Sunrise for Compromise

After so much bitter brew of partisan rancor, Sunday morning talk shows suddenly serve us piquant eggs sunny side up.

Historians and lame-duck officeholders abetted by the cultural currency of a new Lincoln movie fill the tube with talk about the traditional role of (gulp) compromise in American politics.

Ideological purity is pushed offstage in favor of praising negotiation, deal-making, tradeoffs and even bribery to get to a legislative yes.

Steven Spielberg’s film dramatizes a Great Emanicipator pursuing lofty goals with low methods, ending slavery by wheeling and dealing—-exemplifying, in David Brooks’ words, that you achieve greatness “only if you are willing to stain your own character in order to serve others--if you are willing to bamboozle, trim, compromise and be slippery and hypocritical.”

Idealism may eventually stage a comeback, once rescued from Tea Party clutches, but the new pundit mood calls for Obama to emulate his predecessors in political back-dooring.

On “Face the Nation” Bob Schieffer elicits from biographers of Lincoln, Jefferson and Eisenhower evidence that they were all “great negotiators” and “great compromisers” in a mode often associated only with LBJ. (Jon Meacham notes Jefferson sought a Constitutional amendment for the Louisiana Purchase but, when Napoleon wavered, glibly denied he needed one and went ahead to double the size of the country.)

Now that wheeling and dealing are trendy, who knows how far the reelected President can go if he stoops enough to conquer? His Congressional opposition seems more than ready to join him in backpedaling to the future.

Black Friday of the American Mind

After a day of Gratitude, an orgy of Greed: Stuffing ourselves precedes buying stuff we don’t need.

So much for Thanksgiving clichés, but this year cries out for more. In the month when America avoided a political cliff, what can we tell ourselves about the future?

In his weekly address, the President stresses the outpouring of unselfishness in response to Sandy:

“It would have been easy for these folks to do nothing--to worry about themselves and leave the rest to someone else. But that’s not who we are. That’s not what we are.

“As Americans, we are a bold, generous, big-hearted people. When our brothers and sisters are in need, we roll up our sleeves and get to work--not for the recognition or the reward, but because it’s the right thing to do. Because there but for the grace of God go I. And because here in America, we rise or fall together, as one nation and one people.”

True enough, but such high gloss covers much ugliness below the surface as the nation tries to regain some balance from the Tea Party zealotry that dominate its media for more than a year.

In one promising sign, GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss disavows his “20-year-old” Grover Norquist pledge not to raise taxes: “If we do it his way, then we’ll continue in debt.”

But there won’t be a wave of such turnabouts any time soon if Republicans just lick their wounds and try to rationalize what happened on Election Day.

The Wall Street Journal is not ready to write off Tea Party zealotry that helped sink them this year:

“Often missed in talk of the GOP's ‘demographics problem’ is that it would take relatively modest minority-voter shifts toward Republicans to return the party to a dominating force. The GOP might see that as the enormous opportunity it is, rather than a problem. The key to winning turnout is having more people to turn out in the first place.”

Democrats, flush with victory and ready to push the President toward using his momentum to the fullest, should keep rightly reminding him of what happened without being too disappointed over a perceived lack of aggression in turning away from America’s Black Friday of the Mind.

It will take more than one election to change that.

A Norman Rockwell Memory

 

One morning in the 1960s, the art director of McCalls was at my office door carrying the kind of oversized portfolio that usually holds samples of a new illustrator's work. "Got a minute?" he asked.

When I nodded, he came in, followed by a slight man in his sixties with a sweet smile and introduced Norman Rockwell, who was doing a series of paintings for the magazine.

As I looked at them and responded to their charm, I suddenly realized that America's most popular artist was standing there, waiting expectantly for my reaction to his work.

The smile I gave him warmed us both.

A Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!