At the top floors, the high and mighty are in denial
It's time for New York magazine editors, Seattle bank executives, and Puget Sound transportation leaders to exit their elevators — at the lobby level.
Most of us live in some kind of denial at least some of the time. Much is harmless. But when denial is heedless, and harmful on a broad scale, it must be noted.
The New Yorker Obama cover
The magazine's editors are the folks in flagrant denial regarding this week's cover featuring Sen. Barack and Michelle Obama, portayed together in the Oval Office. The presidential candidate and his wife are depicted standing in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Above the fireplace is a portrait of Osama bin Laden. Obama is shown wearing a robe, sandals, and turban, Michelle Obama is seen as an Angela Davis lookalike sporting an Afro, combat boots, assault rifle, and catridge belt.
When the Obama campaign characterized the cover as "tasteless and offensive," The New Yorker countered with a feeble statement explaining that it was satire meant to bring into the open "the prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd" being peddled by Obama critics. Sen. John McCain, the putative Republican presidential nominee, chimed in that he, also, found the cover "totally inappropriate, and frankly I understand if Sen. Obama and his supporters would find it offensive."
Fact is, The New Yorker just does not get it. Its editors truly do believe that hateful right-wingers are out there smearing the Obamas. It is the magazine's job, the editors think, to expose these evil doers through a satiric cover. Yes, there are a handful of folks on the Internet, and elsewhere, purveying nonsense about the Obamas. But they are nothing but a handful; their importance is negligible, as the Obamas no doubt recognize. The New Yorker, through its cover, did everyone a disservice — like running a cover in early civil-rights days depicting lolling black men, boozing and porch-sitting, casting lustful glances at young white girls passing by. A few people will take it at face value. Others will simply see it as dumb and gratuitously offensive.
New York magazine editors, particularly those expressing political opinion, constitute a subculture of their own. I think of this subculture — one among many in New York and elsewhere — as existing in one particular elevator in one particular high-rise building in the city. There are many high rises and, in this building, there are several elevators. The subculture populating this particular elevator is a monoculture. Its members think alike and share the same values. Because they do not leave the elevator, it is easy for them to believe that the people they see in the elevator, and the opinions they express, are representative of people and opinions elsewhere. Nope, not true. This becomes painfully apparent at revealing moments, such as that represented by the Obama cover.
WaMu's continuing peril
Those in denial at Washington Mutual are its board and executives. Bank stocks — especially those overexposed in the current mortgage/credit crisis — took another grave hit Monday, July 14, on financial markets. When WaMu stock at mid-morning reached its lowest point in 17 years, an official spokesperson stated that "nothing unusual" had been noted (he must have meant there was no ongoing run on the bank by depositors). The stock closed down 34.75 percent, at $3.23.
WaMu recently got fresh capital intended to cover anticipated bad-loan losses. But estimates Monday on Wall Street suggested that WaMu remains many billions short of being able to meet these obligations.
Bear Stearns already has been rescued by federal intervention. The federal government has stated its willingness to assure the continuing viability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Federal regulators seized IndyMac last Friday, July 11. Its failure was the second-largest in U.S. bank history. IndyMac depositors were lining up Monday to get their money. Meantime, the Federal Reserve promulgated new rules applying to subprime lenders — late but better late than never.
These actions have been taken late in the day and expensively. Taxpayers, investors, and customers of the institutions have taken a hit. The credit squeeze has long since spread from housing to other parts of the economy and financial system. Public opinion surveys reveal that, increasingly, ordinary citizens are unwilling to pay for more rescues. Executive-branch and congressional leaders read these surveys.
If and when a WaMu goes down, it is unlikely to get a Fed or other bailout. Too late. If another institution is unwilling to purchase and absorb it — as Bank of America recently did with Countrywide — it will disappear. Unless WaMu can come up with major new capital or a purchaser, pronto, trading in its stock may be frozen somewhere above zero. WaMu, whether its leaders recognize it or not, is about to flatline.
