I happened this morning to click on a YouTube viewing suggestion for a speech by George W. Bush at one of the White House Correspondents' dinners, those annual meetings of press and government figures for a general comedic roasting. As I've said before, I really don't know how YouTube comes up with these suggestions on my page, and at the same time it is curious to find how appropriate they end up being. I mean, left on my own, it would not occur to me to watch a WH Correspondents' Dinner speech, and yet it turned out to be just the right medicine for this morning's mood (which had started out sour after watching clips from Donald Trump's off the rails interview with Chris Wallace).
I watched this speech, found it delightful, and straightaway clicked on another, and another, and then moved on to speeches by President Obama in the same forum.
What is most striking, other than the fact that these two men could be quite hilarious, is seeing how very human they are--just like us. We leave the black and white judgments behind, the pure, dry politics, the cloak of hardened partisan positions, and suddenly connect as just plain human beings, able both to laugh at ourselves and poke fun at others. In short, we can appreciate the 'humanness' of these men in the nation's highest office, and it is distinctly reassuring.
We are left with a feeling of congeniality in these men that is wholly absent in our current president, who has been either deeply offended by teasing jabs or flatly unamusing in his own performances. He does not inspire a feeling of basic comaraderie, of mutual participation in the American experience. He does not bring us together in any assembly. Where is the human being? Where is the man who lets down his guard, who chuckles at his own faux pas, who connects at the very least through that basic language, humor?
I laughed to tears at these old clips, and I also wept in the end for the loss of these former times, these honorable, genuine fellow men.
But, God willing, we will get back there in time (and hopefully a short time at that). Until then, I recommend watching these old correspondents' dinners. They're a blast from the past that might serve as encouragement for the time being.
I watched this speech, found it delightful, and straightaway clicked on another, and another, and then moved on to speeches by President Obama in the same forum.
What is most striking, other than the fact that these two men could be quite hilarious, is seeing how very human they are--just like us. We leave the black and white judgments behind, the pure, dry politics, the cloak of hardened partisan positions, and suddenly connect as just plain human beings, able both to laugh at ourselves and poke fun at others. In short, we can appreciate the 'humanness' of these men in the nation's highest office, and it is distinctly reassuring.
We are left with a feeling of congeniality in these men that is wholly absent in our current president, who has been either deeply offended by teasing jabs or flatly unamusing in his own performances. He does not inspire a feeling of basic comaraderie, of mutual participation in the American experience. He does not bring us together in any assembly. Where is the human being? Where is the man who lets down his guard, who chuckles at his own faux pas, who connects at the very least through that basic language, humor?
I laughed to tears at these old clips, and I also wept in the end for the loss of these former times, these honorable, genuine fellow men.
But, God willing, we will get back there in time (and hopefully a short time at that). Until then, I recommend watching these old correspondents' dinners. They're a blast from the past that might serve as encouragement for the time being.
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