Editorials and Opinions

Gary Tischler • January 29, 2015

Just because everyone’s published their annual tally of noteworthy losses doesn’t mean people have stopped dying. Attention must be paid—constantly.

During the last days of the old year and the first days of the new, we lost an eloquent, soul-stirring presidential not-quite-wanna-be, the first African-American senator elected in the 20th century since Reconstruction (and a Republican to boot), a courageous sportscaster who changed the way we talk about games and athletes, an actor who memorably embodied Franklin Roosevelt in a long career of varied characters, a local attorney and leader who helped spark a neighborhood revival by founding the Atlas Arts Center, a Golden-Age-of-Hollywood star who gave it all up (a la Greta Garbo), a small man with a big talent for country music and a former beauty queen-cum New York public official and celebrity legend.

MARIO M. CUOMO

The former New York governor was blessed with a huge rhetorical gift which vaulted him into the role as a leading liberal light and presidential hopeful with his elegant and eloquent speeches critiquing the disparities that existed in Ronald Reagan’s morning-in-America America. Always thought as a leading Democratic presidential aspirant and hopeful, Cuomo never quite managed to take the final step and throw his hat and heart formally into the ring. His last near-bid came in 1992, when, at the last minute, he opted out instead to deal with New York state’s budget woes, paving the way for a long-shot run by then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.

Cuomo challenged Reagan’s sunny optimism about life in America by saying “Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ than it is just a ‘Shining City on a Hill.’ ”

Cuomo, a three-term governor of New York who lost the gubernatorial election to Republican George Pataki in 1993, died Jan. 1 at 82. He had been suffering from heart problems. He was the father of the current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

EDWARD W. BROOKE

Brooke, an African American Protestant Republican who grew up in Washington, was the first African American popularly elected to the Senate in 1966 in Massachusetts. He was blessed with an elegant style, good patrician looks and an almost casual gift for the hands-across-the-aisle approach to politics and policy that seems now like a lost, indecipherable art.

Speaking of lost arts and extinct species, Brooke was a liberal, Rockefeller-style Republican. He represented a state that was then 90-percent white and mostly Catholic. He was elected across a broad voting spectrum likely because he said, “I do not intend to be a national leader of the Negro people. I intend to do my job as a senator from Massachusetts.” With Sen. Walter Mondale (D-Minn.) as a co-sponsor, he led the fight for Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Brooke received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. Brooke died Jan. 3. He was 95.

STUART SCOTT

Scott, a trailblazing ESPN sportscaster and anchor who revitalized the way people heard, looked at and understood sports, lost a gritty, brave, seven-year battle with cancer Jan. 4. He was 49.

On Sports Center, Scott reported and talked about sports the way much of his audience, and most of the athletes—particularly those in the NFL and NBA—talked, which was a casual use of the vernacular (within limits), in phrases and descriptions that were colorful, visceral and energizing, including his trademark “booyah”.

Scott was diagnosed with cancer and fought without letup, including the use of a martial arts program.

He was the father of two teenaged girls.

PAUL SPRENGER

A nationally noted attorney and litigator famous for major class action suits, as well as a developer and in Washington, D.C., as the founder of the Atlas Performing Arts Center (which sparked a boom in the H Street Corridor in NE), died Dec. 29 of an apparent heart attack while snorkeling in Curacao with his wife and law partner Jane Lang. He was 74.

He and his wife received a Washington Post Award for innovative leadership in the theater community from the Helen Hayes Theatre Awards Society.

ED HERRMANN

Herrmann had a long and varied career as a film, television and stage actor but he was best known for his charismatic, ebullient portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1976 television movie “Eleanor and Franklin,” based on Joseph P. Lash’s Pulitzer Prize winning book. To many viewers, his was the best-remembered version of FDR, not entirely discounting the efforts of Ralph Bellamy and, yes, Bill Murray.

He also starred in many Broadway roles, including Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” and received a Tony nomination for David Hare’s “Plenty.”

Herrmann died Dec. 31 at the age of 71.

LUISE RAINER

Luise Rainer, who died Dec. 30 at the age of 105, was an actress uniquely suited to and representative of Hollywood’s Golden Age during the 1930s. Classically trained in European theater—she was a protégé of the famed director Max Reinhardt—Rainer got an MGM contract and won back-to-back Best Actress Oscars for “The Great Zigfield” and “The Good Earth” (in which she played a well-disguised Chinese peasant). After that, little happened and few roles emerged to her liking. She, like Greta Garbo, packed it up and called it quits, never to return to Hollywood, although sporadically appearing on stage.

LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS

Dickens, who died Jan. 2 at the age of 94, stood only 4 foot 11 inches, but loomed large on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, always sporting an outsized cowboy hat and a checkered shirt with cowboy boots. He was, as fans noted, “a little man with a big voice” that had a classical twang.

