In A Perfect World

Mitt Romney's Childhood Home: Victim of Economic Decline

Goodness knows, Mitt Romney is not asking me for campaign advice. But you have to wonder why he hasn't taken the opportunity to connect with Americans who've lost their homes by talking about his childood home in Detroit. The 5,500-square-foot structure in the long-exclusive Palmer Woods was demolished two years ago, an artifact of the blight that has ravaged so much of the Motor City.

Romney's family lived there for twelve years until 1953, before his father went on to become head of American Motors Corp., Governor of Michigan, and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. As recently as 2002, the house sold for $645,000, then suffered foreclosure, abandonment and disrepair before finally being torn down in 2010.

Iowa: Is this the Start of the 2012 GOP Implosion?

It's finally happening. Tonight we get the first insight into whether GOP voters are determined to pick a candidate that matches their ideological demands yet cannot attract more centrist Democrats and Independents. Think Santorum. Think Paul. Think Gingrich. If so, they will have a tough time against Obama in the fall, no matter how tough the economy. Thinking ahead to 2016, crash and burn may be just what the GOP needs if it's going to become a legitimate counterpoint to the Democrats that's capable of offering a home for more moderate voters.

Then again, GOP voters may just hold their nose and vote for Mitt. That will be a clear sign they really want to win this year, even if Romney doesn't pass any version of the True Conservative test.

Adrift: Picking a Book Title

 
Several years ago when my co-author Bill Harris and I decided on Adrift as the title for our book, I wondered whether it would be still timely. Would it still capture the mindset and the direction of the country by the time it was published? Perhaps the new President would change the dynamic. Perhaps the country would grasp the urgency of our declining status and commit to work together to turn things around. 

Oh, to be young again.

Now we witness new dueling plans/dueling speeches flogged on national TV by Obama and Boehner, just days away from the August 2 debt ceiling deadline. This nearly eight months after a strong bipartisan plan for cutting the deficit and the debt was shaped by the President's own fiscal commission. It's as if our political leaders are determined to drive us over a cliff. 

We can only hope that Americans will recognize that hyper-partisan, crisis-driven decision-making is not in the best interests of the country, whatever the course taken. And that means demanding more from our leadership--and more from ourselves.

Remembering the GI Bill

On Memorial Day, when we honor Americans of every political persuasion who gave their lives for their country, it's worth recalling that there are times in our history when America's political leaders worked together for the country's good. In 1944, the GI Bill was passed by both houses of Congress by unanimous votes, making it possible for millions of veterans returning from the war to go to school and own a home.

How the Ryan Budget Plan is Creating Unlikely Allies

Former Reagan budget director David Stockman and Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs may not seem like obvious allies, but when it comes to the failings of Paul Ryan's budget plan, they clearly see eye-to-eye. Stockman said it "whiffs entirely," while Sachs called it "absurd."

Among their issues: How about a plan that actually generates revenue? In other words, why shouldn't the richest Americans pay more taxes? Both men supported the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, a move that would have increased revenues by at least a trillion dollars. And while they disagreed about Ryan's drastic cuts of social programs, both Stockman and Sachs questioned the Ryan plan's failure to look at cuts in defense. In fact, the plan increases military spending. Check out the excellent discussion here, moderated by Fareed Zakaria on CNN.  

A Whack of Honesty

Here's how it usually goes when you interview high-ranking officials of a national commission. You ask what results they anticipate, they proffer platitudes and promises, even when they're not sure.

That didn't happen with Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairs of the President's National Commmission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform created to deal with the deficit and debt. To my surprise, they admitted that they could end up with nothing -- they may fail to reach sufficient agreement among the commission's bipartisan membership. This followed their disquieting depiction of the serious economic crisis the country is facing.  

Why would they confess the possibility of failure? Was it just self-protection? Or was it more an honest expression of how broken the body politic is? For the good of the country, let's hope they succeed.

You can read my Q&A with Bowles and Simpson published in the Intelligence Report of PARADE Magazine.

Shedding Light on The Art of The Idea

Often the strongest ideas are the simplest ones. John Hunt, author of an insightful new book called The Art of The Idea, describes two categories of people: sunrisers and sunsetters. "A sunriser gives out energy, a sunsetter sucks it away," he writes. "A sunriser goes through life open to the idea that the best may still be coming. A sunset person is heavy in the knowledge that the best is past."

