I probably fall more in line with Schlesinger, but Zinn was a strong voice and led an interesting life. Kind of sad to see these folks die off... our current crop of public intellectuals are media personalities first and foremost.
QFT “I think people are dazzled by Obama’s rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president — which means, in our time, a dangerous president — unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.”
How do you define a mediocre President? 1. The economic situation he inherited was so dire that just not falling into a depression should be considered a major win. 2. Any Democrat in the Executive office has to deal with the infinite complexity of the real "big tent". The lock step of demagoguery and rule by signing statement are not an option. 3. The goals Mr. Obama has set are certainly more ambitious and concrete than any President since FDR. Previous Presidents have felt the need to keep their campaign promises limited and intangible. So who was average? Who was superior? (I think we know who the short-bus President was) What is the criteria? Getting re-elected? Having the lucky break of a bubbly stock market? I'll take a guy who understands the problems he has to deal with, puts together reasonable course of actions and works hard every day to see them through.
Sorry to hear about Professor Zinn. We had a lot in common, particularly when I was much younger, which was way before he published his history. I'm not at all surprised by what he said about the President. It was completely in character. Supporters of the President shouldn't be the least bit outraged by it. The man was an original, hard to find these days.
RIP Interesting that two of the most famed anti establishment writers Zinn and Salinger died in the same week.
How many famous post WWII writers aren't "anti-establishment"? Not many. And I'm sure the ones who are are just anti the "anti-establishment" establishment, which would make them doubly anti-establishment, right?
Zinn was a real hero and his "People's History of the United States if probably the most important American historical book written in the last 100 years. Obama may indeed wind up mediocre due to what Zinn cited, but he is a real improvement over the worst president of the last 100 years. Let's help push Obama in the direction of resisting the elite and their S.Ct and corporations.
So you are saying you would like to see Obama move in the direction that Howard Zinn would like him to? Woops I had posted the same thing earlier already.
