President Obama has achieved the near-impossible - bringing sensible (and humane) health care to most Americans. A knife-edge and teeth-chattering down-to-the-wire House vote saw the Democrats just managing to do the right thing. Like in a wrestling match, the Republicans wore the ludicrous villain's mask and threw their bluster around like cheap seats. November may either see the good or bad guys thrown out like bums. For now, Obama has secured his place in history for a second time, and redeemed his first term. It's been 50 years coming, but this was worth the wait.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
Comments
I myself have come to lean more towards conservative tendencies. Not expected of someone like me, but what can I say, I came to my understanding honestly, slowly, carefully, methodically, and not merely as a knee-jerk reaction (not implying anything about your politics, whatever they may be by that statement, Todd).
Characterizing people's viewpoints, and by extension, politicians and the way they voted as evil or bad...this is ridiculous. I might even say I have more sympathy for people who characterize the people who voted yes to the bill as that. Why? Because there's a lot ordinary people who have not read the bill don't know about. Like the incredible lack of privacy that ordinary citizens now have because of the bill.
And the worst, in my point of view - and this is a pet issue of mine...it really is very, very important - is the how much the U.S. is now beholden to China with such incredibly expensive projects. The U.S. ought to have the power and the backup to be able to confront China, challenge China, or even attack China, if necessary. China is becoming a danger to the world. First Taiwan. And what next? California? I wonder if Dick Cheney was right about a lot of things (am I kidding? I wish I could answer that question affirmatively and promptly, but I can't!)
Wake up, people!