The Old Notion That Brevity Is The Essence Of Wit Has Succumbed To The Modern Idea That Tedium Is The Essence Of Quality.
It Was Clear Soon After His Election That Obama, Like Fdr, Wanted To Start Dealing With The Economic Crisis Immediately After His Inauguration.
Though Americans Talk A Good Deal About The Virtue Of Being Serious, They Generally Prefer People Who Are Solemn Over People Who Are Serious. In Politics, The Rare Candidate Who Is Serious, Like Adlai Stevenson, Is Easily Overwhelmed By One Who Is Solemn, Like General Eisenhower. This Is Probably Because It Is Hard For Most People To Recognize Seriousness, Which Is Rare, Especially In Politics, But Comfortable To Endorse Solemnity, Which Is As Commonplace As Jogging.
The Early Commentators Who Put Down The Pre-presidential Roosevelt As An Empty-headed Young Lightweight, All Ambition And No Talent, Now Seem Comically Wrong To A Modern Book-reading, Movie-going, Television-watching, Legend-loving American Public Conditioned To Think Of Him As One Of The Presidential Giants On The Order Of Washington And Lincoln.
After Two Years Studying What Rewrite Men Did With The Facts I Phoned Them, I Knew That Journalism Was Essentially A Task Of Stringing Together Seamlessly An Endless Series Of Cliches.
Strategic Thinkers Were Naturally Rattled To Find This Outsider Fooling Around With Their Work. They Had Been Thinking Strategically When Reagan Was Just Another Movie Actor Playing Opposite A Chimpanzee, For Heaven's Sake. They Think Reagan Is Too Naive, Too Innocent, To Grasp The Intellectual Complexities Of Cold War Strategy.
My Natural Instinct After Doing Something Shameful Is Not To Rush Into The Street Boasting About It But To Put On Dark Glasses And Head For The Next County, Hoping Nobody Notices I've Been In The Neighborhood.
Letter Writing Was Clearly Important To Reagan. Even As President He Kept Dashing Off Letters To Friends, Pen Pals, Media People, Statesmen, Critics, And The Kind Of People Who Write To Presidents Never Expecting A Reply.
Journalism Talk Is Part Of The Nonstop Background Noise Of American Life.
A Day Spent Praising The Earth And Lamenting Man's Pollutionist History Makes You Feel Like A Superior, Sensitive Soul.
