What's Next?

 

The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future by Franklin Foer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although the author supposedly interviewed 300 of Biden's staff to write this summary of the president's first two years, he tells the story from the perspective of a fly on the wall describing how all these events and conversations unfolded with very little attribution. He reels out one accomplishment after another from the rollout of the covid vaccines, to pulling Europe together to back Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, and the passage of lots of legislation: The American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS semiconductor bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.

But it's not a puff piece. There are plenty of warts on this self-proclaimed "Gaff Machine" who misspeaks regularly. And the president evidently throws his share of temper tantrums. The author goes into great detail about the botched exit from Afghanistan, neither making apology nor placing blame. Getting legislation passed is messy at best. Foer details the troubled relationship with Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. And he paints Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky as rude, arrogant and ungrateful.

And yet all of these problems blend right into Biden's role as a politician, smoothing and pushing, listening and responding. In the end Foer gives Biden's first two years a stamp of approval since Republicans did not get the sweep of Congress often seen in the midterm election. Foer is clear that public anger over the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade probably fueled Democrat success in the midterms more than Biden's performance, and yet that is politics too. And Foer sees Biden as the master of that game.

The question is the title. If Biden is the last politician, what's next? An autocrat or dictator? Can we have democracy without politicians?

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These colors cry

 

           

            Having an artist in the house puts everyday items in a new light. 

            Take my son Ryan's painting of the American flag. He created it with a digital watercolor program, but his magic touch breathes life into the design.  Country singer Van Zant croons "These Colors Don't Run."  The colors in Ryan's flag aren't running away, but they are on the move. That's what makes this flag jump off the page as if it were alive. You can hear the heart beating, smell the sweat.

            Ryan says it's just his messy style. But to me it looks like the stars in this flag are starting to cry. Maybe they've heard the hateful shouts of protestors. The stripes are smudged with blood stains from all those who have died to keep this flag flying. A chaos of blue storms behind the flag. And yet the work is more star-spangled than ever. Strong, confident in spite of all it has been through.  

           Happy Fourth of July.

Fun in the Sun

         I spent my afternoon lying in the sun reading a good book...my ideal Saturday. Oh, sure, I was lying in a recliner in my living room in front of a sunny window. And I was wearing a flannel shirt not a swimsuit. I mean it was only 26 degrees outside. 

          But the sun did its job. It warmed the room and lifted my spirits. I even drank a glass of iced tea.   That's what you do in Michigan. You make the best of what you have. 

         In some ways that describes the book I was reading, Cat Women of West Michigan:The Secret World of Cat Rescue.  Here we have an apparently insurmountable problem, an over population of stray cats so bad that 5,547 were euthanized in Kent County in 2006. But the ladies that love cats in this county didn't throw a temper tantrum or shrug and say that's just the way it is.  

   Some became vets to offer low-cost spay and neuter clinics. Some organized transportation networks  to help people to get to the low-cost clinics. Some put  together groups to trap-neuter-and return stray cats. Some turned their garages in to cat rescues. One even opened a cafe where people can choose a  cat to adopt in a comfy, homey atmosphere. 

         And it worked. By 2020 only 119 cats needed to be euthanized in Kent County. 

         So if you are looking for a way to brighten up a winter afternoon, let me suggest a sunny window and Janet Vormittag's latest book, Cat Women of West Michigan. Janet has written two humorous, heartwarming books about "You Might Be a Crazy Cat Lady if..." but the ladies in the latest book are not crazy. Determined. Driven. Daring...and getting the job done.