The Sticky Poem and the Crumbly Cake

Thursday was a weird day. It actually started Wednesday night when I baked a chocolate cake – the one from an old recipe a Providence coworker had given me that is topped with nuts and chocolate chips and is usually moist and delicious. It was in the oven when Diana called and I was so into talking with her at length about everything from lipstick to algorithms, that I lost track of the time. When I took it out it looked fine but I had a sense it was overbaked. I decided to bring it to work anyway and let the (chocolate) chips fall where they may.

I packed the cake up very carefully and carried it safely to the train and to the Metro and through the security scanner in my building. There was a lunch in honor of my coworker Carolyn who transferred to another branch on Friday and this cake was on the menu. Luckily, there were assorted cookies and brownies as well because when I cut into said cake, it had no cohesive properties whatsoever. It was pretty amazing have quickly it became a million crumbs. This was a particularly humbling experience since I had stated vehemently the day before that I would never use a cake mix and always baked from scratch. That‘s exactly what it looked like….cake scratchings. It tasted good but had few takers. I brought 80% of it back home on said train and delighted Paul with its return. He loved it! He comforted me as usual by saying “There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s great!” This was the same very dear husband who last weekend when I used a new box of hair color that was supposed to be reddish brown and my hair turned out black said to me – with a straight face, “Looks great!”. You gotta love this man!

Meanwhile, back to Thursday. When I checked my emails in the morning, Diana had sent me a beautiful poem about spring by Richard Wilbur. I did a copy and paste so I could print it out but for some reason, it didn’t paste. I tried it two or three times without success.

Later that afternoon, I was sending out group emails to my grantees telling them about a change in project officers and introducing their new contacts. One grantee responded and I noted that my email to her, which was attached, had the POEM hanging off it at the end like flypaper! It was repeated several times. The poem had a biblical title and so it looked like some religious fanatic had taken over my Federal government role and was promoting the King James!

I checked my sent emails and saw no sign of the poem so called IT to come and investigate what was going on. At the same time I sent new emails to all my grantees asking them to disregard any emails they received with poetic appendages. (One sweet man from South Dakota responded saying “I didn’t get the poem. Can you send it to me?)

Thursday was pretty embarrassing but also yielded benefits. I learned not to brag about my baking, Paul gained almost a whole cake and now you, too, can read this poem.

Ecclesiastes 11:1

We must cast our bread

Upon the waters, as the

Ancient preacher said,

Trusting that it may

Amply be restored to us

After many a day.

That old metaphor,

Drawn from rice farming on the

River’s flooded shore,

Helps us to believe

That it’s no great sin to give,

Hoping to receive.

Therefore I shall throw

Broken bread, this sullen day,

Out across the snow,

Betting crust and crumb

That birds will gather, and that

One more spring will come.

Is Obama Too Nice?

If you take a look at any of the books on President Obama and the ‘o8 campaign that have already been published, it’s hard to find anything very objectionable about the man. If I try really, really hard I can come up with a few things he has said or done that aren’t perfection. He still smokes... he made fun of John Boehner’s perpetual tan, ummm... maybe he has an ego that’s what, typical of ambitious men?

The problem, the flaw that may be his undoing is also his greatest strength. He’s a nice guy. Not just a nice guy the way your neighbor is nice. He seems to genuinely respect other people. Maybe not their ideas, but their right to have ideas and to fully express them.

During the campaign, it was clear to me that Hilary Clinton had no problem whatsoever going for the jugular. Sometimes it was active: “And, if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York...”; sometimes passive, “He’s not a Muslim, as far as we know….” When Obama kept his arguments cerebral and did not attack, I thought that as the first serious black contender for the office he was well advised to avoid showing anger toward a white woman. But here it is more than thirteen months since the inauguration and he’s still that nice guy! He doesn’t attack and he doesn’t insult.

Nothing demonstrated that more than last Thursday’s health care “summit”. Obama took on the dual role of leader/facilitator for the meeting. This was community organization at its finest. He listened to everyone. He was able to adroitly hear the content and manage the process at the same time. THAT'S SO HARD!! I’ve done this with workgroups or “stakeholders” in past government jobs and it is extremely challenging. How much easier would it have been if Obama had someone else facilitate the meeting. He then could have retained more gravitas with his comments interspersed strategically from time to time. So why didn’t he do it that way? My guess is that he wanted maximum control of the six-seven hours and he knew he could manage both roles. But he also wanted, by facilitating it himself, to maintain a high level of civility in the tone of the meeting. I was in awe of how well he did this and could still take a humorous jab at “well-prepared” Republicans like Eric Cantor, “Let me guess, is that the 2400 page bill?”

It was clear early on in this meeting that no Republican compromise would be reached. It appears that the GOP sees more benefit in defending health insurers than expanding coverage to the millions of uninsured. But did Obama miss an opportunity? Could he have upped the ante by calling out Republicans on their failure to be constructive? I worry that the level of respect he shows the opposition translates to: “He can be rolled”.

In the summer of 2008, it looked like Obama was lacking the chutzpah and fire in the belly that gets you elected. Nevertheless, he sprinted to the finish and began his presidency with intelligence and grace, restoring regard for the US on the international stage. But as the health care initiative drags on and is in danger of getting bollixed up forever in Senate procedural argument, can the President do more? Or is it his nature to let the “community” work out their own differences?

What are your thoughts?