Charlie Rose

NeilMacCallister  04/12/2010 06:05 AM Report

Last week, President Obama moved through Congress a package of tax-subsidized HealthCare Services which some voices argued was a misordering of national economic priorities, in that it spends money which we have not yet earned.

Our President's approval ratings have stayed low.

So this week, David Remnick of The New Yorker magazine, and then Richard Stengel of Time magazine, appear here with Mr. Rose to promote their just published books detailing the admiration of Mr. Remnick for Barack Obama, and the continued respect of Mr. Stengel for former South African President Nelson Mandela.

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(The following is from wikipedia.org:)

As the newly seated editor of The New Yorker, Mr. Remnick hired a speechwriter of the former Democratic President Jimmy Carter as its lead columnist, and then convinced the magazine to support Democrat John Kerry's run for the Presidency in 2004.

Richard Stengel was a chief speechwriter for the Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley, and has taught a course at Princeton University called "Politics and the Press".

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This collection of facts raises a serious question: Are these books educational tools? ..or political manipulations?

There is the new New Yorker editor, ..and the new Harvard-jacketed President.

Mr. Stengel shows deeper roots; and of course, President Mandela stands on the firmest foundation of all.

I mean no disrespect to any of these men, ..I just REALLY hope we will not descend too deeply into politically calculated "press-release" hagiographies, especially not to the point of trying to cash-in on the names of people who have spent decades in jail for their beliefs, just in order to gerrymander the passage of each new debt-ridden Congressional bill.

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For South Africa, incoming President Mandela chose to say first: "Our plan is to create jobs." Is America doing that? ..or are we just going to market some select professional images to gain votes and employments for certain individuals among us?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce once wrote: "Both parties will merchandise their candidates by the same methods developed to sell goods. Candidates need, in addition to rich voice and good diction, to be able to look 'sincerely' at the TV camera." (The Hidden Persuaders, chap. 17)

I notice that on the dust-jacket of Mr. Remnick's book "The Bridge", ..he uses a close-up "head-shot" photo of President Obama staring sincerely right back into the eyes of the reader.

Mr. Stengel just uses text.

That new book title, "The Bridge", ..is that a reference to the Mandela encouragement that, "The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come."

Well I wonder, do we really want to "tear down the inhuman walls that divide us"? ..or just be satisfied in knowing how to manage the next national vote?

I worry that we are leaving a "Nation of Laws", ..and, as "spectator-consumers" allowing ourselves to revert to a "Nation of Men".

I believe that Mr. Mandela agrees with that being a danger:

"Our African National Congress commits to a Bill of Rights which speaks to a constitutional democracy in which the government, whomever that government may be, will be bound by a higher set of rules, embodied in a constitution, and will not be able govern the country as it pleases."

(..or as it decides to sell to the public!)

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I don't know, ..I believe America is as strong as Nelson Mandela: "If you think you've hurt me, you don't know me." (..Thank you Mr. Stengel)

But let's just not waste her time, okay?

Thanks!