A Nobel! A Nobel!

Well, really. The curmudgeons are having a field day. At our senior citizens park the other day, the reaction was "Why?"
Fortunately, the cable chatter featured an expert or two who elaborated. One said that although our president, unaware of his candidacy, was nominated six days after he won; that was the closing date for names. But the voting took place AFTER he had led the atomic energy meeting of six (seven?) U. N. Security council nations who had reached a tentative agreement about disarmament. That had clinched the deal, the expert said.
Another factor had been his speech in Cairo which re-formatted the American approach to the Muslim world. Another had been his groundbreaking analysis of race during the campaign. And lastly came his work on climate change, another reformatting.
Let's face it: So far, it's primarily what he said. But people who characterize him as just a smooth talker overlook two fundamental changes he represents: He is capable of analysis, a trait long missing in this country. He is, furthermore, capable of eloquence. Kids, eloquence stirrs. That's why your grandma signed on lo these three years ago. I would even guess that was a major factor in his unbelieveably groundbreaking victory.
Don't forget, the very fact he put himself out there in a country with very little history of race tolerance was amazing. Don't tell me, the Nobel committee didn't cotton to that, too.
I'm so pround. I knew he was a winner in Iowa.

MSMBC Has Cornered the Market on Bright Women

It finally occured to the management at MSMBC that if a woman was attractive and smart and had proved herself either on the radio (Rachel Maddow) or NBC assignements (Andrea Mitchell) or as a medical reporter (Nancy Snyderman), maybe she could get her own show! What a boon to intelligent viewers.
All three of these babes are simply great. Rachel is such a rising star that she is chosen for the Flagship: Meet the Press. There, she slaughters Dick Army and is the internet show with host David Gregory. She goes on to rip on David Brooks and spar with some grumpy conservative whose name escapes me. (Neverless, he looked like a luminary.)
But best of all, she is a real muckraker. Unlike the majority of talking heads, she knows how to look things up and find things out. What a hoot to watch her show and learn things nobody else knows. And Kent Jones, her comic relief? He is as original as she is. What a pair.
I don't know how on earth NBC could have harbored Nancy Snyderman for years, knowing her ability to ace medical school, and still kept her hidden. It took that showman Dr.Oz to show networks that medical stuff sells. Here's a solid reporter in the field who is limited to three minute spots on the nightly news, and the network executives don't have a clue what she can do. Voilla. Give her an hour a day and she shines like the sun.
Now, take Andrea Mitchell. Also given an hour, coincidentally right after Nancy. She's NBC's answer to Farred Zakaria, she knows so many of the powerful people and can quiz them on air. Years of newshenery on NBC have set her up to create a really interesting show. She owes her shine to the network; again, they were awfully slow to showcase her.
Anyhow, a belated hats off to the News Department at NBC MSNBC, and even CNBC, although the latter is enamored of Maria Bartelomo who doesn't hold a candle to the MSNBC ladies.
I have thought often of how hard it is to have a national sensibility here in California. If I want to watch Morning Joe, (which I do), i have to get up at 3 in the morning. To see Howie Kurtz's Reliable Sources, which is usually really fine, I have to wake up at 7 a.m.on Sunday here in San Diego. The cretinous network guys don't have the sense to feed it from here, hence the lack of sleep for us current affairs junkies. Pooh to em all. They catch on way too slow. At least they got the gals right.