The title of his songs certainly were grits-and-gritty flavored with a dash of down-home humor—“May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose,” “A-Sleepin’ on the Foot of the Bed” and “Take a Cold Tater and Wait.”

BESS MYERSON

One way or another Bess Myerson, who died Dec. 14 at the age of 90, was a prototype of celebrity before the true age of celebrity—the one we’re living in today—had actually arrived.

It all began with a Miss America crown in 1945, followed by years as a television personality and a model as well as being a regular on the popular TV game show, “I’ve Got a Secret.” Her fame led to an eventual appointment as New York City Commissioner of Consumer Affair which led to a friendship with Mayor Edward Koch. Later, she was involved in a high-profile conflict-of-interest scandal that rocked New York. She was acquitted of any wrongdoings.
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the Georgetowner Editorial Board •

There’s a lot on the plate for new District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, who outlined some of her plans in a general way at her inauguration earlier this year.

One of he more optimistic expectations was “winning the Olympics in Washington DC  in 2024.” She won’t have to worry about or look forward to that one.  The U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston to represent the United States as a possible host city.
That being said, Bowser has to grapple with the states of the city, which she accurately described as “both rich with prosperity and rife with inequality.”

She’ll have to deal with the dichotomy—how to spread the prosperity all over the city in terms of well-paying jobs, further improved schools,  affordable housing, protecting and improving the plight of the homeless.

Conversely, while the city is considered prosperous, not to mention hip, cool, and a destination place for not only new residents but visitors, it does have a budget deficit of around $200 million, a matter that will have to be resolved before it’s brought before a strongly GOP controlled  Congress  that’s not apt to be all that sympathetic to the city’s problems, and may not resist the temptation to fiddle with city legislation, even if passed by the council and approved by the mayor.  It’s happened before and there’s no reason to think it won’t again.

That’s why Bowser, who is personally popular, is already promising to work on the District’s relationship with Congress, alongside Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s only member of the House of Representative, albeit a non-voting one.
Getting further development into the city is one priority, especially in Ward 8 and Ward 7, both of which suffer from high unemployment.

She still seems, as do residents, lukewarm about the proposed focus on getting streetcars going in the District. So far, the existing project is behind schedule, and has proven unreliable in some ways in test runs, filled with accidents and delays.  Bowser has called Metro the fulcrum of any transportation plan, with a focus on buses.

Transportation is a challenge for a changing city—with an influx of over a thousand residents per month, it’s key to have a coordinated transportation plan to deal with the newcomers, and the resultant lack of parking, increased traffic density (in spite of a marked increase in bicycle use.

While crime statistics have improved under Police Chief Cathy Lanier, recent weeks have shown a marked increase in violence and homicide in the city. The murder rate for 2014 surpassed 2013. 

While every politician who’s run for something or is planning talks about affordable housing,  no one has yet to proffer a true definition of what that means.  Middle class residents are struggling to meet mortgages, or rent prices, while renting stock is becoming increasingly out of the reach of people who don’t make a six-figure salary, or are in the lower double digits in terms of income.

Bowser will also be dealing with a District Council that is headed by  veteran liberal Phil Mendelson, and is packed with a majority of members who have served only five years or less, with two seats still open for special elections this year.
Bowser has already shown that she’s a quick study in the arena of city-wide electoral politics.  School is, of course, out on her cabinet choices, who should be given a chance to show their stuff..

Gary Tischler •

Was it just last November that the Republicans won their shot to take control of the Senate this month, added to their numbers in Congress and routed the Democrats by running mainly against the policies and the poll numbers of President Barack Obama?

If you were watching President Obama’s sixth State of the Union (SOTU to acronym lovers in the media and policy circles) address, you might be excused if you thought that he—aka POTUS, the President of the United States—didn’t get the message.

In a robust, sometimes rambling, Tony-the-Tiger speech that seemed to be full of confidence and sometimes questionable bravado, the president seemed to be announcing that things were swell, because his policies had been vindicated and worked.

He could indulge in a little chest-beating—the stock market was at record highs, jobs were going up, although wages did not follow, the unemployment rate was at its lowest since before the recession,  lower gas prices for whatever reasons were allowing people to spend and/or save, and expanded health care coverage (never mind that the GOP will still be trying to repeal it, and it was all because he had been right all along).

Even his startling Cuban initiative, these days, has been a popular choice if polls are any indication.

The one thing that people remain mad about is the lack of amity in Washington, which the president didn’t exactly help.  While talking about cooperation and bi-partisan efforts—perhaps on tax reform, trade, and other possibilities—he also rolled out the veto card time and again, on environmental matters, sanctions against Iran and other issues.

