Sept. 18--Stray thoughts leftover from last week's Republican primary debate:
--Early during Wednesday's prime-time debate among the top 11 Republican presidential hopefuls, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lobbed this accusation at President Barack Obama: "In seven short years this president has stripped away (Americans') trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life."
Rubbish!
The best way to measure this is to look at public opinion polls that attempt to gauge the public's mood. In July, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 28 percent of respondents felt the nation is headed in the right direction and 65 percent said that "things are off on the wrong track." Seven years earlier, the same pollster found 13 percent saying right direction and 74 percent wrong track.
In July, a Pew Research Center poll found 31 percent of Americans satisfied "with the way things are going in this country today" and 64 percent dissatisfied. Seven years earlier those numbers were 19 percent and 74 percent.
When the CBS News/New York Times poll most recently asked the "right direction/wrong track" question in May, the split was 31 percent right direction, 63 percent wrong track. Seven years earlier those numbers were 14 percent and 83 percent.
An April Gallup Poll found 28 percent of respondents satisfied with the direction of the country and 70 percent dissatisfied. "In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?" That's positively rosy compared to the 15 percent/83 percent split found seven years earlier.
--Also early on, Carly Fiorina said, "My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation."
Double rubbish!
First, Fiorina was not some humble Jane Hathaway who rose from the steno pool to the big chair in the boardroom. She was born into privilege -- her father was a University of Texas law professor who became an assistant attorney general -- and she received degrees from Stanford, the University of Maryland and MIT. Yes, along the way to earning advanced credentials in marketing and management she worked briefly as a secretary and receptionist, but haven't most of us worked entry-level jobs? And don't most of us have the good taste not to make that an element in a self-dramatizing, up-by-the-bootstraps tale?
And second, I'm all for patriotism, but there are plenty of countries -- every Western country and then some -- where people can rise from humble beginnings to the heights of wealth and power.
Only in America would the masses fall for such a phony patriotic declaration.
--The spit-take remark of the night came from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in his diatribe against the Supreme Court's ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. "There wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it," he said. "I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. ... The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it."
Well in my ninth-grade civics class, we learned that while, yes, judges don't make laws, ever since the Supreme Court's decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803) they've had the power to uphold or void laws based on their constitutionality. We also learned that the Bill of Rights exists to protect individual rights from the whims and prejudices of the majority and their elected representatives.
--The forehead slapping remark of the night was when former Texas Gov. Jeb Bush nominated former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to take Alexander Hamilton's place on the $10 bill.
Really? He couldn't think of even one woman in American history more deserving of such a high honor than a foreign political leader?
I gave my forehead a second whack when Ohio Gov. John Kasich nominated Mother Teresa, who was born in Macedonia and lived most of her life in India.
Fiorina punted on the question. "I wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill," she said when it was her turn to answer what was billed as "a little-lighthearted" question.
"I think, honestly, it's a gesture," Fiorina said. "I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special-interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses."
Yes, of course. But let's not be too quick to dismiss gestures. It was a gesture, after all, for South Carolina to take down the Confederate battle flag. It's a gesture every time you send flowers, a gift or a card. Salutes, handshakes, genuflections and rounds of applause are gestures. Use of the title "Ms." -- applied to Fiorina 24 times by Wednesday's moderators -- is a gesture.
By strongly symbolizing a sentiment, a gesture advances it. Gestures can and do change history in small and large ways. Finally putting a woman's face on commonly used U.S. currency is a tangible reminder of the imperative to recognize the equality, rights and potential of women, just as Fiorina wants.
And the correct answer, by the way, is Harriet Tubman.
--Wednesday's clash was only the second Republican presidential debate in this campaign. By this time in 2011 there had already been six debates, with seven more scheduled before the end of the year. In retrospect, GOP insiders felt the number was excessive -- it allowed too many opportunities for gaffes and damaging intraparty squabbling, and it gave too much exposure to distracting fringe candidates.
So this time they scaled back. Republican hopefuls will square off only three more times this year, and not again until Oct. 28. The insiders clearly didn't anticipate that the light schedule fuels the rise of outsider candidates such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson, populists whose weaknesses are best exposed in debates and the commentary they provoke.
Meanwhile the Democratic contenders won't have the first of their three debates this calendar year until Oct. 13, a delay in seizing the national spotlight that seems to be disadvantaging the slipping national front-runner Hillary Clinton, whose name was invoked 34 times in Wednesday's GOP debate.
And for voters, when it comes to debates, more is more.
Re:Tweets
Readers have selected @david8hughes as the winner of the Tweet of the Week poll for this reimagining of a familiar scene: "[Feeding the baby] Wife: 'Here comes the airplane.' Me whispering in baby's ear as he swallows his food: 'That was a spoon. Her lies don't end here.'"
