Blondes on Blonde Goes Nuclear on Radiation, the President, and Eventually, the I-Man

Not surprisingly, and as with most things, Deirdre Imus and Lis Wiehl had strong opinions today on nuclear power plants, and President Obama’s recent job performance. And they weren’t afraid to share them/scare the hell out of anyone within a ten-mile radius during Blonde on Blonde.
 
Lis, a native of eastern Washington state, grew up near the Hanford nuclear site, and is familiar with the possible ramifications of nuclear power. “Many in eastern Washington have been diagnosed with cancer and other horrible diseases,” she noted. “Whether it’s caused by what happened in Hanford, I don’t know. But it raises the issue for me.”
 
A few years ago, the Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center worked on the Tooth Fairy Project in New Jersey, an ongoing national study using baby teeth to gauge whether radiation exposure causes cancer in children.
 
“There’s a chemical called Strontium-90 that is released from nuclear power plants,” Deirdre explained. “They have found levels of Strontium-90 in baby teeth, and people who live closer…to nuclear power plants are exposed. And I’m talking about plants that haven’t had meltdowns.”
 
With an audible roll of the eyes, Lis sarcastically wondered if all nuclear power plants should therefore be shut down. “Now you’re just getting crazy here,” Deirdre said. “You jumped about ten steps. That’s the problem with people who criticize studies—they don’t want to know all the information.”
 
In a moment of weakness, Imus agreed with his wife, who thinks more affordable, cleaner, more sustainable energies should be explored in his country. And with 75 million people in America living in nuclear plant zones that are situated on fault lines, an earthquake here could have consequences as dire as the ones presently facing Japan.
 
Which brought Imus to the subject of the President, who, despite multiple calamities around the globe, has spent the last few days golfing, and filling out his bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament.
 
“Life has to go on—he has to keep a sane message in this country, ”Lis said, in obvious defense of Obama. She added, “You don’t want a chief administrator panicking, and saying, ‘The world is coming to an end, and we can’t do anything!’”
 
You also don’t want to go to extremes, in Deirdre’s view, as Lis did several times this morning. “Where’s his leadership?” Deirdre wondered about the President. “Where’s his voice right now on all these important issues?”
 
Issues far more important than, say, residents of Ft. Wayne, Indiana opting not to dedicate a government building to a former, and beloved, mayor named Harry Baals.
 
“You like Harry Baals?” Imus asked his wife, giggling.
 
Before she could reply, Lis aptly told him, “You’re an idiot,” and made, perhaps the one observation of the morning with which nobody disagreed.
 
-Julie Kanfer