I had a thought on the Notre Dame thing I wanted to share — sort of an offbeat one. A lot of people say, or imply, that other people have a lot of nerve, opposing an invitation to the President of the United States. Why, he’s the President of the United States. What more is there to say?
Well, a fair amount more. I had a memory — had not thought of this episode for a long time. Occurred twelve years ago, in April 1997. Tiger Woods won the Masters, for the first time. And President Clinton immediately invited him to Shea Stadium, to participate in a Jackie Robinson ceremony. Tiger said no-thanks — he had plans to go to Mexico, with friends.
A couple of things went into this, I think. First, Tiger is a pretty conservative guy, and he is very pro-military. His dad served in Vietnam. Tiger was named after a war buddy of his dad’s. I have a feeling Tiger doesn’t have much use for President Clinton. Also, as a rule, he abhors anything racial — anything race-related. (I devoted a piece to this, here.) Then, Tiger is simply an independent cuss.
He continues:
I commented at the time that it was sort of neat that Tiger turned down that invitation. And a colleague of mine disagreed, strongly. “This is the President of the United States,” he said. He calls, you come. To refuse to do so was something like an act of unpatriotism. And Tiger was showing bad manners, acting like a petulant brat.
My view was much different. Tiger is a citizen of a free republic, not a serf in a kingdom. You don’t have to answer the summons of the ruler. You may choose to do so — you may be flattered and giddy — but you aren’t compelled to do so. As I saw it, Tiger showed a fine republican spirit. The president is a mortal, who happened to be elected to an important office. He may be a saint; he may be a horse’s butt. Free people can respond to him, or not, as they like.
Hmm, very interesting! Because--surprise!!!--Nordlinger took, um, different views when the White House resident was George W. Bush.
Here he advises John McCain on how to respond to campaign-season attempts by Obama to tie him to Bush:
“Say what you will about President Bush, senator, but he is the twice-elected president of the United States and a good and honorable man. I would rather be associated with him than with Billy Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and Tony Rezko, to begin with.”
He may be a saint, he may be horse's butt... except W., who's a saint. Obviously. You don't demean him.
Here's Nordlinger on a San Francisco recycling issues:
Was interested in this story on trash in San Francisco. “Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents’ trash to make sure pizza crusts aren’t mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom. And if residents or businesses don’t separate the coffee grounds from the newspapers, they would face fines of up to $1,000 and eventually could have their garbage service stopped.”
This is the same city, of course, in which people are proposing to name a sewage-treatment plant after President Bush. It’s on the November ballot.
Whoops! They demeaned the President--their views and policies have thus been invalidated. You may express your views in whatever manner you wish. Just not, you know, if you're anti-Bush. He's a good and fucking honorable man. Clinton wasn't, and obviously that Malcolm X-reincarnate Obama clearly isn't.
Oh! Oh! And here's Nordlinger on the inauguration crowd, after being forced to bear the fallout of eight years of royal fuck-ups, booing the man who caused them:
When I read that the crowd today booed President Bush — and then saw a video of it — I thought of a quip my friend Eddie made, not long ago: “When the Left asks for a classless society, now I know what they mean.”Damn, those guys should have been more respectful.
So let's get this straight Jay. Tiger Woods not accepting an invitation from a popular president who didn't serve in Vietnam and therefore is anti-military or something--fine. Citizens booing the outgoing leader who fabricated a casus belli, tortured people, ballooned the debt, oversaw one of the worst economic collapses ever, and presided over the worst terrorist attack in American history--totally fucking uncool.
Gotcha.
