The Quiet One

Maybe I missed it. I've been a little busy over the last few days. But have we seen any sort of genuine attempt at leadership from our presumptive leaders through this last week or so?

Our president declared to a private audience in July that our financial crisis arose because (in terms he clearly understood) "Wall Street got drunk and now it's got a hangover. Now it's gotta sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments..." If Wall Street has been drunk, who was responsible for letting them booze it up and drive the country off the cliff?

In the meantime, public pronouncements from the White House have been quieter than sign language. Aside from a brief off-the-cuff remark about the possible positive effects of "adjustments" the president has been mum. Yesterday his spokesperson revealed that Bush wouldn't speak about the situation, because he didn't want to get involved -- in the election!! No press conference since July. Where, oh where, is Leadership?

Given how tongue-twisted he's been in the past, it's little wonder that our president is so silent. He's had a tough 7 and 1/2 years. His faith-based administration has had hard-hearted reality intrude time after time; this tends to temper one's opinions. I suppose he's looking ahead to January and praying to the god who told him to run for president that the whole ship doesn't go under before then. (Harry Truman? No. Herbert Hoover? No. George W. Bush? Yes, Absolutely.)

So... this leaves us looking for Leadership, where? Obama, for his part, has been consistent with his economic messages. His two-minute ad features him talking to the viewer about his proposals in a manner that would make a constitutional law professor proud.

New Obama 2-minute ad about the economy

At least it's something constructive. And it fits with what he's been saying. There are other aspects to his campaign that are unworthy of post-partisanship (holding McCain to the 100-years-in-Iraq statement, tying McCain to the Limbaugh anti-immigrationists, and suggesting JM can't figure out how to use a computer or email). I'd like to hear more of the problem-understanding-and-solving Obama, the can-do guy, and hear it louder. But I also understand he cannot be perceived as anything like an Angry Black Guy to a voter base that is 74% white. So his leadership style is almost necessarily understated.

As for his opponent, it is different. John McCain doesn't share Bush's Faith-Based Reality. But his reality is definitely squiggly; it's an Amoeba-Based Reality. He confuses Shiites with Sunnis, over and over (at least he knows there are two; Bush didn't know Islam had more than one sect). He said Iraq borders Afghanistan. He says our economy is strong and fundamentally sound on Monday, then on Tuesday says we are in a financial crisis. He was against Treasury intervention with AIG on Tuesday, and for it on Wednesday. Today he is for tougher federal regulations after being adamantly against it (I guess he was against it before he was for it). Today, he didn't know who the prime minister of Spain was, even though he was being interviewed by a Spanish magazine. The journalist tried to give him an out three times; each time McCain fell back on a Talking Point that had more to do with Latin America and Chavez than our European ally. It's all so confusing.

Saying how one would lead the nation through a bad economy is one way to measure one's leadership style. Another metric is the tone of one's campaign. Both candidates are running on strong personal narratives. Both are compelling. One is running on issues. The other is running away from them. "This election is not about issues," said McCain campaign manager Rick Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

That is why there is so much distraction on garbage like lipstick and pigs. Running on their records and issues, Republicans are going to lose, big. 80% of the country feel the country is on the wrong track. Most say really, really on the wrong track. If you can't run on the issues, then distract, confuse, misinform, lie and repeat. All campaigns do this to degrees. But the McCain campaign has excelled at it to the point where the master, Karl Rove, says they've gone too far. Hillary tried it, too; try to pull your opponent into the mud. It's the great equalizer.

So we have a Quiet One in office. We have an Orator and a Warrior in the wings. At this point, either candidate will be a relief, but the Orator has my vote. He's consistent. He's a thinker. And he can articulate solutions.

Okay, enough of that stuff. Here's a fun music clip of Thelonious Monk. He gets particularly carried away around 3 minutes in and abandons the piano, performing a sort of dance:

YouTube - Thelonious Monk - Evidence - Japan, 1963

The man was a genius. Of music. And comedy.

And here is The Quote of the Day:

"All great truths begin as blasphemies." -- George Bernard Shaw

That's it for now. Please feel free to comment and comment on the commentators. And spread this blog around to your friends, if you like it.