Transportation ballot measuring
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, chair of Sound Transit, remains in denial regarding the prospect that voters will approve this year what they overwhelmingly disapproved last year: a multibillion-dollar ballot measure principally financing light rail expansion through King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. He is pressing fellow Sound Transit board members hard to vote later this month to go forward with the measure. As this is written, he lacks the necessary votes.
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Comments:
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 3:42 a.m. inappropriate
another last gasp from cranky old Seattle: If Ted Van Dyk was looking for a glass bubble smaller than an elevator at City Hall, he certainly found it at the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition. This group had its heyday 25 years ago. Charlie Chong was their head-in-the-sand spiritual leader...and he lost the primary to both Nickels AND Schell, post Mardi Gras and post WTO. In other words, one could get better educated in Greg's elevator than Ted's shed.
One gets the impression that Van Dyk's repetitive complaining about local politics has more to do with him than it does us. These bitter diatribes regarding "elite halls of power" sound incredibly odd coming from a guy who routinely touts his White House pedigree. Yeah, Greg Nickels is on the verge of ruining the world. Too bad Dori Monson and Ken Schramm already cornered the market on two-bit ignorant populism.
At least Charlie Chong brought some humor and wit to the table.
We've got enough cave-man politics to go around thanks to the current occupants in the White House, thank you very much. How pathetic is it that Van Dyk even finds himself behind the Gingrich Congress curve? Remember the days when the Republican Congress was handing out tax breaks for Hummers 10 years ago? That really turned out well. Yet Ted and Frank 'Pave Seattle' Chopp are still stuck in a pre-Gingrich era. (for the record, Newt is still psyched to drill for more oil to keep Ted's fading Interstate Era dreams alive for a couple more years)
Van Dyk keeps making these vague and ridiculous statements about "Bus Rapid Transit" without ever mentioning a single component of what an effective rail alternative system might look like. His (bubblator) friends at the Discovery Institute received $10 million to study this stuff, and so far all Ted's transportation gurus have come up with is: foot ferries, a submerged 520 tube under Lake Washington, a deep-bore tunnel to replace the AWV...and a ridiculous commuter train to trundle through people's back lots in Woodinville. Oh, and they like to hold conferences on hybrid cars (to help Toyota with their barebones marketing) Now, of course, Discovery likes BRT. But they don't ever want to define it, let alone hold a conference about this mythical beast.
But, oh no: Nickels and light rail are obviously the problem. The luminaries Van Dyk hangs around with in his shed have got this transportation thing solved.
Hey, if you want to see a spark of REAL populism - as opposed to the shrill uninformed variety - then let's move forward with Van Dyk colleagues' insane congestion pricing plans; as in: the way to achieve the "Rapid" in Bus Rapid Transit. Compared to the 25 angry old white guys worshipping at the throne of Tim Eyman...err, I mean Tom McCabe...no, sorry...Frank Chopp at that SNC crank fest, the introduction of Lexus Lanes, Congestion Pricing (where you get punished for trying to go to work) will make SNC whining look like a cakewalk.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 6:37 a.m. inappropriate
That Barack Obama - or his campaign geniuses - find The New Yorker cover depicting he and his wife in pretty obviously over the top garb doing pretty obviously over the top things offensive tells me his skin may be a lot thinner than he lets on.
The candidate doth protest too much.
The American people may well see this hyper-sensitivity and outrage as masking insecurities and worries on his part that maybe he isn't all he's cracked up to be.
The wiser and more statesman-like strategy for Senator Obama would have been to join in the joke, be seen having a huge belly laugh over it, then publicly commending the artist for his wit and style all the while saying how would like to have an autographed original of the cover artwork so he could frame it and hang it in his office.
Embracing a joke removes whatever barbs are in it. Ronaldus Magnus Reaganus would have done it and did so whenever he was attacked personally. When he did, the American people loved The Gipper for it, accorded him tremendous respect as well as cutting him slack, and, by enormous landslides, elected him President of the United States twice.