Obama offered up free community college tuition for everyone,  easing tax credits for college education, expanded sick leave for parents, more focus on early childhood education.

He barely said anything about the thorny issue of immigration reform, touched somewhat disingenuously  on the battle against Isis and terrorism in the Middle East, promised to safeguard privacy for internet users.

He also spent precious little time on foreign policy, which is—day-by-day—becoming increasingly important. He seemed to be operating in a time lag against events—Yemen, which allows the U.S. bases from which to launch  drone strikes, seemed to be collapsing, the backlash against the use of images of the prophet goes on relentlessly, and Isis is holding or making gains in Iraq and Syria, something he did not seem to be aware of.

Still, these SOTUs are more often than not about appearances, emotions, story-telling, scenes from the crowd, claims and counter-claims, the poker faces of the listeners, the size and length of applause and where it is coming from, in the sometimes devilish details.

The president always speaks at the podium, as the vice president and the house speaker frame a kind of living background.   Thus, you were faced with Vice President Joe Biden’s sometimes grim smile and the appearance of House Speaker John Boehner, who appeared to be battling a cold.  You could pretty much tell how the politics of legislation would go this year by how many times Biden stood up and how many times Boehner did not.   Mention of vetoes seemed only to deepen the speaker’s grim demeanor.

The president used one middle class family as an illustration about the ebb and flow of the struggle to stay above financial waters.  The middle class, in fact, will be the battleground in coming elections and in battles over issues.

The media made much of the lack of amenity at these affairs,  all rituals aside. When the president noted that there would be no more campaigns for him, there was a ripple of laughter from the GOP side, or perhaps a sigh of relief.  Duly noted by the president, who shot back: “That’s because I won two of them.”

Some media types suggested that this was not the way to work towards bipartisanship, that it was an ill-mannered comment, somewhat like goading a bull with a reminder of his wounds.

Good grief.

Rhetorically, Obama regained his stride after that, heading into the home stretch with a blast from the past and a little bit of hope and change and a lot of optimism, climaxing with “We’ve laid new foundations.  A brighter future is ours to write. Let’s begin this news chapter together—and let’s start the work right now.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, the newly elected Iowa Republican and the first female senator from Iowa, gave the opposing party’s rebuttal. Ernst grew up in rural Iowa and recalled having only one good pair of shoes, working  construction and plowing her family farm fields.  She said the Obama years were time of suffering and hardship and disunity, blaming Obama and Washington, D.C. She pledged that the new Republican congress would be reformed by the new majority. She also called Obamacare part of a stale mind set and that Republicans would continue to fight to repeal and replace it.  [gallery ids="101973,135584,135569,135600,135588,135573,135578,135597,135592" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

[Editor’s note: The following commentary is in response to the Jan. 14 Georgetowner cover story, “Cuban Dreams.”]

Since 1959, numerous overtures have been made by several U.S. presidents to improve relations with Cuba. The pattern has been repeated over and over: the Castro regime always finds a way to derail talks. Why?

Because if the U.S. were no longer “the empire” and the “enemy” of the Cuban people, the Castro brothers would have no reason to exist. Above all, they want to remain in control of every aspect of Cubans’ lives.
We now have the opportunity to observe whether the pattern is repeated.

Last week in Havana, Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson met with her Cuban counterpart, Josefina Vidal. Before the meeting, the Obama administration announced the new U.S. regulations for travel, remittances, telecom, small business support and credit card use. The administration also confirmed its commitment to reestablish and review Cuba’s inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terror. The goal is to remove Cuba from the list.

I criticized the deal as being lopsided in Cuba’s favor when it was announced. However, it should be recognized that President Obama has so far delivered on his end of the bargain. How about Cuba?

To the dismay of some, the Cubans upped the ante dramatically at the first meeting: they want the Cuban Adjustment Act (“Wet foot, dry foot” policy) repealed, something Jacobson said the U.S. would not do. The bombshell was when Vidal asked how diplomatic relations can be established if the embargo is still in place. She knows well that lifting the embargo needs congressional approval since it would require a change in the law. This is highly unlikely. Once again, the Cubans are making the negotiations impossible. There will be other surprises.

We now have the opportunity to observe whether there truly is political will among the Cuban government to change, starting with human rights, release of political prisoners and allowing Cubans to open small businesses and buy supplies from the U.S.

If history repeats itself, the Cubans will find a way to derail the talks. I hope the media will track these events closely. We will then understand why Cuba has remained isolated for more than 55 years: because of Cuban reluctance to reestablish relations with the U.S. Stay tuned.

Born in Havana, Carlos Miguel Gutierrez was Secretary of Commerce (2005 to 2009) under President George W. Bush. The former CEO of the Kellogg Company, Gutierrez is a co-chair of Albright Stonebridge Group.