The Short, Unhappy Candidacy of Tom Eagleton

We've reached the point in the presidential campaign when challengers select their running mates and incumbents (presumably) decide whether to keep theirs.As I have said before, I don't expect Barack Obama to drop Joe Biden from his ticket — even though, as always, there are those in the president's party who advocate that — so there is probably little for Democrats to gain from this.But Mitt Romney would be well advised to pay attention.Forty years...

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What Democrats Learned From Bush

Today, George W. Bush is widely regarded, by Democrats and Republicans alike, as a failed president.Most Democrats tend to go beyond that point in their assessment; Republicans not quite so far. In the absence of a clear consensus, I suppose failed is a good, fairly middle–ground term.One thing I noticed about Democrats in the Bush years was their growing frustration over constantly being in the minority. When Barack Obama came along, Democrats had...

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R.I.P., Sally Ride

Sally Ride.Twenty–nine years ago, it seemed like the ideal name for America's first woman in space. Well, it seemed that way to me, anyway.And I didn't even realize it had already been immortalized in a song, "Mustang Sally.""All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride.All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride."(I'll admit, it doesn't seem like much without...

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Predictable Responses

Like most Americans, I have been watching a lot of interviews — and I have been reading a lot of articles — about the tragic movie theater shootings in Colorado.And, as is usually the case following something like this, there is a predictable wave of responses coming from our polarized political parties. Neither one seems capable of coming up with anything new, but the old approaches don't work.Most — but not all — Democrats seem to believe the answer is to clamp down on gun ownership. Gun control is their mantra.If guns weren't so readily available,...

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The Tragedy in Colorado

It is still Friday, July 20, 2012.The smoke (please excuse the pun) is still clearing in Colorado following the shooting at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie.In the coming days, I am sure, more will be known about the gunman, what led him to his heinous act and the eventual death toll than is known now. Please keep that in mind as you read this because, if you are reading this sometime in the future, some of the facts are sure to have...

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Of Islands and Villages

"No man is an island,Entire of itself.Each is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea,Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory were.As well as if a manor of thine ownOr of thine friend's were.Each man's death diminishes me,For I am involved in mankind.Therefore, send not to knowFor whom the bell tolls,It tolls for thee."John Donne(1572–1631)That quote by John Donne is one of my favorites, and it was in...

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Clinton's Covenant

Twenty years ago tonight, Bill Clinton accepted the presidential nomination for the first time.That was a memorable time in my life. Just four years earlier, I had moved from Arkansas, where I grew up, went to school and began my adult life, to Texas, where I intended to enroll in graduate school.I had already voted for Clinton for governor several times by 1988. In fact, because Arkansas elected its governors to two–year terms until the voters approved in 1984 an amendment to the state constitution that changed the length of state officials' terms...

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A Voice in the Wilderness

"... George McGovern was about to have his moment. The moment was 2:48 in the morning. ... [T]he audience for his speech had dropped from 17,400,000 to 3,600,000. Yet he was speaking beautifully. He had sucked up from his experience in one of the longest campaigns in American history a knowledge of precisely those keys of emotion he himself could touch best, and the organ keys he played now were poetic and evangelical."Theodore H. White"The Making...

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'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'

"I came here to tell you the truth — the good, the bad and the ugly."Lt. Col. Oliver NorthJuly 7, 1987A good word to describe Oliver North when he began his Iran–Contra testimony a quarter of a century ago would be defiant.He seemed to enter the hearing room with a chip on his shoulder, and he was all too eager to defend the secret policy he had been carrying out.Many Americans probably heard his name for the first time when Ronald Reagan dismissed...

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When Did the Holocaust Begin?

I've been studying history most of my life, and I think I have a pretty good understanding of things that have happened and how they have influenced the days, months and years that followed.Some events in history are easy to pinpoint — like battles. You know when they began. You know when they ended. You know how many people were killed and how many people were injured.Same with presidential administrations. With few exceptions, a presidential administration...

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A Name on a Suitcase

I recall one occasion when my grandmother — my father's mother — visited my family when I was a child.My memory is that my grandmother's visits were rare.Both sets of my grandparents lived in Dallas, Texas, when I was a child. That made sense. My parents grew up in Dallas.But, when I was growing up, we lived in central Arkansas, which was more than 300 miles from Dallas. I would have loved to have seen my grandparents more frequently than I did,...

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