EVENING POST:  JULY 25,  2008

Posted at 8:17 p.m. ET

ON REFLECTION

Urgent Agenda has an intelligent, well informed and active readership.  I know that from the flood of e-mails we receive each day.  Some of these messages contain good stories, stories that inform and often make us think.  I'd like to pass one on to you, and I hope to do this more often.  It's a good way to start the weekend.

Reader Hunter Schultz lives in Panama and is president of the local chapter of the Navy League of the United States.  The Navy League supports our Navy in its mission, and builds public support for a strong, effective naval force.  (I say with complete immodesty that I was, many years ago, the youngest member of that organization.  In one of those moments we never forget, I was able to meet Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. at a Navy League function.  Great thrill for a teenager.)

Hunter Schultz's father served as "Dear Editor" columnist on Stars & Stripes during World War II.  Stars & Stripes was the newspaper that served our armed forces.  Mr. Schultz passes on this story from his father:

Not long after the war ended, Stars and Stripes printed what amounted to a rumor that the point system used to track how long members of the armed forces served was being adjusted upward. The net effect of the adjustment was that more time would be needed before being released from duty and going home.  The source was purportedly the Secretary of War.

The story caused a furor within the military serving under Admiral
Nimitz. You can imagine how that just made his day.

Indeed, he ordered the entire editorial staff to his command HQ office the following morning for a little chat.

As he put it, my father had met quite a few one and two star generals and admirals during his work as the "Dear Editor" editor. It required a lot of diplomatic skills too since most of the time, he was a soldier or sailor's last resort to complain to about a poor commanding officer or sub-standard living conditions, etc. They bitch and moan and have done so since organized combat began.  My dad had to figure out if the beef was legitimate or just steam escaping, usually meaning he wound up asking the commanding officer what was up.

At 0600 the next day, the editors, including my father, US Army Sgt.
Whitt Schultz, arrived and were escorted into the office of Fleet
Admiral Nimitz.

Nimitz walked into his office at a few minutes past six and someone
called "Ten Hut." My dad described it as standing to rigid attention
like he had never done so in his life. There standing before him was a
living god -- capable of sending him to count salmon in Alaska for the rest of his life. Mostly, my dad first saw the admiral's five little
stars on his collar!

Dad spoke of the admiral's light blue eyes as a curious and memorable point. When he began by welcoming the board to the office, the eyes were a fairly light blue. Then they turned gray as he lit into them for the impact the article had made. He was very unhappy, and one doesn't usually have a sterling military career by making a five star anyone mad.

After describing the effects of the article in no uncertain terms, he
then ordered that all articles about the point system were to be
cleared by him personally, which meant that no more articles would
coming up in the near future. They also had to print an apology in the next edition.

Dad said that after Nimitz had finished with his orders, he relaxed
and his eyes turned back to their normal shade of blue. The admiral
said, "At ease."

He then walked over and shook the hand of each person, knowing their name and what they did at the paper.  He greeted my dad and mentioned how tough his job was and acknowledged the diplomatic situations he must have come across. He also personally thanked each man for the otherwise good work they were doing and dismissed them.

I have never forgotten that management lesson. Follow up the negative with a positive. It breeds loyalty instead of only fear.

Yes it does.  I thought our readers, who thrive on history, would like that story.

July 25, 2008.         Permalink            

SECOND LATE AFTERNOON POST:  JULY 25,  2008

Posted at 4:40 p.m. ET

TRACKERS

Both trackers are out, and they suddenly indicate - all judgments are tentative, that Senator Obama has gotten a boost of perhaps four points in the polls as a result of his European and Mideast trip.  It may be that some Americans are drinking the Kool-Aid, and really believe that this man can "repair" our relations with the world, even though those relations aren't actually bad right now.

Gallup has Obama up six points.  Rasmussen has him up five.  These are solid leads outside the margin of error.

We will only know over the next two weeks whether this bounce lasts, or fades away.  But the fact remains that no poll shows McCain ahead nationally.  He is being overwhelmed by Obamamania, and a fawning press whose biases not only are clear, but are displayed rather proudly.  The sixties mentality is with us.

July 25, 2008.        Permalink            

LATE AFTERNOON POST:  JULY 25,  2008

Posted at 4:37 p.m. ET

THE COMING

Oh, this is just glorious.  Readers Ted Miller and Michael Scully alerted us to a new piece by the British journalist Gerard Baker, one of the most astute British observers covering the United States.  Baker is one of the few scribes who were on to Obama early, and he has periodically made his feelings known.  Today he outdoes himself.  Rush also picked this up for his afternoon radio show:

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

Look, there's no way to summarize this.  It's like trying to summarize a joke.  Just go read it.

July 25, 2008.       Permalink               

FRIDAY:  JULY 25,  2008

Posted at 6:03 a.m. ET

MIXED REVIEWS

Barack Obama has gotten generally favorable reviews for his performance in Europe so far, but apparently the European elites, while strongly preferring him to President Bush, have their doubts.  He's European in his thinking, they say, but just not European enough.  I sense the wanting of Kerry.  The New York Times has a good report:

For Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years, making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying — emotional, responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about a more flexible, less ideological America.

European governments and politicians are not so sure.

On Thursday evening in a glittering Berlin, Mr. Obama delivered a tone poem to American and European ideals and shared history.

