We've Missed You, Doris Kearns Goodwin
In Doris Kearns Goodwin’s world, this is what “a good couple of weeks” looks like: Director Steven Spielberg locks in Daniel Day Lewis to play Abraham Lincoln in the movie version of her book “Team of Rivals"; the Boston Red Sox spend big money on players in the off-season; and she completes two-thirds of her next literary venture, a book about Theodore Roosevelt, his friendship with William Howard Taft, and the muckraker journalists of the time.
“They were best friends, and became bitter enemies, and wind up running against each other in 1912, thus destroying the Republican Party’s progressive wing, and letting the Democrat win,” she said of TR and Taft. Goodwin noted a similar outcome is possible for Republicans in 2012.
As for the other aspect of her book, Goodwin proclaimed that the early 20th century was “a golden age” of journalism because journalists then felt they were bettering the country. “They worked on railroad abuses, they worked on anti-trust stuff, they worked on food and drug problems, and laws then got passed to make these problems better,” she said.
Then she and Imus got into the nitty-gritty about Mark Twain’s autobiography, which Imus called “fascinating.” Goodwin gushed about how but for Twain, Ulysses S. Grant might not have written his own presidential memoirs, which are considered among the best in history. Imus noted Grant’s naiveté regarding the whole undertaking, and how Twain really took him under his wing.
“This is the part of you that I like best!” Doris bellowed.
What Imus heard, however, was, “So there are parts of me you don’t like?”
It’s kinda like how there are parts of Obama’s deal for extending tax cuts that some Democrats don’t like. “Given the context of the midterm losses, Obama negotiated as good a deal as he could have done, as much as I might be pissed off about him not seeming as strong as I wished he were,” Goodwin, a commie, said.
Obama compromised with Republicans by agreeing to extend tax cuts for everybody, including the wealthiest Americans, which Goodwin thinks was a mistake. But others items included in the agreement—like tax credits for mass transit, grants for wind and solar energy, and write-offs for the purchase of the equipment—are more likely to get businesses to invest money back into the economy.
“If the economy gets going, not only is that great for the country, but it’s the best thing for him in the long run in 2012,” she said of Obama. “So it’s probably smarter than it appears at the moment.”
Ever the presidential historian, Goodwin pointed out Obama’s tendency to think long term. “The problem is you get screwed in the short run if you don’t look ver ystrong,” she said, using vulgar terminology that, quite frankly, offends our delicate sensibilities.
The Big Dog Bill Clinton will meet with Obama today in the Oval Office, probably, as Goodwin surmised, to advise the current President on how best to reconcile with the Republicans in the years ahead, and not, as Imus joked, to go over some extra-curricular activities he once enjoyed in that same room.
-Julie Kanfer
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