If Sen. Obama thinks this magazine cover is bad, he ain't seen nuttin! If he wins in November, once his post-election honeymoon is over, every satirist and his mother will tee off on him. It's what they do for a living, and they like to live large and live good.
In the history of American presidential politics, the offending magazine cover is a barely Grade D offense. If you read the mud flung at every candidate in our history save George Washington, you have to regard this as milquetoast mild.
It's a measure of how insecure a lot of folks are - particularly folks in the media - that more jibes aren't tossed Sen. Obama's way. There's also a lot of the messianic adulation that accords him an almost untouchable status. In the meantime, it's open season on Sen. John McCain through and including questioning, if not casting aspersions on, his behavior during his imprisonment as a POW during the Viet Nam War. Don't hear a lot of outrage over that.
Harry Truman said it well: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." In this case, Sen. Obama complains too loudly about the kitchen's heat well before he's even stepped into the house its in.
Get a grip, Senator - it's a joke!
The Piper
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 9:13 a.m. inappropriate
Why it isn't funny: Obama is correct in not faking appreciation for a patently offensive illustration, and I hope New Yorker subscribers shout back: this isn't satire.
Satire contains a nugget of truth. Where is the nugget here?
The illustration could have been adapted to show clearly the source of these rabid fantasies, e.g., surround it with a thought bubble emanating from Dick Cheney. Or show it offered on a cafeteria tray, with the MSM lining up to dine. Throw in an Easter Bunny.
It is what is missing from this cover that makes it offensive. There were myriad options for true satire, and Remnick is no dolt. He wanted this controversy.
It's the first time in 20 years I've been tempted to cancel my subscription.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 9:49 a.m. inappropriate
RE: Why it isn't funny: A Dick Cheney thought bubble? A cafeteria tray? As a longtime New Yorker subscriber I'm very glad you're not on its creative team. Maybe you'd like a disclaimer on the front: "This is satire, not what we really believe, and thus you should not take offense. If anyone does we apologize in advance."
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 9:55 a.m. inappropriate
I know it's hard to understand that, but keep trying! This year will be only transit.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 12:24 p.m. inappropriate
Mayor in a bubble--: Just transit or just roads--people are beginng to hurt. And with gas and food going up in prices, and net worths (ie equity in their houses) going down or even looking to go down, are people really going to vote for new taxes?
While I support the extensions in the other counties, I'm not sure making the whole thing shine more is going to get more votes in this climate.
But then again, Nickels has always had a propensity to think of our wallets as resting places for the city's dollars.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 12:58 p.m. inappropriate
Pierce County Holdouts Still Holding Out: How exactly does the new project proposal attract Pierce County holdouts? Did TVD look to see what we're getting down here? How pathetic is this, for a 0.5% sales tax increase?
Neither plan ... would bring the light-rail line into Pierce County. In fact, the southernmost station on the light-rail line by 2020 would be at Highline Community College in South King County.
The 15-year plan also would set aside enough money to buy about half of the property needed to extend the rail line through Federal Way and into Tacoma and to pay for preliminary engineering for that stretch, but not enough to build any of it.
Some matching funds would be made available to Tacoma if the city wanted to extend its streetcar line either to Tacoma General Hospital or to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians' planned resort around the Emerald Queen Casino on the East Side of Tacoma.
Gee, thanks, Sound Transit! Our tax dollars won't even buy all the land we need to build on, much less paying for the rail construction itself. And if we want to get some tangible benefits out of this current tax proposal by extending our existing light rail line, we have to add matching funds? Yeah, that's gonna win the Pierce County vote!
A far better approach for Pierce County would be to give up the too-expensive idea of connecting Tacoma to Seattle via light rail (a trip that would take an hour each way even with right-of-way) and focus on expanding the existing system into Tacoma neighborhoods. Then people can leave their cars at home and take the streetcar to downtown jobs, or to the Tacoma Dome to connect to a bus or train to Seattle. Isn't leaving your car at home supposed to be the holy grail of transportation?
