Inaugural Doggerel
THE SCRAPBOOK has been kept awake nights since Election Day, contemplating a tradition of sorts: Inaugural poetry. When America has been rescued from years of philistine Republican rule, incoming Democratic presidents have emphasized the point by inviting a poet to read an original work at the Inauguration.
It all began in January 1961, when John F. Kennedy invited fellow New Englander Robert Frost to declaim after Kennedy had finished his address. Frost had composed a poem, entitled "Dedication," for the occasion; but the 86-year-old poet was blinded by the glare of the sun off the snow on the Capitol grounds, couldn't read his manuscript, and instead recited "The Gift Outright," which he had written 20 years earlier.
As it happens, the blinding sunlight was fortuitous because, in THE SCRAPBOOK's opinion, "The Gift Outright" is a better poem than "Dedication." And despite the fact that the opening line of the former-"The land was ours before we were the land's"-was recently condemned in the New York Times as "embarrassing," Frost wins the prize, at least among inaugural poets, for distinction.
Admittedly, the competition has not been rigorous. In 1993 Bill Clinton recruited Maya Angelou to follow in Frost's footsteps, and Dr. Angelou, author of such popular classics as "Phenomenal Woman" and "Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas," did not disappoint. Her contribution, "On the Pulse of Morning," is not only considerably longer than "The Gift Outright," but provokes laughter ( The dinosaur, who left dry tokens / Of their sojourn here / On our planet floor) as well as reflection ( Your armed struggles for profit / Have left collars of waste upon / My shore, currents of debris upon my breast) and outright stupefaction ( So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew / The African and Native American, the Sioux / The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek / The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh).
In 1997 the reelected President Clinton recruited an Arkansas bard, Miller Williams, for the same purpose; and while his inaugural poem-"Of History and Hope," get it?-isn't unintentionally entertaining, it's not in Frost's league, either.
Which brings us to Barack Obama. To be sure, America enjoys at the moment an abundance of distinguished poets who would not only jump at an inaugural commission, but might produce something approaching poetry. It is also possible that Obama, our first African-American president, might wish to commemorate the occasion with an inaugural poet who is also black. In which case, there is an obvious candidate less than two hours' driving time from Washington: Rita Dove, who teaches at the University of Virginia, was U.S. poet laureate during 1993-95, is a tireless public advocate for poetry, and writes suitably anodyne verse.
THE SCRAPBOOK has a better idea, though. Nothing against Professor Dove, mind you, but we believe that the swearing-in of America's chief executive officer requires the services of someone who is accustomed to commenting in rhyme on current events, would bring a smile to the faces of Jack Murtha, Helen Thomas, Barbara Boxer, and Anderson Cooper, and is comfortable on camera and in the corridors of power. This would open the door to our candidate, Charles Osgood of CBS, whose bow tie, sickly smile, cloying rhymes, and artificially whimsical manner would with any luck kill off the tradition of inaugural poetry, forever.
A Prize, a Prize!
THE SCRAPBOOK offers its heartiest congratulations to Leonard Downie Jr., the recently retired editor of the Washington Post. Mr. Downie has just been awarded the Benjamin C. Brad-lee "Editor of the Year" Award by the National Press Foundation.
We mention this not so much because of our admiration for Leonard Downie Jr.-more about him in a minute-but by virtue of our interest in the ancient journalistic practice of logrolling, back-scratching, mutual admiration, or whatever it is you want to call the business of news insiders shamelessly awarding prizes to each other. Downie, as we mentioned, was editor of the Washington Post from 1991 until this year; his predecessor at the Post (as readers might have guessed) was the same Benjamin C. Bradlee for whom the Benjamin C. Bradlee Award is named. Which, of course, was just awarded to Leonard Downie Jr.
THE SCRAPBOOK infers a couple of things from this. First, it explains why, year after year, Pulitzer prizes in journalism are equitably divided among deserving recipients at, oh, the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Second, it gives THE SCRAPBOOK some measure of hope. If this year's Benjamin C. Bradlee Award goes to Benjamin C. Bradlee's successor as editor at the Post, it stands to reason that, somewhere down the line, the coveted William Kristol Award might go to THE SCRAPBOOK! Of course, the fact that there is, at the moment, no William Kristol Award is not an obstacle: We'll just establish something called the Scrapbook Foundation, and make its principal business the yearly presentation of the William Kristol Award, complete with a thousand-dollar-per-table banquet, C-SPAN coverage, and celebrity comedian/speaker. (We've already asked Benjamin C. Bradlee, Geneva Overholser, Bill Moyers, Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., Michael Gartner, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Leonard Downie Jr. to serve on the board.)
And speaking of Mr. Downie, we are gratified to note, as well, that he has accepted a part-time teaching position in his retirement at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. As another famous journalist likes to say, we are not making this up. But yes, it gives us hope for THE SCRAPBOOK's golden years: an endowed chair, perhaps, at the Katie Couric School of Mass Media, or a well-paid lecture series at the Larry King Institute of Interview Science at the Keith Olbermann Graduate School of Advanced Communication, Mass Journalism, and Media Studies?
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., 1918-2008
Avery Cardinal Dulles died early Friday morning at the age of 90. He belonged to one of the archetypal families of America's old northeastern establishment. His great-grandfather was Benjamin Harrison's secretary of state. His great-uncle was Woodrow Wilson's. His father, John Foster Dulles, was Dwight Eisenhower's, and his uncle Allen led the CIA from 1953 to 1961.
But Avery Dulles chose a different path for himself. After service in the Second World War-for which he won the Croix de Guerre for his work as naval liaison to the Free French-he left Harvard and joined the Society of Jesus in 1946. In 2001, he was elevated to the cardinalate, his red hat a tribute to what he had achieved in the intervening decades. By the time of his death, from the after-effects of polio he contracted during the war, Cardinal Dulles had published over 700 theological articles and 23 books, becoming, along the way, the most important American Catholic theologian of the twentieth century. He was, as well, a kind and gentle man. As our contributing editor Joseph Bottum notes, it is a measure of how much we will miss him that there is no conceivable successor who can fill the role he played in Catholic thought and American public life.
Congratulations, Robert George
THE SCRAPBOOK salutes Princeton professor, constitutional scholar, and WEEKLY STANDARD contributor Robert P. George, who last week received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest honor a president can confer on a civilian (after the Presidential Medal of Freedom). President Bush honored 24 Americans in all, including prison reform activist Charles W. Colson, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, and actor Gary Sinise.