But he was vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy that currently divide Washington from Europe and are likely to continue to do so even if he becomes president — issues ranging from Russia, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to new refueling tankers and chlorinated chickens, the focus of an 11-year European ban on American poultry imports.

Chickens.  That's the issue that'll get him.  Why didn't I think of that?

“On the positive side, we can expect somebody who reasons the way we do in Europe,” said Pierre Rousselin, the foreign editor of Le Figaro, a French newspaper, after the speech. “That said, on climate issues, the economy and world politics there are still questions. There will be a difference, but very quickly Obama will be faced with concrete questions, like Afghanistan.”

Eberhard Sandschneider of the German Council on Foreign Relations said, “The Obama who spoke tonight did not put all his cards on the table.” Mr. Obama “tried to use all the symbolism of Berlin to indicate that as president he would reach out to Europe,” Mr. Sandschneider said. “But between the lines he said very clearly that Europe needs to do more,” especially on Afghanistan and Iraq.

Incredible, these Europeans.  The arrogance, the pomposity.  Someone should tell that French editor that we don't want to "reason" the way you do in Europe because when one "reasons" that way one tends to lose thousands of American boys. 

As far as Mr. Sandschneider is concerned, please tell him that yes, even Barack Obama, might ask Europe occasionally to pull its weight.  I know that's right wing to you, but it's common sense to us.

Europeans are wary about Mr. Obama’s call for more European money for defense and more soldiers for the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. They worry that he will not alter what they see as President Bush’s unbending bias in favor of Israel.

The way this story is written, I could almost vote for Obama.  But, on second thought...

And, despite what appears to be his sensitivity to European concerns, they perceive Mr. Obama as largely uninterested in Europe, even though he is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee responsible for the region. As the newspaper Le Monde pointed out on Thursday, Mr. Obama has never asked to meet the European Union’s ambassador in Washington.

Bluntly stated, that's a racist observation.  He's not interested in Europe because...  You fill in the blanks.

I never cease to be taken aback by the decadence of European intellectuals.  Even Barack Obama isn't leftist enough for them.  They like him...but just not next door.

July 25,  2008.      Permalink          

AND THE COMMON FOLK

They cheered, but even among the common folk there were doubts about Obama.  Is it that he didn't come with the halo they'd expected?  That he didn't walk across a lake to get to the podium?  These touchy Europeans.  Germany's Spiegel reports: 

Expectations were sky-high for the speech US presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered in Berlin Thursday evening. Enormous crowds welcomed what the senator had to say, but not everyone was convinced by his delivery.

Such as...

"I want to be here for our 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech," Julie Hagedorn, 38, a Canadian living with her German husband in Berlin told SPIEGEL ONLINE before the speech. "I want to hear it with my own ears when Obama says 'Ich bin ein Europäer (I am a European)."

Sorry to disappoint you, Julie.  It wasn't in the script.

"This is a rare event," said Alla Samkova, 68, a native Muscovite who has been living in Berlin for 45 years. "In the end it doesn't matter what he says; it only matters that he's here."

It doesn't matter what he says?  Really?  Another genius heard from.

Reactions to the almost 30-minute speech hit both extremes. "It was excellent, not good, but excellent," said Henry Aikins, 63, a pensioner from Berlin, though originally from Ghana. "It was good he didn't just talk about America, but Africa and other continents as well. … He really moved me in my heart."

Anton Kliegl, however, a 50-year-old managing consultant from Regensburg, didn't see things that way. "In general I have to say I was a bit disappointed," Kliegl said. "The coverage of the primaries created this impression that he was an amazing speaker who could carry away his audience. He didn't do that tonight. I really expected more."

You can get your money back at the box office, Anton.  They're showing "Stalag 17" next week.  A better show.

July 25, 2008.      Permalink          

NOT FAIR

While the Europeans were assessing a presidential candidate, both politically and aesthetically, some American school districts were struggling with a far more basic matter - whether to cut the school week to four days to reduce fuel costs.  Maybe Mr. Obama's chic supporters and European admirers can philosophize about "alternative" energy sources, but the kids in these districts go to school in buses that run on gasoline, and learn in classrooms heated by heating oil.  And they're going to lose out unless we can lower the cost of oil pronto:

Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week.

Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding day-care for the day off.

"For rural school districts where buses may travel 100 miles round-trip each day, there certainly are transportation savings worth considering," said Marc Egan, the director of federal affairs at the National School Boards Association.

Egan said about 100 schools in as many as 16 states have already moved to a four-day school week, many to save money on transportation, heating and cooling.

Will someone please notice this problem?  These kids need an education.

MACCRAY Public Schools in Minnesota, which voted to switch to a four-day week in May, expects to shave 10 percent off transportation costs, which have risen unexpectedly in recent years as fuel costs have shot up.

"The savings for a four-day week just on the transportation alone were $65,000," said MACCRAY superintendent Greg Schmidt.

The plan initially did cause alarm among some parents, who were concerned about finding child-care, but most have managed to find place their kids in day care or with relatives, Schmidt said. In addition, MACCRAY plans to institute a child-care certification program for older students to offer day care for younger kids on the day off.

You'd think state legislatures would find a way to fix this, or at least ease it.  But this may be an indication of things to come.  Some people in rural districts may accept a four-day week, especially if there's no other way.  But wait 'til this problem hits inner suburbs, easily reached by TV news crews from the big city.  You want to see sparks fly?

July 25, 2008.      Permalink