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 1:06 p.m. inappropriate
First, the New Yorker cover. I do not believe that the editors purposely ran the cover so as to generate controversy and attention. I think they genuinely believed the cover to be satire or, as some have put it, "a joke." But I doubt many people of color or Islamic faith have found humor in the cover. Their experience tells them that the people slurring the Obamas will now use the cover art on the Internet, in mailings, and otherwise to further their own nasty arguments. The cover, though meant by the editors as satire, has lent legitimacy to issues which do not deserve legitimacy. The Obamas, and those in the Obama campaign, know the cover hurt rather than helped them.
Second, the prospective ballot measure. Voters in Pierce, Snohomish and King Counties voted in almost equal percentages against Prop. 1 last year. After- the-fact analysis showed that the roads component of the package likely would have passed had light rail not been attached to it.
A regional light rail system, now as then, would be far more costly, take longer to construct, and carry far fewer passengers than bus and bus rapid transit alternatives. Light rail simply passes no reasonable cost-benefit test in this region when compared to alternatives.
You can set conventional cost-benefit discussion aside and argue that the construction of a light rail system would stimulate development of desirable high-density corridors in the region---if you consider them desirable. But such an argument conveniently sets aside real-world questions relating to how to move the most people and goods, to the places they need to go, for the least amount of taxpayer money. Experience with light rail in cities already using it indicates unintended consequences and, almost universally, lower ridership and higher costs than promised at the outset. The light rail system now under construction in Seattle is years behind its construction schedule, billions over its promised pricetag, and missing many of the stations promised to voters when they approved it. Why on earth would voters want to extend the system throughout the three counties before it had begun even limited operation in Seattle?
Buses to blame for present transportation congestion in the region? Transportation congestion is due to many factors, including growing populaton and economic activity hereabouts. Buses are part of the solution rather than causes of the problem. Congestion must be addressed by that combination of transportation technologies most suited to a particular region. If light rail could pass a reasonable cost-benefit test, it should be considered as a technology to be used. But thus far it has not been able to do so.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 1:11 p.m. inappropriate
RE: Why it isn't funny: Did you actually read my message? I called for creativity, not disclaimers, to raise crude humor to satire. That's the level of intelligence I expect from the New Yorker, if not, sadly, from Crosscut flamers.
Posted Tue, Jul 15, 9:55 p.m. inappropriate
Metro Sweatboxes for the masses, high transportation costs...: Metro bus drivers tell me Metro removed the air conditioning installed in Metro buses before they were put into service... Ride an air conditioned ST bus or sweaty person on a metro heat sink bus ... might be why voters voted down Transit taxes... now we have $4.25 gas, Narrows bridge tolls, Lexus lanes and now 520 toll taxes ... next the Sonics redux will be at the taxpayer trough...
The governor took over the WA transportation commissison duties... a new political football.. not sound economic evaluation and best practices... 100 transportation agencies each taking 25% admin costs out of our fuel tax base...
Posted Wed, Jul 16, 12:43 a.m. inappropriate
RE: Ted Van Dyk response: "After- the-fact analysis showed that the roads component of the package likely would have passed had light rail not been attached to it."
Really, Mr. Van Dyk? Than cite your sources.
The Sierra Club poll taken right after Prop 1 went down in flames (thank you, Olympia) showed the exact opposite was true.
All legit polling for the past 4 years (including WSDOT surveys) illustrates light rail scores higher than your outdated freeway dreamz.
If you want to see how poorly your position will fare once Central Link is up and running, check the Portland / OR experience. Bundy's right wing anti-transit sources down there will be more than happy to tell you when they last raised the OR gas tax. (hint: once light rail was up and running and funded by the state, nobody saw any need to pave the PDX planet.)
Might I suggest the desert Southwest as a safe bastion for road warriors like you? Oh, sorry. Even Phoenix is building rail.
