The following midterms recollection is startling, if only to me. In 1982, reporting on the local races for Baltimore’s City Paper—Phyllis Orrick and I were traipsing all over, going from bull roasts to South Baltimore Democratic club rallies to Fells Point fundraisers—my co-owner Alan Hirsch and I decided to delay our weekly publication date from Wednesday to Thursday, so that we could include the election results. A key race was future mayor Kurt Schmoke’s smashing victory over incumbent State’s Attorney Bill Swisher; the City Council contests were, in retrospect, rinky-dink, and it’d take several hours to remember the candidates.
The politics part is inconsequential, but the business decision was really stupid. We gave no notice to advertisers, who could’ve—but didn’t—asked for discounts because they lost a day in the cycle. It was a spur-of-the-moment lark that Alan and I, in our mid-20s, just went with, and didn’t consider the ramifications, as if we were wearing lucky blindfolds. That’s musty history that only people in the weekly newspaper business could appreciate today, but it struck me while compiling six wagers on tomorrow’s elections that my sons Nicky, Booker and Alan ponied up $10 for each result. Unlike so many “experts” on social media, I have no clue what will happen, but maybe I’ll hit the jackpot.
I was surprised that the Cheesecake Factory flap didn’t really take off: who’d have thought Trump wouldn’t use Barack Obama’s jibe and don hat and apron at a battleground CF outlet. Maybe he’s preoccupied with the strange Texas Senate race, Bibi, the size of his rallies or Barron’s first-semester grades at NYU, but it was disappointing. I’ve been to a Cheesecake Factory just once and was put off by it; likewise, contra Obama, I don’t care how gaudy Trump’s redesigned White House is and doubt most Americans (aside from the media) do either. Besides, the next president will put his or her own stamp on it. I did get a kick out of Jonathan Chait’s reaction. Last week, he wrote in The Atlantic: “Attacking Obama as an out-of-touch coastal elitist, rather than a slum-dweller who dirtied up a pristine home, is a concept that Trump’s mind is apparently too racist to process.”
Chait, stuck in a previous decade, also says that Obama is “the most popular living politician in America.” Don’t think so: the 44th president is so filled with bile, bluster anger at campaign stops—likely imagining he’s on Broadway—that maybe even he doesn’t think his popularity is overwhelming. And call Trump what you will—gauche, Robert DeNiro-level egocentric, tacky or just plain fat—it’s a stretch to call him racist. And Chait doesn’t note Obama’s unqualified support of Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, which isn’t necessarily racist but definitely antisemitic. Oh well, fuck the Jews.
But Chait’s typically minor contribution to the “national conversation” lagged behind The New York Times’ daily campaigning for the Democrats. As if Robert Rubin didn’t cover it well enough, some Times editor (real or created) arm-twisted former Sen. Bill Bradley to write another “watch out for Trump’s illegal election interference" op-ed. He wrote: “We are all proud of the American tradition of free and fair elections. That tradition is a result of hard work by thousands of state and local election officials around the country. Their jobs are tough are tough and getting tougher. In recent years, they have had to work in the face of increasing scrutiny, threats and relentless attacks on our democracy.” Have you read that before? (And I don’t think the onetime New York Knicks star, and ineffectual New Jersey Senator, now 83, was referring to Joe Biden’s magical record-setting 81 million votes in the 2020 Covid presidential election.
How’s this for democracy? Last week Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, anticipating a Democratic wipeout tomorrow, said: “There are things Democrats can do to begin to deal with the crisis of a lawless president and administration. They can create a civil cause of action against executive branch officers, allowing victims of abuse to sue federal officials in court for damages. You may not be able to hold a Stephen Miller criminally accountable, but you could drain his bank account.”
A Times editorial urging everyone to vote straight Democratic, “to tell the world that Mr. Trump does not represent most Americans,” was full of the usual bromides. It read: “Voters should keep in mind Mr. Trump’s failure to keep his campaign promises, his attempts to undermine democracy and his flagrant corruption.” As I recall, the Times wasn’t in favor of Trump’s campaign promises—as if a failure to deliver is unique to Trump—so what’s the beef there?
The family photo above is a favorite: my dad on the boardwalk at Asbury Park, holding my two oldest brothers (three of us weren’t born yet). We always though Dad had a Nixon resemblance, and his attire (three-piece suit, hat, Camel in his mouth), near the water, fits the mark. He always voted Republican, but never proclaimed that “Democracy is on the ballot,” whether he was against FDR, Truman, Stevenson, LBJ or Hubert Humprey.
Take a look at the clues to figure out the year: Doris Day begins her solo career; B.B. King starts his professional career in Memphis; Chet Atkins makes his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry; The Ink Spots’ “The Gypsy” rocked the music charts; David Lean’s film adaptation of Great Expectations is released in London; Philip Larkin’s Jill, Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding and John Hersey’s Hiroshima are published; Julian Barnes is born and Booth Tarkington dies; Herman Hesse wins the Literature Nobel Prize; Ralph Kiner has the most National League home runs (23); Detroit’s Hal Newhouser leads MLB with a 1.94 ERA; Bob Feller throws his second no-hitter; and Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend wins Best Picture Oscar.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023