Joan Walsh's Open Salon Blog

Obama's lonely peace prize

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 22:10:12 -0400

It took me half the day to get over my surprise at learning our president won the Nobel Peace Prize, only nine promising months (with few concrete achievements) into his presidency. I did the same dance of cynicism as many people did, and I loved all the satire on here, especially Con Chapman.

But late tonight, after watching all the evening news shows, I changed my mind: I'm proud of him. I read a Christian Science Monitor piece laying out all the semi-hopeless, or early peace warriors who got the award -- Carter, Arafat and Begin for 1978; Rabin and Arafat in 1994; both dashed. I wound up comparing Obama to the "Peace Moms" of Northern Ireland -- a very personal award, an investment in their power and charisma years before the peace accords were signed.

I think it's comparable to what the committee is doing with Obama -- he's a promising young man with a different way of looking at the world who's inspired a lot of people, globally and at home. He's only taken some first steps - and those of us here know he's disappointed in the realm of torture, surveillance and state secrets -- but the rest of the world looks on him with longing, and wants to encourage his best self. The not particularly poetic Nicholas Sarkozy made my favorite comment of the day about Obama's prize: "The award marks Americans return to the hearts of the people of the world." I can live with that. They have been waiting for us.

Joan's book club: "The Clinton Tapes"

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 00:10:14 -0400

No, it's not a real book club. But I tried to make lemonade out of lemons in my intellectual life: A friend got me an advance copy of Taylor Branch's intriguing "The Clinton Tapes," but my life won't allow me to sit home, plow through 700 pages, take two days to write a big review.

So I decided to blog a review -- post my thoughts as I go, every few days. I'll crosspost here for a while, too -- which may be the place where the comments are most robust.

Here's my Salon blog post.

Let me know if you think it can work, and if you're reading the book, blog along with me! Comment here or there.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't make sure everyone saw Caroline Hagood's moving post about Open Salon on Media Bistro. It was perfect, thanks Caroline!

Second year of college?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:08:42 -0400

I really expected the sophomore year goodbye to Nora to be easier, but I'm not sure it is. Partly that's because freshman year, Nora left for college from the Democratic Convention in Denver, getting on a red-eye after Bill Clinton's wonderful speech endorsing Obama. I was sad but distracted. I went to Fordham to say goodbye after she'd moved in and been there for five days. It was a rolling sadness.

This year, I flew to NY with her and moved her into Fordham this morning. I have time to feel it more, and it somehow feels even more real. I'll be fine but wow, this is really my life now.

The funny thing is, the one move I made to try to make myself happier, getting a puppy, might have backfired. In the last two weeks, Sadie has taken to sitting at Nora's bedroom door and crying if she hasn't seen her for a while. So what I got was a pal in mourning?

Oh, that's part of what life's about. I'll live, and thrive, and so will Sadie. And of course (especially) Nora will too. Here's my favorite picture of them; it's such a cute-off:

Oh, and back to the original cute-off (Mignon remembers!):

They both keep getting cuter.

The Magic Honky!

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:07:26 -0400

My last post was about two things that make me very happy, Baseball and Puppies. And I've been bragging on Sadie a lot.

But as much as I love Sadie, my day was made by Rush Limbaugh calling me "The Magic Honky" because I defended President Obama and called him racist. Now, I don't believe I am "The Magic Honky," because if Obama is the Magic Negro, as Rush likes to say, well then clearly, I am not worthy. The Magic Honky would have to be someone at Obama's level, like Hillary Clinton, or maybe, if you thought about Dark Magic, Dick Cheney.

What really made me laugh, though, was this image up high on Limbaugh's Web site Thursday night.

I'm flattered to be in a composite with the president and his grandmother, both of whom I admire. Again, I am not worthy. Thanks, Rush, for such a compliment.

Baseball and puppies!

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:07:13 -0400

I've had a tough week -- a beloved cousin died -- and I've been in serious need of solace.

Watch this video and try not to cry:

Then look at this cuteness and try not to be devoured by jealousing!