A VOICE of BALTIMORE BOOK REVIEW

Journalist/author Barney Rostaing compares two “Bush 41” biographies
— one old, one new — exclusively for VoB

 

The 41st U.S. President, George Herbert Walker Bush, is the subject of a new best-selling, highly favorable biography by Pulitzer Prize-winning (2009) journalist/political historian Jon Meacham.

CONTRARY TO CLOSE COMPETITOR
DEFENSE SECRETARY RUMSFELD,
BUSH IS LIKED AND ADMIRED
BY NEARLY ALL AMERICANS

A rare and decent man in politics,
with character his strong point…
but questionable family ties

IN SERVICE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT,
BUT BETTER THAN HIS OLDEST SON
 
By Bjarne Rostaing
 
George H.W. Bush would have handled the 21st Century much better than his cheerleader son or speechifying successor.

That’s clear from Jon Meacham’s best-seller — Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush — but the fawning introduction will irritate anyone who knows what a tough, ruthless man George H.W. Bush could be.

Winning was trained into him – winning within the rules as his family understood them.

Along with strong, patient ambition, he had an appreciation of money that comes with membership in an aggressive, successful banking family: He could foreclose a metaphorical mortgage without spoiling dinner with his family.

His denunciations of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are the red meat, but the book reads like an authorized biography, which is to say, sanitized.

But as I kept reading, I was surprised. Aside from his determination to see no evil, Meacham has much to say about G.H.W. Bush.

The man comes alive, along with his looming Nazi-sympathizer father, Connecticut U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, and his ferocious mother, who brought the wild and crazy creative Walker blood.

But Bush 41 was a rules-based man, devoutly conventional, with serious balls and solid intelligence.

He enlisted after Pearl Harbor as a teenager and flew endless missions in a torpedo bomber, the most vulnerable crate you could fly in WW2.

No great aeronautical talent, he wasn’t chosen to fly fighters, but he did the job assigned, which was his way.

His long-range thinking was unimpressive though, and his backing of Barry Goldwater in 1964 says a lot about this shortfall in what he called “the vision thing.”

His lack of instinct about the future was consistent and surprising, as if any kind of speculative thought outside narrow parameters was verboten.

His consistent human warmth surprised me. Actually shocked me.

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John F. Kennedy inspired a generation of Ameri- cans — including a young Bill Clinton, shown here in 1963 on his high school graduation trip to Wash- ington, D.C. — to do public service for America.

52 YEARS AFTER HIS ASSASSINATION,
JFK’S TONE AND MESSAGE CONTINUE
TO BE MISSED IN TODAY’S MODERN
WORLD OF POLITICAL NEGATIVITY

Walking along a crowded corridor
through Boston’s Logan Airport

IS IT TOO LATE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
TO RESTORE A MOOD OF TOLERANCE,
OPTIMISM AND PUBLIC SERVICE…
AND TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Trump, Cruz and Carson’s early lead
gives proof that political cynicism
has spread, and that faith of many
in government died with Kennedy
 
By David Maril
 
Fly up from Baltimore into Boston on Delta or Southwest Airlines and you are dropped off in the far-reaches of Logan Airport’s A Terminal.

To reach the baggage pickup area, and access ground transportation, requires a slow, steep descent down long escalators.

Once at the bottom, you begin a marathon walk through a cavernous underground corridor that goes below the tarmac to the other side of the airport and terminal.

The distance stretches out far enough to include two football field-length moving walkways for those who are not into fitness training in the midst of a trip.

The first time you make this trek, the tendency is to rush along and get it over with as quickly as possible. You end up taking big strides and, when possible, squeeze past those who are just standing on the automated walkway enjoying the free ride.

But toward the end of your first A Terminal experience, just before getting on the mammoth escalators to return to ground level at the baggage area, you hear speech excerpts of the late John F. Kennedy coming out of the walls.

The last section of the mammoth corridor promotes the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, located in Boston.

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Perennial presidential candidate, former Minnesota Gov. Harold E. Stassen, shown here in 1939, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination 10 times between 1940 and 2000, when he made his final run at age 92, one year before his death.  From 1948-1953 the so-called “boy wonder” of politics served as President of the University of Pennsylvania, despite running in 1948 and 1952.

IS THE FORMER MARYLAND GOVERNOR
SEEKING TO BECOME A UNIVERSALLY
LAUGHED-AT NOMINATION LOSER?

Baltimore’s dysfunctional public transportation
system is an overlooked stumbling block
to improving the city’s quality of life

GM’S PLAN TO IMPORT BUICKS FROM CHINA
IS FAR FROM A ‘MARK OF EXCELLENCE’
WITH REGARD TO AMERICAN LABOR

Democrat and Republican TV propaganda networks?

