Imus Tells Carl Jeffers How to Change His Life

Feisty as ever, Carl Jeffers spent the first half of today’s interview telling Imus a touching story of his first encounter with Van Morrison’s music.

“In the late 70s I was in New York driving up Sixth Avenue and a song was on the radio, and I was mesmerized by the beauty of it,” said Jeffers, a political commentator.

That song was Morrison’s “Autumn Song,” and it had moved Jeffers so deeply that he pulled over to the side of the road to recover.

“Van Morrison’s a genius,” said Imus, a known fan. “He’s a little cranky sometimes, but the boy’s a flat-out genius.”

Imus strongly recommended his guest download both the live and recorded versions of Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” album (here we go), telling Jeffers, “It will change your life!”

Attempting to return the favor, Jeffers suggested Imus listen to the Steve Lawrence version of “You Better Love Me,” which he called “the best Sinatra-like recording ever made.”

“I’m not checking out anything,” the I-Man replied. “You just do what I asked you to do, and then we’ll talk.”

And Jeffers does love to talk, which he proved this morning in discussing President Obama’s recent surge of energy since health care reform passed last weekend.

“I think the administration knows clearly they were on the precipice of disaster,” he said, pointing to all that Obama has done in the days since the House voted. “The President took a tough line on Israel building settlements in Jerusalem; the Senate announced they were going to move forward with federal regulations on financial reforms; and the President announced that in a month, he’s going to Prague to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Prime Minister Medvedev of Russia.”

To top it all off, Obama also made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. “Can you imagine how weak, and almost pathetic, he would have looked had he been doing those things in the aftermath of having lost the vote on health care?” Jeffers asked.

With his base less depressed than they would have otherwise been, Obama will likely lose far less seats in the House and Senate come November. And while he deserves some of the credit for his impressive victory, Obama could not have done it without House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told all the “tough guys” in the administration to trust her in the wake of Republican Senator Scott Brown’s surprise win in Massachusetts.

“She stood up and said, ‘Boys, see me through on this and I will let you to the promised land,’” Jeffers reported.

It remains unknown to what extent her face moved while making this pronouncement.

-Julie Kanfer