The greatest thrill known to man isn't flying--it's landing.
Author unknown
Congratulations, NFL Champion Green Bay Packers!
This was one of the best Super Bowl games I've ever seen as the Packers won 31-25. The Packers dominated the first half, but the Steelers battled back (as Packer receivers dropped several passes) and then got clutch two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to close within a field goal. But the Packers clicked on a clutch final drive and score, and the defense shut out Pittsburgh the rest of the way.
I did root for the Packers, although I am a fan of a divisional rival which didn't make the playoffs. I remember being friends with this boy, an avid Packers fan (after the Lombardi era), whom lost his father in the Vietnam War. I rooted for my friend's happiness. (By the way, no, I never attended a Packers game during the 3 years I was on the UWM faculty.)
President Ronald Reagan's Centennial Birthday Celebration
It's one of the things that liberals or progressives never understand, and we saw it briefly reprise during the recent mid-term campaign cycle, when newly nominated Senate candidate Rand Paul almost sabotaged his own candidacy by revisiting the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The question is--when do we use government authority to compel people to be virtuous? We often do things that are arbitrary; for example, school kids often want to be in the popular clique; many single women apply a minimum height requirement or may be attracted to men of power or means; men often choose women based on looks. What about various associations with selective criteria--say, gender, religion, race, etc? Progressives constantly add to an ever-expanding list of legally enforced rights for victim groups discriminated against: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, size, age, etc. We had Prohibition; we have zoning restrictions; etc.
One of the things I never knew about Ronald Reagan was the fact that during his salad days in Dixon, IL, he took exception to the fact that a local inn refused to admit blacks, and he would bring them to his folks' home where his mother not only put them up but served them breakfast in the morning. After his eventual conversion from an FDR liberal Democrat to a conservative Republican in 1962, Reagan had some principled reservations to certain civil rights policies, e.g., if a home-seller decided to discriminate by arbitrary restrictions on potential buyers (e.g., race). In the mind of most free market/classical (economics) liberals like Reagan and myself, arbitrary restrictions are counter-productive (and people have a right to be stupid and leave money on the table); they limit the number of competitors and a robust bidding process. If a grocery or hotel discriminates against people of color, it provides a natural incentive for competitors with more enlightened, inclusive policies. Ronald Reagan would eventually make pragmatic concessions to specific policies, given his principled support in favor of individual rights.
I did not support Ronald Reagan during the two Presidential elections. Like Ronald Reagan, I had my salad days as a liberal Democrat with some eclectic exceptions (I have always been pro-life, pro-defense, and a fiscal budget hawk), but as I began work on my MBA in the early 80's, I became more principled in support of free market principles and pro-growth policies (to the point one of my non-partisan professors commented that I came across as overly strident in one of my papers). I was not happy with what I considered to be a betrayal of fiscal conservative principles under President Reagan and cast a protest vote. As any faithful reader of my blog knows, I finally broke with the Democrats over their dishonorable sabotage of Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Of course, President Reagan was a consequential President. His low-tax message has been transformative; he was an unapologetic promoter of the free market and traditional American values. His cheerful, optimistic conservativism connected with the American people, and 30 years after his election to the Presidency, almost every prospective GOP candidate for next year's Presidential election will duly pay homage to his memory today.
Is there a true successor to President Reagan among potential contenders in the GOP today? No--not from my perspective. Today a Presidential candidate who would agree to raise payroll taxes to shore up social security or Medicare or pass immigration reform would soon find himself declared a "RINO" by media conservatives. Reagan had to compromise, having dealt with one or both chambers controlled by Democrats; some of the long-cherished goals to shrink government (e.g., abolish the new Department of Education) were never accomplished.
And these reports of Barack Obama reading books about Ronald Reagan, perhaps seeing himself as a Democratic version of Reagan? Give me a break! They both have been great communicators, but there are marked differences in style and approach. Consider the incessant Bush bashing by Obama and others and contrast with this observation from Airoldi:
As an example consider the word Carter: our prior idea about Reagan's style suggested that Reagan would seldom talk about his opponent, Carter, his line of attack being more subtle. He would mostly address the government or capitol hill people and similar figures instead...Steven Hayward wrote the following, also discussing to what extent Reagan made use of ghostwriters during his prolific post-gubernatorial period:
In 1975, Reagan began a twice-weekly newspaper column and a five-day-a-week syndicated radio commentary that was carried on more than 300 stations, reaching an estimated 20 to 30 million listeners...Over five years, Reagan broadcast 1,027 commentaries; the Andersons and Skinner discovered Reagan's handwritten drafts of 682 of them. It is likely that Reagan wrote even more than this...He cast a wide net for information, and went far beyond generalities to discuss the inner workings of obscure government programs and regulations...Stitched together, these serial commentaries offer a complete teaching on issues such as inflation, tax policy, welfare reform, the environment, and foreign policy. The remarkable range and depth of Reagan's writings suggests that he was arguably the best-prepared person to enter the White House in modern times. This was not a person who needed to consult polls and policy wonks to decide what was important or what he should think.We don't see in Reagan, for instance, Obama's Johnny-come-lately response to skyrocketing oil prices or jawboning AIG executive bonuses, his newfound respect for the Second Amendment AFTER the Heller v DC and McDonald v Chicago decisions, the long-delayed decision on the Afghanistan surge, subcontracting his agenda to Congressional leaders, or the inept handling of the BP oil spill and the Egyptian crisis. Certainly Reagan's "evil empire" speech and provocative challenge to Gorbachev "to tear down [the Berlin wall]" were inconsistent with Obama's diplomatic style of interpersonal dynamics.
