Today Roger Federer won his 14th major tournament, the 2009 French Open, to tie Pete Sampras for the all-time lead, ironically having been the one whom broke Sampras' final 31-match winning streak at Wimbleton. What makes this all the more amazing is that he won his first Grand Slam in 2003 and has dominated the sport like no other since then. Federer had his own 5-tournament winning streak at Wimbleton last year broken by his French Open nemesis, Rafael Nadal, whom had ousted the last 4 years at Roland Garros (the last 3 in the championship match), all of which he won. Nadal had his own winning streak at Roland Garros snapped this past week by Robin Soderling, today's loser to Federer. Federer, the current 5-year US Open champion and a 3-time Australian Open winner, finally won the long-elusive title completing singles Grand Slam, becoming only the sixth man to complete the circuit.
After Rafael Nadal's dominating victory over Federer at last year's French Open finale, when Federer lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, rumors started up that Federer's career was finished and strengthened when Nadal last year finally broke Federer's 5-title streak at Wimbleton in a monumental 5-set victory, which many regard as one of the greatest matches in tennis history.
It speaks volumes to the heart of a true champion that Federer once again entered the French Open this year after last year's crushing defeat, and I'm sure every tennis fan felt the same way I did when I heard that Nadal's streak at Roland Garros had been snapped.
Obama Using His Grand Uncle's Legacy
I have to admit one of the things I didn't like in terms of John McCain's valiant campaign for the Presidency last year was the number of times I kept running across the same newsreel clips of McCain's history as a North Vietnamese POW. I think it's a very sensitive thing to bring into a political context. For one thing, McCain was not the only POW, and it's unseemly to bring undue attention to his own sacrifices. Second, I wasn't convinced by either Kerry in 2004 or McCain in 2008 calling attention to their combat experiences in the fading memories of a divisive Vietnam War was a good strategy; in McCain's case, for instance, I thought it had the unfortunate effect of calling to mind the age gap with Obama.
Some Democrats, in fact, accused him of trying to politically exploit his POW status. I don't think so; I think one of the most poignant things I've ever heard was in his nomination acceptance address, when he admitted to having been broken by his North Vietnamese captors. But he has asserted his experience within context; probably once of my favorite McCain stories was when he first ran for Congress from Arizona, having recently retired from the Navy. When someone accused him of being a carpetbagger, McCain pointed out that as a military officer, he had never stayed too long in any one place very long--with the exception of his years of captivity in North Vietnam as a POW.
Obama, however, has attempted to burnish his own image through his maternal relatives' efforts in WWII. His grandmother's younger brother, Charles Payne, a Democrat and proud supporter, served in the infantry during the closing days of WWII. Obama told a veteran group in May 2008 that Payne had helped liberate Auschwitz (in fact, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz). Payne also wasn't aware that the Obama campaign was developing campaign commercials underscoring his war experience, including his part of liberating Ohrdruf, part of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Payne said he and Obama had never previously discussed his experiences at the concentration camp and speculates that perhaps his sister and brother-in-law had embellished the events. He quickly downplayed his role in the liberation of Ohrdruf, noting that Germans had deserted the camp some time beforehand, leaving behind machine-gunned corpses and living survivors, barely skin and bones.
Payne furthermore told German magazine Spiegel that "This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons." [Among other things, Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed Obama's push for other Western nations to follow the American Democrats' lead in so-called stimulus spending, and Payne is speculating perhaps Obama is doing some political fence-mending.]
I do like the fact that Obama made a strong statement about the fact of the Holocaust in his Cairo speech, a not-that-subtle reference to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, among Holocaust deniers, Hence, I think Obama's visit to Buchenwald was an important exclamation point to what he said in the speech.
Obama, however, has attempted to burnish his own image through his maternal relatives' efforts in WWII. His grandmother's younger brother, Charles Payne, a Democrat and proud supporter, served in the infantry during the closing days of WWII. Obama told a veteran group in May 2008 that Payne had helped liberate Auschwitz (in fact, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz). Payne also wasn't aware that the Obama campaign was developing campaign commercials underscoring his war experience, including his part of liberating Ohrdruf, part of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Payne said he and Obama had never previously discussed his experiences at the concentration camp and speculates that perhaps his sister and brother-in-law had embellished the events. He quickly downplayed his role in the liberation of Ohrdruf, noting that Germans had deserted the camp some time beforehand, leaving behind machine-gunned corpses and living survivors, barely skin and bones.
Payne furthermore told German magazine Spiegel that "This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons." [Among other things, Chancellor Angela Merkel has rebuffed Obama's push for other Western nations to follow the American Democrats' lead in so-called stimulus spending, and Payne is speculating perhaps Obama is doing some political fence-mending.]
I do like the fact that Obama made a strong statement about the fact of the Holocaust in his Cairo speech, a not-that-subtle reference to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, among Holocaust deniers, Hence, I think Obama's visit to Buchenwald was an important exclamation point to what he said in the speech.
Nevertheless, I'm disturbed by this process of trying to politically exploit the experiences of one's own relatives without their knowledge or consent, never mind the liberation of a concentration camp (i.e., the campaign ads). I think Obama should have visited a concentration camp, but I would probably have chosen a different one under the circumstances.
Final Supreme Court Appeal: Chrysler Bankruptcy / Sale to Fiat
There's a very interesting soap opera going on regarding the Chrysler bankruptcy, including an alleged threat of the White House press corp out to destroy holdout bondholders. Perhaps at the risk of oversimplification, the matter is something like this: Obama had come up with a reorganization plan under which bondholders were essentially told to accept 29 cents on the dollar, take it or leave it. The Obama Administration plan in effect gives the auto workers or their retirees what it appears to be a preference of unsecured creditors over secured creditors. Once the company enters into bankruptcy, all bets are off; if Chrysler sells to Fiat as expected, e.g., less than 29 cents on the dollar to remaining bondholders. Some bondholders capitulated before the bankruptcy; holdouts include pension funds (particularly the Indiana pension fund), credit unions, individual bondholder, etc., whom are furious that the Absolute Priority Rule is being disregarded, i.e., secured bondholders should be made whole before the unsecured creditors (i.e., the unions) see a penny.
So much for contracts and the rule of law, which Obama seems to invoke only when it serves his political purpose, e.g., the disposition of Guantanamo Bay detainees. Judge Ginsburg is due to rule tomorrow morning as to whether the sale can be deferred (which is what the bondholders want). I'm not a lawyer, but my gut feel is that the Supreme Court will uphold the rulings made to date, that the sale would go forward. I do believe that this situation is fundamentally unjust and constitutes an abuse of power by the Obama Administration.
