So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
— from “Happy
Christmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon
“After six o’clock we can be friends; but before six, it’s
politics,” the Democrats’ Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill said
to the new President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Reagan, in the middle
of beating the pants off the astonished and impassioned liberal
Speaker, took note. The President said later that “whenever I’d
run into him, whatever time it was, I’d say, ‘Look, Tip, I’m
resetting my watch; it’s six o’clock.’”
I mentioned this story a year ago in writing a Christmas column
that was devoted, in the spirit of the season, to saying good
things about the
political opposition. The column was genuine, the expressions
of goodwill happily and sincerely meant, taking note that
politics, important though it may be (and it surely is,
especially right now), was but one slice of life. The point was
simple: that however much disagreement there was in this corner
with the Other Side, it was more than possible to extend the hand
of friendship without compromising one’s principles. That in
fact, if one believed as strongly in conservative principles as
we do over here, it was actually easy to do so since there was no
confusion between principle and a shared celebration of the joys
of the Christmas season. One cannot exist, as I and so many of my
conservative compadres do everyday, with a goodly amount of
genuinely liberal friends or relatives and possibly feel
otherwise. Ronald Reagan of liberal Hollywood and the late
William F. Buckley (who counted as a treasured friend the liberal
economist, Harvard professor, and Kennedy aide John Kenneth
Galbraith) excelled at this. Reagan’s recounting of his
relationship with the very liberal Tip O’Neill illustrates the
point. To paraphrase the abolutionist William Lloyd Garrison, we
conservatives are in earnest, we will not equivocate, we will not
excuse, we will not retreat a single inch and we will be heard.
So how about lifting an egg nog?
For this sentiment last year I was taken to task by a
liberal Scrooge over at Mother Jones magazine. In
“Bah! Humbug!” style. My column, it was said heatedly, “almost
defies explanation.” Surely taking the time to wipe the flecks of
foam off the computer screen, the writer fumed that I was
“incredibly patronizing” and showed “no respect” for the “work,
ideas or positions” of those mentioned in the piece. I was also
“smug” to the point of being “almost offensive.” If I were really
serious, it was advised, I would “tone down the self-satisfaction
and raise the level of dialogue to where he [that would be me]
thinks it should be.”
Ouch! All that for a simple Merry Christmas!
The point in extending good wishes in the spirit of the season in
this space is certainly not intended to patronize or be smug. It
is to take seriously the very point of the holiday itself, which
all too often gets lost in a cloud of Clauses. Not to get too
Biblical here, but there is that well-known admonition from
Leviticus that “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The
verse doesn’t say that one should not respond to the impassioned
Left of American and global politics with an equally impassioned,
and hopefully reasoned, sharp and crystal clear response from the
view of a conservative. There is no mention that one must check
one’s conservative beliefs at the door if one is to be thought of
as an accepted member of society in good standing, although
admittedly if you spend a few minutes watching almost anything on
MSNBC you would think so. There are plenty of us over here who
have no trouble balancing conviction in the style of an
abolitionist Garrison with friendship as lived so vividly by a
Reagan or a Buckley.
So once again, (Mother Jones be damned!) I will take the
occasion of the spirit of Christmas to extend good wishes to the
political opposition. Particularly to those who have been the
targets of criticism in this space, Americans one and all who
captured some degree of attention by sharply expressing their own
frequently quite opposite views in the public arena.
Specifically:
* President-elect Obama: Congratulations on your victory. It
makes you my president. As such, we revert here to Loyal
Opposition status. But as the conservative view of your
presidency is shaped over the next four years, let it be said
that there is a hat’s off appreciation that you believe what you
believe, that you went out to the American people and got a
majority of votes. You come across from this distance as sincere,
a nice guy, a good husband, a great Dad. A centrist? A real
liberal? A bookend to the Reagan presidency? We’ll see. But
gee…you beat Hillary! Wow! On occasion over the years I have been
to events that begin with a lifting of a glass in a toast “to the
President of the United States.” You, sir, are now to be the
subject of those toasts. Good luck, God bless you and a Merry
Christmas to you and your legion of true believers.
* Vice President-elect Biden: What’s to say? After all these
years I confess I think of you as a garrulous old uncle. Wrong
mostly, right occasionally (as in your primary season criticisms
of your new boss) and, as I know from my own time in Washington,
a man with a reputation as a good man and a very, very dedicated
family man. The latter is not only not a political act with you,
it is, as we all know, the most important thing anyone can do in
life. (Senator Beau? We’ll get back to that part of family
dedication after the holidays.) Merry Christmas, sir.