But I do have to say 'thank you' for that comment. Like faux environmentalist Emory Bundy (sole insane TVD source for all things transportation), it's clear your heart really does secretly lie with the RTID.
RIP.
Still waiting for your right wing BRT plan, Mr. Van Dyk. But, since that's too big of a bite to expect from any disengenous bus 'supporter,' I'll be perfectly happy with the citatation for that poll you mentioned.
Baby steps.
Posted Wed, Jul 16, 8:05 a.m. inappropriate
I cannot speak for others but I am none of the above. Having spent a lifetime in and around public policy, I am accustomed to a decisionmaking process---in transportation as elsewhere---in which options are considered carefully and their costs and benefits assessed. Which options serve the public interest most efficiently? If, in this region, light rail were shown to be an efficient, cost-effective way to move people and goods, I would favor it enthusiastically. Regrettably, for a long list of reasons, light rail here is a costly and inefficient option.
Why, then, does it persist on our public agenda? It does so for the obvious reason that a network of the self-interested has grown up around it. This network includes contractors, sub-contractors, law firms, engineers, consultants, pollsters, public relations firms and others who derive direct financial benefit from light rail. It also includes elected officials who receive campaign money and support from the same network. It also persists because
the Sound Transit board is appointed, rather than elected, and thus not directly accountable to taxpayers and voters. (Reform proposals would change this and make the ST board directly elected). Even so, the current appointed ST board has shown itself reluctant to buy into the current proposals for light rail expansion. It could either narrowly approve or reject putting a Son of Prop. 1 ballot measure before voters this fall.
The rage and emotion displayed by light rail advocates does not serve their purpose. Lacking credible supporting data, they habitually fall back on the tactic of smearing their opponents.
Posted Wed, Jul 16, 10 a.m. inappropriate
RE: Why it isn't funny: So anyone who criticizes your comments is a "flamer"?
I did read your message. My point was that your suggestions lacked any real creativity, and were pretty much on par with printing a disclaimer. I much prefer the New Yorker version to yours, and I don't think they needed to dumb down the cartoon so the unwashed masses would get it, as you seem to espouse.
Posted Wed, Jul 16, 10:03 a.m. inappropriate
RE: Metro Sweatboxes for the masses, high transportation costs...: Interesting. I rode a nicely air-conditioned Metro Route 255 bus from Seattle to Kirkland yesterday.
In truth, there aren't that many days in Seattle that air conditioning is necessary. Opening the windows works just fine.
Posted Wed, Jul 16, 8:15 p.m. inappropriate
RE: He who laughs last...wins: "The wiser and more statesman-like strategy for Senator Obama would have been to join in the joke, be seen having a huge belly laugh over it,"
The Pipe Dream: ssimilar satire of John McCain was his unauthorized appearnance on Saturday Night Live's "Saturday TV Funhouse" a year ago.
It was similarly vicious...and, McCain was "not amused."
I know you're a lock-step Republikan, but statements like the one above show just how pointless these silly Piper pronounciatiations really are.
Posted Fri, Jul 18, 9:03 a.m. inappropriate
Light Rail is not Rapid Transit: .
MYTH: Light Rail will get people out of their cars.
Funny how everyone thinks, "Gee, once we get the light rail built, we will be able to avoid traffic and get places a lot faster!" Dream on. The Sound Transit light rail is slow. It is just an expensive street car. So what if it goes to the airport? It will take you longer to get there from Northgate than a car - even during rush hour. Once people wake up and realize that after spending billions of dollars, light rail is not "rapid transit," they are going to be hopping mad. So, Sound Transit better get cracking and schedule tax hike elections now, before reality sets in.
Posted Tue, Jul 22, 10:45 a.m. inappropriate
NY ego out of control.: NY-er editor in defending his choice of Obama cover was the sound bite equivalent of the maps of NY that cover most of the page with the boroughs and have Europe and California lurking at the map's corners. Wake up David,
your humor and ego don't belong on the cover. This was inexcusable and tasteless.