The New York Philharmonic had its Grand Opening Gala this
last week, Alan Gilbert at the baton, and the violinist Itzhak Perlman as the
principal soloist.
Since my tuxedo was at the dry cleaners (and my free cash
invested in tuition) I had to content myself with watching on PBS. The orchestra, as always, was superb, and
Maestro Gilbert in complete command. And
Perlman? Wonderful. Find the clip on PBS if you have the
opportunity. Look at his face as he
plays the Sarasate. He loves it-loves
the music, loves what it does for his soul, and ours. Perlman finds joy in playing, joy in the
genius of the composer, and to watch him is to get a tiny peek into a world of
complete contentment. He has a joyous passion.
He’s the perfect break from the tendentious slog that has
been the 2012 campaign; the charges and counter charges, speeches, fundraisers,
polls, gaffes, feigned outrage and spin.
Not one iota of joyous passion. Anger, yes, because it drives the base. Lust for power, yes. Even dispassionate writing of checks, not for
the public good, but coldly calculated to bring the maximum return on
investment
Joyous passion? Not so much. Mitt Romney doesn’t have
it. He wants the job, of course, even
craves it. But his ardor is that of the
corporate raider; he sees the target, has his staff do some analysis, devises a
strategy, and plans for what he intends to “harvest” from the asset after the
acquisition.
Barack Obama? After
four years in office, hard years with huge challenges, we aren’t sure whether
he has joyous passion either. Passion
can be tough to show, and oratorical skill is not the same. Being President is a lot harder than
campaigning for it. It’s the endless
hours of rehearsals, the sore wrists, tight fingers and bleary eyes; the sweat
that the artist never lets you see. Because
99 percent of the time, it’s not standing in an artfully lit concert hall
wowing rapt aficionados. It’s hard work.
Not every President has joyous passion, nor is it necessary
to be a competent one. George Herbert
Walker Bush is a perfect example. But the best, and the best loved, had
it. JFK did, and inspired. FDR had it.
Listen to his speeches, read the contemporary accounts, and you can tell
he loved the job, and the electorate knew it, and loved him back. Reagan had the sunniness, and no one seemed
to care whether he involved himself in the nuts and bolts.
And Bill Clinton had it abundance. He embraced all of it-the
job, the speeches, the challenges, the little details of policy, the back and
forth of negotiation. It kept him going
at the worst of his troubles and projected itself into the electorate. They knew he was a cad, but they also knew
every day he rolled up his sleeves and got down to work, trying to make things
a little bit better for everyone. It
remains the secret of his incredible popularity. He still has that special grin that comes
from having a great time at what you do, and you can’t help but grin right back
at him.
But for Mitt and Barack, there’s been precious little
fun. This election, more than any other
than I can remember, resembles cold trench warfare.
The logistical challenges of the ground game. The massed artillery of the infinite variety
of negative ads. The propaganda machines
inside the campaigns and their sympathetic media friends. Not much in the way of joyous passion.
In a few days, we are going to see the gladiators directly
engage, and we can take our measure of them.
The two sides have been feverishly engaged in pre-game planning, which
primarily takes the form of intensive prepping, and an equally intensive
lowering of expectations. From Obama’s
side, Mitt is a master who won 19 out of 24 GOP debates. From Mitt’s, Obama is one of the great
orators of the age, one who can make grown men weep and women sigh in (platonic)
ecstasy.
Substantively, you would think these two have a lot to talk
about. Mr. Obama has been anything but a
caretaker President. He’s had the largest recession since the Great Depression,
Obamacare, two wars to wind down, Osama Bin Laden, Arab Spring, and multiple
threats of government shutdowns and defaults. A full plate of both accomplishment
and failure. Mitt, of course, would do
everything differently (except Bin Laden, the credit for which really belongs
to George Bush).
But, I’m not sure we are going to get that much substance. While
Mr. Obama has a clear record, Mr. Romney seems unwilling to actually get into
the hard details of his plans. The past
couple of weeks he’s been doing something particularly odd, essentially
agreeing with Mr. Obama on a number of points, while denying they have anything in common. On Iran, there doesn’t seem
to be a dime’s worth of difference between them, except that Mitt shouts more. On healthcare, Mitt has not only taken a
shine to some of Obamacare’s strong points, but actually, and affectionately,
resurrected the ghost of Romneycare past.
So, policy is likely to be dull. As for atmospherics, there’s always the
possibility of a gaffe, or some display of an unpalatable personality
quirk, but the parties are training for it. Romney’s folk want him to loosen
up a little, while appearing Presidential.
Obama’s would like him to shorten his answers and seem less like the boring
Professor for a required course.
I know the policy. What
I’m really looking for is a little Itzhak Perlman--a little joyous
passion. I read a great story in the New
York Times last week. It was about John
C. Flynn, a priest who served in the South Bronx for 50 year, in the toughest
of neighborhoods, helping the hopeless, fighting drugs and despair and
homelessness and poverty. He turned down
promotions and transfers, because he wanted to serve his community. And when he died last Monday, he was mourned as
“The People’s Priest.”
You can serve yourself by serving others....or you can just serve yourself.
Joyous passion.
You can serve yourself by serving others....or you can just serve yourself.
Joyous passion.
MM
