MIKEWEEK BULLETIN

17 April 2008/Bulletin 200
(Dobbs, Ridenhour, Moyers and Obama’s Teflon)

Quote of the Month “I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it…”

Latte Drinking UWS Liberal: I must confess that I have added Latte drinking to my long list of cardinal sins. But, that can’t be all bad, because my brother Matty admits he and his wife Nicolle indulge too (they even use the Latte frothier I got them for Christmas). In my continuing quest to stay hip and on the cutting edge, I have turned to latte drinking and drum roll please----posting the Bulleting on the World Wide Web.

For the Already computer savvy familiar with the techniques of say, late 1995—
Please click on the following link to read the rest of Bulletin 200 on line at:

http://mikeweek.blogspot.com/

Moyers Gets Ridenhour Courage Award: Three cheers to the Fertel Foundation and the Nation Institute for selecting Bill Moyers for this year’s top Ridenhour Award. In the spirit of full disclosure, which is just so in vogue that it seems like you can’t publish anything these days unless you have some hidden connection to the story that you can disclose to your fair readers.

Well…The Moyers family and I share a bond through our involvement with Hazelden, the fine substance abuse rehab where Bills’ son William and I both first got sober. So, as my pal Joe Walker would say, “there you have it.”
It was reporters like Bill Moyers who made CBS News, in its best years, the one network we all dreamed we would one day work for.

Because of the (above noted, disclosed) friendship, I learned firsthand that Moyers thoughtfulness is as genuine in real life, as it appears to be, when you watch his news work on the small screen.

When Bill learned that my mother was ailing and that she was a big fan of the PBS series he produced based on the book “Follow Your Bliss,” Bill wrote her a most wonderful letter that raised her spirits for many a week when times were quite tough, near the end.

I also knew Ron Ridenhour, the reporter who broke the news about the massacre at My Lai during the Viet Nam War. I knew Ron as a co-worker, a friend and as a fellow journalist who I often kidded with, but always looked up to (more disclosure done). Ron would be blushing to the max at the prospect of Bill Moyers being handed an award in his name; but it was a natural choice.

Moyers and Ridenhour shared a professional bond. Both maintained a lifelong hard and fast commitment to getting the facts out, even when stories were complex in nature, difficult to dig out as they were to tell, and both did not countenance bush league standards or wimpy editors. In fact, they required the same tough nosed types at the top to stand up for their work, and perhaps that is why there is so much less reporting of their caliber, especially in Bill’s medium Television, these days.

In accepting the Courage Award, Bill scoffed at the notion anyone should think of him as courageous. He said, “It wasn't courage I counted on; it was exhilaration and good luck.” Put simply Bill was just working hard at a profession he loved, and I like to think that’s how Ron would have put it, too.

Good Life on UWS Headed Uptown: I pen this from a sundrenched sidewalk café on Amsterdam Avenue. It’s one of those brilliant spring days when you feel like you can conquer most anything that comes along. There is plenty to be optimistic about.

Vincent and I are preparing for our big move to a more pioneering address along Riverside Drive where it intersects with 146th Street on the edge of West Harlem. (By the way, I tried sending the bulletin a different way last time, so not all readers learned that our first bid on a co-op did not go through at the first of the year).
We regrouped and decided to go the condo route and found this marvelous space which is larger, less expensive to buy and costs about half in monthly condo fees. It’s in a 6 story pre-war building and the condo has south facing windows on the 5th floor overlooking brown stones, and smaller north facing windows in kitchen and bath. The icing on the cake is that the place sits on the edge of a big state park with a skating rink and tennis courts; not bad for a first home in NYC.

This is a condo conversion, which means the state must OK it, but so far all looks good. And, those following the news know getting a home mortgage loan is a bit more tricky than usual these days. I have a sharp broker who says, “Mike, don’t lose any sleep, let me worry about it.” So keep your fingers crossed for us.

Lou Dobbs May Have to Brace Himself: Those of you who have met my partner Vincent already know that he hails from the Philippines. He will receive his Masters in Economics from Fordham in May and is slated to start work with Ernst and Young this summer pending approval of his work visa. Vincent is exactly the kind of candidate that should get through, if logic prevails. He has an advanced degree in a field where this country is wanting. Still, just as with the roiling waters of home mortgages there is a lot going on that is crazy right now in this country, so we anxiously await the work papers. Hope we don’t have to ask Lou for permission too.

The Debate Before PA: One thing that was fun about Butner (and there were a few things) was that the mail was so slow, that I would write a Bulletin about an issue that I saw on the tube and then it would be days before the New York Times arrived, where I would get to see what commentators like Dowd or Friedman were saying.

Sometimes, I would feel reassured that I still had a gut instinct for the news business, when one of them had picked up on a similar detail or line of thinking, that I had reported in my bulletin.

My take on Wednesday Night’s Debate is that it was basically a draw, although Obama spent a lot more time on the defensive than he would have liked.

My sense is that Obama has acquired the same coating of Teflon that Ronald Regan did all those years ago. (PA will be a major barometer to determine whether this is true, whether that is a fair state for the test or not).
While they are miles apart in thinking, Obama represents change just like the “Gipper” did, pure and simple. No matter how many knives they (or she) stick in him, my hunch is the change voters don’t care. They expect it, are sick of it, and will ignore it. We shall see.

I was glad to see Tim Russert and Gail Collins both picked the same Hilary baggage line that I selected for this month’s quote.

It is a line that most of the talking heads missed the night before! It’s also a sign that Obama was either super committed to taking the high road, or that he was wobbly from all the stab wounds, that he seemed to miss it too.
To me, that was Obama’s biggest missed opportunity in the debate. He should have followed up her admission of all that baggage pointing out that it comes in all sizes and shapes. Because, it is not that Clinton lacks the smarts, or ability that is causing her trouble, rather it is the fact that she seems to do things in such a “Clinton way.”

And, while I would be the first to argue that there was a heck of a lot that was very, very good for this country during the Clinton years; when it comes to the winning at all cost, divide the party by race if need be, cut your throat type of (Clinton) politics; sorry but that lost me along the way.

Perhaps it is just the last gasp of Bush fatigue, but truth to tell, I can live with any of the three contenders and am relieved that are all so capable.