Columns, pieces and posts
I thought I’d start the year with some thoughts on George W. Bush, for he soon reaches his two-year mark as president, and we have learned some things about him. Some people I love, mostly Democrats but some Republicans, have taken to asking: Why do people like Bush? They know the obvious reasons—9/11, an administration […]
At the end of each year I think about what I’ve learned or come to look at in a new way. In 2002 I sometimes mused on the following: Everyone says money can’t buy love, but I’m not sure that’s precisely true. Say a 43-year-old woman who’s been working for years and is starting to […]
Trent Lott’s position in the Senate is deeply eroded, more than has been made public. His most vocal Senate defenders have one by one privately decided he must go. They want him to step down but have no reason at this point to think he will. They do not want the drama to continue until […]
People approach the Trent Lott story in political terms. Does it hurt the Republican Party? Do the Democrats get more out of the scandal if they successfully campaign for Mr. Lott’s departure, or do they gain more if he continues as GOP leader, functioning as a handy daily symbol of the racism that resides in […]
People approach the Trent Lott story in political terms. Does it hurt the Republican Party? Do the Democrats get more out of the scandal if they successfully campaign for Mr. Lott’s departure, or do they gain more if he continues as GOP leader, functioning as a handy daily symbol of the racism that resides in […]
“Watch, he’s gonna tax the snow.” We turned toward the TV mounted on the wall. “Gonna pay for it now!” the counter clerk said, and people in line laughed as they paid for their papers. Mayor Mike Bloomberg had just come on to do a live news conference. They had the TV on in the […]
Rudolph Giuliani loves opera—big, lush, over-the-top opera, with sobbing clowns and jubilant courtesans. And this makes sense because Mr. Giuliani is a very emotional man. He thinks about the city, about the Yankees and the subways and the people and parades, in an emotional way. He doesn’t just fight crime, he acts a whole drama […]
There is so much to be thankful for that no column could begin to encompass it. Here are just three things, from the past year: 1. The continuance of the new patriotism which is marked not by a tinny boastfulness but by an intellectually and emotionally experienced fidelity to and respect for the founding ideas, […]
The big things to say about the recent JFK allegations—amazing, isn’t it, that “recent JFK allegations” is still an operative phrase in 2002?—are obvious. Illnesses as serious, varied and potentially debilitating as JFK’s, which included Addison’s disease, chronic and intense back pain due to the collapse of bones in his spinal column, intestinal problems including […]
There’s a lot to think about this week—the rise of Nancy Pelosi, the meaning of the Republican triumph—but my thoughts keep tugging toward a group of people who are abused, ostracized and facing a cold winter. It’s not right what we do to them, and we should pay attention. I saw them again the other […]