Guess which kind of person suffocates creativity and which is best in a brainstorm session determined to spur fresh ideas and creative breakthroughs.

Hunt, a South African and worldwide creative director of the advertising agency TBWA, says that age has nothing to do with which category anyone falls into. In fact, Hunt, who was intimately involved in Nelson Mandela's election campaign in 1993, describes South Africa's extraordinary leader as "the most sunrise person I've ever met...Often in meetings, he'd listen to people angry about the past. When they were finished, he's agree with them. They were right, he'd say. Then he'd ask that their anger at the past not contaminate the future...Mandela knew that if he based his ideas on the evils of the past, he'd soon have a sunset country."

Hunt's short book -- filled with pithy, well-written observations and charming artwork from South African artist Sam Nhlengethwa -- aims to give room  for ideas to breathe, be it in a jam-packed meeting or alone on an airplane. It's based on his experience that original thinking really can happen in a group and that the power of an idea is not based on who owns it but how it's shared.

That's a view worth exploring. You can see an interview with Hunt on an interesting blog -- mad-blog.com-- created by TBWA to "celebrate media arts and disruption."

Government spending is evil? Really?

The anti-government fanatics would have us believe that taxes are an abomination and the public should always oppose spending increases. Given our troubled economy and this incessant libertarian/Republican refrain, you might expect that voters would reject any initiatives that could raise their taxes.

But you would be wrong.

By a two-thirds majority, voters yesterday in Scottsdale, Ariz., (where I live) supported a budget override that allows the school district to increase its operating budget up to 10 percent a year to protect 179 teaching positions and support elementary school music programs, gifted services and after-school programs. The funds -- nearly $70 million over seven years -- would also help pay for library and other instructional materials, playground improvements, classroom technology, even fine arts materials. 

That's good for the kids and the schools, good for the community, good for jobs, good for business and economic development. It demonstrates that people are willing to pay for initiatives that improve or, in the face of brutal budget cuts, sustain the quality of life.

And this didn't just happen in the relatively affluent Scottsdale. Throughout the Phoenix area yesterday, voters passed more than 20 of these budget overrides and bond proposals to spend more money -- saving jobs, retaining or rehiring teachers, and helping keep class sizes down.

That's money well-spent. And that's not just my opinion. The voters have spoken -- and they agree.

Obama Pauses to Praise an Opponent

I can't be the only one increasingly exhausted by the hostile partisanship that dominates politics. All this does is deepen the divide between opposing sides and increase our inability to communicate. That is not the way forward.

So I was uplifted by President Obama's action today at the University of New Orleans. When his mention of Republican governer Bobby Jindal provoked a chorus of boos, he paused to praise him.

"Bobby, first of all, if it makes you feel any better, I get that all the time," Obama said after the audience quieted down. "And the second point is, you know, even though we have our differences politically, one thing I will say is, this person's working hard on behalf of the state and you have to give people credit for working hard."

Obama didn't have to defend him, but he did. You can check out the video on Politico's site.

Gustavo Dudamel's Wild Ride

 
Get ready: The wild ride of the Venezuelan wunderkind, 28-year-old Gustavo Dudamel, has begun. The new conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic wowed a crowd of 18,000 in his free debut at the Hollywood Bowl last Saturday, then dazzled the celebs and money bunch in his official inaugural performance Thursday night at Disney Hall.  

Dudamel's arrival promises an expanded repertoire of Latin American music, an extraordinary ability to infuse his orchestra with energy and skill, and a charismatic buoyancy that excites audiences. 

Music critics were hailing his Thursday debut of Mahler's First Symphony. This from Anthony Tommasini of  The New York Times: "For all the sheer energy of the music-making, here was a probing, rigorous and richly characterized interpretation, which Mr. Dudamel conducted from memory."

But as high as musical expectations are among classical aficionados, Dudamel's potential for transforming the L.A. cultural scene is even greater. He took part in El Sistema, a Venezuelan youth orchestra that trains young children from poor backgrounds in classical music. He is passionate about sharing classical music with the widest possible public -- including kids from impoverished backgrounds -- and he's already helping develop a classical program in L.A. like the one that's made his success possible. 

As a sign of his seriousness, he opened the Hollywood Bowl premiere by conducting an orchestra of young musicians, mostly from South-Central L.A., many of whom didn't even play an instrument a year ago. "Of course, we need education," Dudamel told the crowd. "Of course, we need food. Of course, we need health care. But arts culture is the soul of the community of the world."