GOP’S JEB BUSH SHOULD THROW HIS SUPPORT
TO MARCO RUBIO — AND BOW OUT OF THE RACE
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering why former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley continues his futile attempt to run for the Democratic presidential nomination, it’s interesting to note the following:

 Even though he has never been in contention, you have to figure O’Malley’s angling for something as he stubbornly continues to campaign for a party nomination he can’t win.

Does he figure there is still a chance some bombshell bit of news or scandal will make headlines, knocking frontrunner Hillary Clinton out of the race?

There has to be some reason, such as getting plenty of publicity, going around making speeches and participating in nationally televised debates. Maybe it will help his bookings for his band.

Is he trying to become a modern-day Harold Stassen, breaking the late politician’s record for futile presidential campaigns?

If so, O’Malley however has a long way to go to catch the former Governor of Minnesota. Stassen ran 10 times, unsuccessfully, for the Republican presidential nomination. At 52, O’Malley does have plenty of time.

 How did Baltimore manage to earn a “D” grade, avoiding an F, in the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance’s 2015 Transportation Report card?

Gov. Larry Hogan, fresh off his short-sighted cancellation of the proposed $2.9 billion Light Rail Red Line, has submitted a proposal for revising the dysfunctional bus-system, that is creating a furor in several neighborhoods.

Some bus routes are being flipped around, like pancakes cooking on a grille, and some of the most heavily used transit stops are being shifted.

There’s room for plenty of skepticism on a public transportation plan submitted by an advocate like Hogan of beefing up highways and encouraging more cars on the roads.

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TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL Pipeline Project study wast- ed seven years of U.S. Government money and time before being effectively tabled this past week by virtually all sides.

WHAT PRICE PATRIOTISM?
GOVERNMENT LINES POCKETS
OF WEALTHY TEAM OWNERS
WHO OFFER TRIBUTES
AT SPORTING EVENTS

Ben Carson’s campaign will unravel into chaos
should he fail to quickly accept the fact
that media scrutiny comes with turf
of being a serious presidential candidate

TAKE AWAY BILL COSBY’S HONORARY DEGREES
— BUT DON’T CENSOR HIS FILM AND TV WORK
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering if falling gas and oil rates, resulting in lower costs on utility bills has emboldened BGE into feeling it can get away with making its fifth rate-hike request in six years, it’s interesting to note the following:

 When you talk about government bureaucracy and waste of money, the process that finally resulted in President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline project is a prime example.

Did it really take seven years to review the project, which included construction of a 1,179-mile pipeline to transport 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to the Gulf Coast?

Whether you are an environmentalist, who opposes any new undertakings that involve oil, or a corporate businessperson who believes in the free marketplace to create jobs, this was much to do about very little.

In the overall scheme of things, the project projected a minuscule impact on worldwide use of fuels considered damaging to the environment or the creation of long-term jobs.

From the beginning, it was primarily a political issue.

When Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential-primary leader, put her political weathervane up and saw the party’s liberal winds blowing heavily against the project, she belatedly joined rival Bernie Sanders in opposing it.

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As Republican candidates line up in anticipation of their next televised de- bate, scheduled for Feb. 26th in Houston, the nation’s TV networks and GOP leaders reached a landmark agreement this week when they settled
on guidelines featuring Ten Commandments of Debate that provide for maximum network profits and mutual pandering to the U.S. voting public.

RIGID RULES TO BE APPLIED;
CANDIDATES PROTECTED;
MODERATORS NO LONGER
TO ASK TOUGH QUESTIONS

Two-hour Trump-induced limit
expanded to 300 minutes;
10 “Commandments” set tone

NETWORK ACCEPTANCE OF GOP
ULTIMATUMS ON GUIDELINES
ENDS CANCELLATION THREAT
 
By David Maril
 
Stop the presses!

Word has just arrived the Republican party, after days of continuous negotiation, has reached agreement with NBC and other television networks scheduled to televise the GOP presidential debates.

Party officials had threatened to pull the plug on the next scheduled debate, slated for Feb. 26th on NBC.

Many of the GOP candidates were outraged at the negative tone and toughness of questions they were forced to address live on camera at the recent CNBC telecast.

Instead of focusing on economic issues, the financial network, owned by NBC, had ambushed the candidates with some questions perceived as hostile, focusing more on the character of the presidential hopefuls instead of their campaign rhetoric.

To reach agreement with the networks, the GOP candidates did have to make some concessions.

One — and the toughest roadblock — was to reverse their demand for shortening the telecast to two hours. Instead, the GOP agreed to five-hour broadcasts. This will allow the networks to cash in on a lot more advertisements and commercial revenue.

The other big concession for the GOP candidates was the commitment to make several minutes of promotional film-clips advertising the debate that the network can air in advance to boost the prospect of jumbo ratings.

Despite giving in on these two areas, the GOP feels it has achieved a 10-point agreement it needed to guarantee what it calls fair and balanced coverage that protects the candidates against the negativity of the liberal mainstream media.

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