Ferguson's Lincoln
THE SCRAPBOOK is feeling like a proud papa these days--or maybe a doting uncle. That's because our friend and colleague Andrew Ferguson has just published Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America (Grove/Atlantic, $24), and in THE SCRAPBOOK's considered opinion, if there's one book every STANDARD reader must devour this summer, it's Land of Lincoln.
Why do we say this? First, WEEKLY STANDARD readers already know Andy's hallmarks. He's a writer of exceptional skill, incapable of producing a dull sentence. He carries wisdom, erudition, and startling insight with a lightness and finesse that must be read to be believed. There's his understated wit, discerning eye, and instinct for the absurd. His reporter's antennae are exceptionally well-tuned; Andy never fails to capture the felicitous detail. And all these talents are on display in Land of Lincoln.
So what, you ask, another Lincoln book? To which we reply: This is not just any Lincoln book. Like many Americans, Andy Ferguson (born and raised in Illinois) grew up with a fascination for the sixteenth president, whose life and death are so central to the story of America. But what intrigues him about Lincoln is not so much the familiar facts--the log cabin birthplace, the Gettysburg Address, the homely face and mordant jokes--as the shadow Lincoln casts over his countrymen. Since the assassination at Ford's Theatre in 1865, Lincoln's drama has been cast and recast, the essentials of his life have been plumbed and reinvented, the meaning of Lincoln--to politics, history, folklore, psychology--has evolved with every succeeding generation.
So Andy embarks on a road trip in search of Lincoln's America. Or America's Lincoln. We meet collectors who accumulate sacred relics, scholars who try to make Lincoln "relevant," Abe Lincoln impersonators, management gurus, and a galaxy of people whose vision of Lincoln gives meaning to their lives.
Land of Lincoln is about a journalist's quest, but it's also a matchless portrait of our times, certain places, the national character (both hilarious and poignant), the complex life of a deceptively simple man, and the meeting of the present and past in our country. THE SCRAPBOOK cannot think of a better introduction to the great subject of Abraham Lincoln, or a funnier, more trenchant and affecting postcard from America.
A Friend in Need
We felt like we were having a flashback the other day when we read about the continuing saga of Vinod Gupta, the Nebraska entrepreneur and friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. It seems Gupta is in the midst of a nasty legal battle with shareholders in -infoUSA, the company he founded in Omaha in 1972.
Gupta enjoys a particularly close relationship with the Clintons, raising money for their campaigns, playing golf, even staying overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom. He once kept a website devoted to all the pictures he had taken in the Clintons' company. Which website, you will no doubt be shocked to discover, has since been taken down.
Gupta's generosity is impressive. According to the Washington Post, Gupta has paid President Clinton $200,000 to give a speech to infoUSA employees; donated $1 million, maybe more, to underwrite the Clintons' millennium bash in the White House and on the National Mall; delivered more than $220,000 to the Democratic National Committee during Hillary's 2000 campaign; donated $5,000 to Hillary's political action committee in 2006; paid the former president millions in consulting fees; and over the last four years loaned his corporate jet to the Clintons for trips to places like Jamaica and Acapulco.
Gupta billed the Clintons' travel to his company as a "business development" expense. Which we suppose is true, if by "development" you mean currying favor with powerful figures in order to enhance your reputation.
We're not sure what exactly infoUSA does, but it makes a lot of money: more than $400 million in revenue, according to the New York Times. Some of the shareholders, however, claim that Gupta has abused his position as CEO and chairman of the board for personal gain. And what gain! According to court documents, besides his ample compensation, Gupta enjoyed several vacation properties, private jets, cars, a skybox at the University of Nebraska football stadium, and a yacht with an "all female crew." No wonder Bubba likes him.
Obama Messiah Watch
More hard-hitting journalism from the Gray Lady:
Barack Obama is a wily player of pickup basketball . . . his escape from the sport of politics, but also a purer version of it, with no decorous speeches, no careful consensus--just unrestrained competition. . . . Mr. Robinson, now the coach of Brown University's men's team, said the 6-foot-2 senator is too skinny to be an imposing presence, but he is fast, with good wind even when he was a smoker. Mr. Obama is left-handed, and his signature move is to fake right and veer left, surprising players used to guarding right-handed competitors. . . . He is gentleman enough to call fouls on himself: Steven Donziger, a law school classmate, has heard Mr. Obama mutter, "my bad," tossing the other team the ball.
--From Jodi Kantor's "One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow," June 1, 2007, New York Times , pg. A1.
Sounds fishy
This week in the world of environmental extremism, greens in the Pacific Northwest are protesting hydroelectric dams (one of the cleanest sources of electricity) because they make it more difficult for salmon to migrate. In Oregon and California, where more than 70,000 homes rely on power from the Klamath dams, a group called the Klamath Riverkeeper wants to see the dams meet their demise. Incidentally, its umbrella organization, Waterkeeper Alliance, is headed by none other than one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet," Robert Kennedy Jr.
Shikha Dalmia, an occasional contributor to these pages, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week that the environmentalists won't even accept proposals by the dam owner, PacifiCorp, to install $350 million fish ladders to help the poor salmon find their way. And while they claim to care about the fish, Klamath Riverkeeper has also sued a fish hatchery financed by PacifiCorp, claiming it releases algae and toxic emissions. Even though the hatchery significantly increases the Chinook salmon catch--by at least 25 percent a year--they want to shut it down (which would not coincidentally decrease the fish population and bolster their argument for destroying the dams to save the salmon).
The real goal, of course, is to reduce the human habitat. Dalmia quotes from the platform of the mystical preservationist group Deep Ecology, which migrated (without ladders) from Europe in the 1980s: "The flourishing of nonhuman life requires a decrease in human population." THE SCRAPBOOK is curious if any of these members would care to volunteer first.