* The Reverend John Thomas, President of the United Church of
Christ: Interestingly it has been
my criticisms
of
you and the
leftward stance of our common national church which you lead
that has wound up putting me on the Board of Directors of the
UCC’s Penn Central Conference. Talk show host Michael Reagan once
asked me why I bother to stay in the UCC and I replied something
to the effect that we belong to the United Church of Christ, not
the United Church of 21st Century American Progressivism. Calvin
Coolidge was a member of this church for heaven’s sake. What I
and so many others perceive as the politicization of one of
America’s oldest denominations has called forth what might be
called a “coalition of the dissenting.” Your commitment to
liberalism is, I know, genuine. Your criticisms of President Bush
and of conservatives over the years has been pointed, sharp, and,
in my view, highly political. So much so that there was
considerable feeling in UCC-land that the outside world needed to
know in spite of your stances, in spite of the (vividly?)
expressed views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity UCC and
Obama-church fame, there is very much a set of opposing views
within the UCC itself. (You are, I know, no fan of the website
UCC Truths, but it
is a wonderful place to spend time thanks to its founder, James
Hutchins. Most visitors, while critics of yours, are good folks.)
But there is something else people should know about you that
many conservatives outside the church probably do not. You, the
arch-liberal church president, are the father of a son who is or
has been serving as a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard
— stationed in Afghanistan. Your son — and your family — are
to be saluted, and a thank you and a Merry Christmas is the least
that can be said. We disagree on the issues of the day, and
doubtless will continue to do so. But what we do have in common
is our love for our shared church. Recently I have spent time in
my role as president of my local church doing what I know our
church does best — calling on elderly members struggling in
nursing homes, a disabled member who just went through the loss
of a leg, sharing time with a new member whose still young
husband unexpectedly passed away. We also welcomed 11 new members
into the congregation. I have no idea of their politics. It isn’t
relevant. We hope to keep things that way and keep on growing. If
you are ever in the neighborhood and feel the need to preach,
feel free to stop in. I promise I’ll be quiet.
* The Reverend Chuck Currie, the UCC blogger-in-chief.
Rev. Currie, a devoted Obama fan and volunteer, has not been a
fan of my UCC criticisms, whether of the larger church, of
Reverend Thomas, or, on occasion, of himself. He has refused any
attempt at dialogue because of this, and even went so far as to
effectively ban me from the site after I said the UCC was
Soviet-like in its reaction to dissent. Sigh. C’est la
vie. But Currie is out there in Portland, Oregon, being a
pillar of the local religious left. His views, like those of
Thomas, are sharp, pointed, and always aimed at what is perceived
here as a cartoon view of Bush and the American Right. He is
currently disturbed over the Obama selection of Rick Warren as an
inaugural participant, is a relentless advocate for the homeless
both in his community and at the state and national level and has
become a serious blogger on religious and social issues. While
there is disagreement here with his views, I believe that he is
to be applauded for bringing his passion to the table. He is the
clearly very proud father of twin daughters and, as with Thomas,
while we will surely be disagreeing, a hearty Merry Christmas for
Chuck and his family.
* Sally Quinn. Yow! Did I write that
article? Political commentary is frequently based on the
actions of others, and I did indeed react to Ms. Quinn’s very
sharp and, I believed, clearly way-over-the-line personal
criticisms of Governor Sarah Palin. There was no way Palin, by
all accounts (even of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey!) a good soul,
could respond so I and many others did so. But it should be said
here that Sally Quinn is well known in the Washington community
for her devotion to her son, a young man who, like Sarah Palin’s
Trig, is a special needs kid. Life is always interesting, and the
transformation of Sally Quinn from hot young reporter on the make
to devoted mother of a struggling child is certainly on the list.
Merry Christmas to Ms. Quinn and her family.
Last, but certainly not least, to General Colin Powell, Chris
Buckley and David Frum. As above, life is interesting. General
Powell’s Obama endorsement cannot negate his service to his
country as a soldier and, as I recall vividly, his service to
President Reagan as deputy national security advisor and later,
as the NSC advisor without the deputy title. Ditto his
performance as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in the Persian
Gulf War. Merry Christmas, General. I think you’re wrong — but
Merry Christmas. And keep working for all those kids that are
America’s Promise. As for Messrs. Buckley and Frum? Well…sigh.
I’m out of space to discuss. We disagree here. I’m sorry you have
felt the need to leave NRO, but I look forward to your work and
your books. To borrow from a book of Mr. Frum’s, I believe you
are both, well, Dead Wrong. But Merry Christmas and Happy
Hanukkah, respectively.
Mother Jones not withstanding, Tiny Tim was right.
May God Bless Us One and All.
