On any given day, I'm not sure of anything. I read the blogs to see who can put the day's news in context, who can pull the narrative thread through it elegantly, but without going all reductionist.
Today, I have three facts that I can't make sense of, and no one is knitting the sweater right, so I just have to try myself.
- FACT 1: The Iraqi Security Folks wouldn't let the Secret Service put someone next to The Shoe Thrower Guy.
- FACT 2: Barack Obama just pulled a Barack Obama on us with Rick Warren.
- FACT 3: Bush just pulled a Bush and rammed through a new "Conscience Clause" rule.
According to Olivier Knox on today's Diane Rehm Show, the shoe guy was brought down pretty hard. He saw blood on the floor. But the press was all vetted pretty thoroughly before being allowed in the room. They were wanded and all their equipment examined.
Knox also said that in talking to people in the White House he learned that the Secret Service had noticed al-Zeidi acting suspiciously beforehand -- not taking notes, fidgeting and repeatedly stealing glances at security officials. The Secret Service wanted to station an agent in the aisle next to al-Zeidi, Knox said. But Iraqi security vetoed that idea.
So, I feel better that the Secret Service was actually trying to take him down for 12 seconds, but bad that the set up was such that they were climbing over the press to get there. I think it's indicative of the disfunctional state of our relationship with the Iraqis that the Secret Service lost out in the preening dance of jurisdiction with their hosts. I blame Bush and his flyboy prancing plastic turkey visits to Bagdad. I was distressed to see only two links to what I thought was really important information when I put in all my key words into teh Google. And I still think the act was political and not violent and that there are a lot of scolds runnning around Kos.
But I don't know really what I think about it. Will it become a cultural shorthand for the left (ala preznit give me turkee)? Or a signifier of the revolution (e.g. the Boston Tea Party). Do I want the scolds to be wrong, or am I just irritated because I don't want it to have more importance than I decide?
On the Rick Warren thing. I think Mega Churches are icky. I have an alergy to services that use PowerPoints. I think people who run Christmas Pageants complete with rigging should know what they're doing. I don't know that I care about Rick Warren. Mostly I expect that anyone that stands up on that podium has less Dalai Lama than Dolly Parton going for them. I find them all fairly offensive each in their own way. While I'm all about free speech, I wish that people would be polite and keep their religion to themselves. When they don't, it just feels a little disrespectful. And prayer at public events is never any better than slightly distasteful and while pardonable, generally rude. I can't help it. It was the way I was raised. We weren't supposed to talk loud or eat with our mouths open either. So when Obama does that inclusive thing, am I being sister souljahed? Or was I already mildly offended that I live in a country where I have to listen to that shit (excuse me, I never said the training completely took) all the time. So is it no worse than I already expected. After all, I knew I was buying a pig in a poke when I pulled the lever (okay, marked the optical ballot) for Obama.
It's not that I don't like him. He wears a suit well. He speaks thoughtfully. He ran a disciplined campaign. But I knew then that he wasn't going to do what I wanted all the time. I just thought maybe he wouldn't be quite so willing to throw caution to the wind before he lifted his hand from the bible.
And then there's Bush, with his conscience rule squeaking under the deadline. And I think, well, thanks for nothing. I wish the damn shoe had hit you in the head and knocked some sense into you. What a petty, mean hearted thing to do. What a foolish, shortsighted, misguided rule. It will cause nothing but pain and aggravation and create a new cult of martyrs -- those who couldn't get what they needed and those who refused them service both.
And I think there I have it. The narrative thread. One day. Three facts. Three mistakes. Untold reasons, planned or unplanned. And I wonder which mistake will matter more, cause the most pain, have the most lasting consequence. And who will do the measuring? And what will they measure?
And in the end, will any of it make the kid's social study chapter on the early 21st century.
After all,
The Boston Tea Party was an amusing and symbolic episode in American history, an example of how far Americans were willing to go to speak out for their freedom.