If anything, I consider myself a lot like him, in the sense we both evolved from a liberal Democrat perspective and became conservatives, are consumed by intellectual curiosity and prolific, have good senses of humor, and are principled but pragmatic. But before anyone gets the wrong idea, I'm not claiming to be a second Ronald Reagan; I'm satisfied with being Ronald Guillemette. Other than some core beliefs, the only thing we have in common is our given name. I have faced adversity in my careers (anyone who really is good at what he does will face adversity; only the inconsequential individuals are ignored--which leads to the paradox of Sarah Palin. For some reason, she has gotten into progressives' heads. I think this has more to do with the fact that John McCain's choice of her as VP totally swerved the media and progressives.) I've mentioned the only thing I've been elected to was head of altar boys as a teen and I needed my younger brother's support to get that.
After Goldwater's blowout loss to LBJ in 1964, it seemed as though conservatives were finished as a political force. Who could have known that a congenial former actor would invert the landslide just 16 years later and establish the dominant political paradigm for the next 3 decades? Happy birthday, Mr. President.
Christina Aguilera Screws Up
the National Anthem at the Super Bowl
Check out the fourth line...
Some Follow-Up Notes on the Egypt Crisis
I have been rather disgusted by the Obama Administration's amateurish handling of this crisis. I have no doubt that President Obama will try to argue that his response for an immediate transition (after the Mubarak announcement that he will not be a candidate for the September election) didn't necessarily mean the imminent resignation of Mubarak, but his response was viewed exactly as I predicted, as Hillary Clinton subsequently tried to correct the notion that the US is interfering with Egyptian internal affairs. Frank Wisner, former US ambassador to Egypt, an envoy on Obama's behalf, although making plain he wasn't speaking for the Obama Administration, underscored the criticality of Mubarak for upcoming transition activities. In the meanwhile, Mubarak has continued to transition his way out of office, noting his son will not be running for President either, and subsequently dropping his membership in the ruling party.Clinton now suggests that Mubarak might be needed to transition things to the September elections, noting under the Egyptian constitution Suleiman would not assume the presidency on Mubarak's resignation, and a new Presidential election would be necessary in a few weeks, leaving little time for political parties and a political campaign.
Although I have previously expressed my support for letting Mubarak fill out the remainder of his term, this does not mean that I support the authoritarian nature of his rule or his record (beyond his honoring the peace treaty with Israel and his support during the War on Terror). In fact, I'm rather dismayed by the fact that at least 8 members of Hamas somehow managed to "escape" during the crisis and return to Gaza. There is no doubt in my mind Mubarak was sending a message to the protesters--and to the international community--how important he is, over the coming weeks, in keeping Egypt from descending into chaos.
Political Humor
"Secretary of state Hillary Clinton said regarding the crises in Egypt that the Obama administration is not advocating or working toward any specific outcome. Same policy they had during the economic crises. Just kind of go along and see what happens." –Jay Leno
[President Obama was about to dig into his foule and taamiya (beans and felafel) for breakfast when an aide pointed out that it was Hosni Mubarak's favorite dish. To avoid sending the wrong signals to protesters, Obama decided to skip breakfast, explaining that he needed to lose an extra pound.]
An original:
- Fans attending today's Super Bowl will get screened similar to what is done in airports. No word on whether NFL referees will be around to flag illegal use of hands by the screeners.
- What disturbs Julian Assange more--the fact that the Swedish sex file on his alleged rapes was leaked online or WikiLeaks didn't release it first?
Bee Gees, "World". One of my all-time favorites to sing. Glorious arrangement and harmony; soaring chorus. (Pop artists today don't have a clue as to how to write tunes like this one.) The second is a reprise medley performance (including my favorite Bee Gees' oldie, "Run to Me") by the post-disco Bee Gees.
