a top prosecutor said Tuesday there are few clues.? (The article is here.)

Um -- this is bad. As in Russia. Very hard to continue your work, if you?re a journalist, and other journalists are dropping pretty much like flies.

So, you know how the American president gets involved with American car companies? You may be interested in this news item, headlined, ?Fiat faces papal censure for plant closure.? The opening sentences: ?These days, it seems beleaguered Italian automaking could use a little divine intervention. After car giant Fiat announced plans to shut auto production at its Sicilian plant, Pope Benedict XVI waded into worldly matters to urge the company to keep the jobs in Italy.?

The pope may be Catholic, but he?s not even Italian! (Doesn?t it seem like forever since there was an Italian pope? And I thought Italianness in the papacy would last forever, like Democratic rule in the House.) (The ?Gingrich revolution? was a shock to me.)

?Cheese?s twilight rattles France?s sense of self,? reads the headline. What?s going on? This article explains. Cheese, made the old-fashioned way, is dying in France. Everything is mass-produced now.

I had a memory, which I hope you?ll indulge me. The common French expression is Quel dommage, meaning What a shame. My old headmaster used to say, amusingly -- with a twinkle in his eye -- Quel fromage, meaning What cheese. (This is deliberately nonsensical.)

And it is indeed a dommage about the fromage -- although I bet the cheese in France will continue to be good -- exceptional -- regardless.

As I think I may have mentioned in this column before, Jacob Zuma, the South African president, is a busy guy. Got three wives. Engaged to another one. Has 19 children. Make that 20 -- because, as this story tells us, ?South Africa?s polygamist president confirmed Wednesday that he fathered a daughter last year with a woman who is not one of his three wives or fiancee.?

I think of two things, off the top of my head: ?retha sang, ?Who?s zoomin? who?? In South Africa, they might say, ?Who?s Zum?in? who?? (or something). (Haven?t quite worked that out yet.) Also, the guy may give new meaning to the term ?Zulu warrior.? (In his polygamy, he is following Zulu practice, or so it has been reported.)

You know the old line about obits -- Chesterton: ?Journalism largely consists of saying ?Lord Jones Is Dead? to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.? Anyway, I read, here, of Aaron Ruben, producer of The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, and Sanford and Son. (?Well, I never.? ?And you never will!?) Ruben passed away at 95. And I was particularly struck by this fact: ?In later years, he was a court-appointed special advocate for abused and abandoned children.?

In his State of the Union address, President Obama, as you may remember, proposed a particular break for graduates entering ?public service.? Since then, I have written a fair amount about what constitutes public service: For me -- and you too, I bet -- opening a good store is a public service. So is inventing something useful. Or employing people. Etc.

Anyway, I?ve received much, much mail on this subject, and I thought I would publish just one letter:

Dear Jay:

 

A couple of years ago my son?s friend graduated from Rutgers Law School. He had arranged to enter the Army, as a lawyer-officer in the Judge Advocate General?s department. I pointed out to him that the State of New Jersey had a debt-forgiveness program for law-school graduates entering into public service. He inquired, and was informed that service in the United States Army did not meet New Jersey?s definition of ?public service.? Public defender? Absolutely. Lawyer for the ?homeless?? Of course. Army officer? No way. Being an attorney, I offered to fight it for him (for free), but he demurred.

I don?t know if that is still the rule, but I would be surprised if it weren?t.

A word about health care?

Hi, Jay:

 

My hubby and I were watching a movie a few weeks ago: Witness for the Prosecution, which came out in the ?50s. Stars Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, and Charles Laughton. The trial takes place in England, and Laughton is the defense attorney. He questions a witness who is hard of hearing. She complains to him that she applied for a hearing aid from National Health six months before but has still not received it.

 

That was back in the ?50s! Can?t imagine how long one has to wait now.

Finally, wanted to say something about a name -- a place-name. I received a note from Eagle, Idaho. And I?m thinking: ??Eagle, Idaho?: Is that a true-blue, red-state, blood-stirring name or what!?

Full post as published by Bench Memos - National Review Online on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).