Jamie Stiehm
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Tucson Violence Too Reminiscent of The '60s
Continue reading…Writing for the op-ed page of The Washington Post yesterday, Robert J. Samuelson quoted Charles Dickens and sought to capture the temper of the "wrenching" times in which we live. I met Samuelson, a distinguished denizen of this town, just the other day at a Wilson Quarterly party. If he had asked me then about growing up in the 1960s, I wouldn't be writing this now. He seemed like a fine fellow with gravitas, don't get me wrong, but he got something wrong in his op-ed essay in the Post, which is like the village crier. It is presumed our town's truth-teller.
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Right Wing Media Vitriol Haunts Us In Arizona Shooting
Continue reading…We all had a finger on the trigger—I.F. Stone wrote those words about the assassination of John F. Kennedy in the cruel fall of 1963.
Now we come to the bleak winter of 2011, and how much has changed? Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords lay near dying in her own blood after a shooting rampage in Arizona left six dead, from a federal judge to a girl of nine, and 14 others injured. It all happened in the most American of places: a strip mall parking lot on a Saturday morning. That's what the country's come to now. It's no coincidence it was a Democratic member of Congress who was gunned down—this is no random act of violence. The suspected assassin said so.
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Congress In for a Blood Bath Over Healthcare, Debt Ceiling
Continue reading…On the first day of the new year, the Horned Frogs jumped over the Badgers in college football's glory, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. My Wisconsinite family was there, seven strong in the stands, to witness the tragical triumph for Texas Christian University. How sweet a victory it would have been for those who had to fly back to the snow, broken-hearted. Justice was for the birds.
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2011 Brings Less Hope for Obama, All Americans
Continue reading…Hope less: a way to say what we feel going into 2011, a few years into hard times, the Obama presidency and the toll taken on our nation's people since a new president, full of hope, took the oath of office in the bitter cold.
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'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' McCain, and the Drama of the Lame Duck
Continue reading…The Senate show goes on, giving the American people some splendid political theater at the end of the year. Better late than never. Here are a few points on Washington's street the week before Christmas--naughty, nice, spiced with streaks of true character "coming out" at last. We are, after all, living in interesting times, so the last thing we wish to be is dulled down. Consider:
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Obama Lost Democrats With Tax Cut Deal
Continue reading…True to my reputation as a history muse, I see Barack Obama at this hour in a Civil War light—the chapter which carved out classic templates of American character 150 years ago, none greater than the sage realist Abraham Lincoln.
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Thomas Jefferson and His Women
Continue reading…Who doesn't love Thomas Jefferson? I asked myself that walking over to the Woman's National Democratic Club, founded in 1922--one of Washington's most graceful institutions, housed in a mansion even more beautiful inside than Monticello, Jefferson's own breathtaking abode and masterpiece atop a mountain in Albemarle County, Virginia. "Mr. Jefferson" used a spyglass to look down into the distance to check on how building the University of Virginia was coming along--the university for Cavalier young men was also his creation.
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Jimmy Carter Brings His White House Diary to Politics and Prose
Continue reading…Reader, here's a page from the diary of a liberal, one who dares to speak the name, even to etch it in the ether, how's that? Just to be clear, fair and square for foes and friends alike; hold your fire on musings mostly made of memory. Was it Nabokov who wrote: "Speak, Memory?"
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Sarah Palin Is No Friend of Women in Politics
Continue reading…Women lawmakers made zero gains in Congress in this cycle--they will still make up about 17 percent of those chosen by voters to come to Washington. Two notable losses were Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota, both moderate Democrats. This palpable lack of progress was mourned as many gathered together at American University to discuss the "year of the woman" that never came to pass--despite or because of one Sarah Palin, a Republican who governed Alaska for about 15 minutes? That was a question.
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Obama Should Not Treat His Enemies Like Future Friends
Continue reading…The sleekest, fattest turkey in town this Thanksgiving is the victorious Chamber of Commerce taunting those in lean times, including the 44th president who just had his proverbial political head cut off in a tough election.
