If I was miffed with Mudede for cutting the Intiman Grapes discussion short, I should have been even more angry at Al Franken for omitting the reading from his University Bookstore sponsored book reading at Seattle’s Town Hall last night.
Strangely, though, I’m not. He gave us something better – he enacted the very transition between performance and passion that the Intiman’s production and the discussion surrounding it lacked. And this ain’t your grandfather’s historical passion we’re talking about – but passionate engagement in the politics of today.
Apparently Franken’s people didn’t leave him enough time for the reading before he had to catch a plane to Spokane. So instead of cutting the Q&A session short, he just cut out the reading – and lauched immediately into a half-hour Q&A. Score one for Franken against Intiman: talking heads are nice, but Q&A is what an audience really wants. (Naturally he couldn’t cut out the book signing segment of the evening, since that has become the raison d’etre of these events.)
Now I’m not a big Franken fan, I don’t listen to his radio program or read his books – though I did enjoy his writing for Saturday Night Live in its heyday. And I’m glad I’m not – the audience last night was pretty scary – and not just because it was Halloween and the guy’s name is Franken. It appeared to be mainly composed of facetious, middle-aged, left-leaning nerds – about what you would expect. The kind of people who fiddle with their funny bones while America burns. Oh, their hearts are in the right place – I’m just not so sure about their guts.
But I came away from my brief encounter with Franken impressed. He started out in a blithely humorous mode, full of Saturday Night-style irreverence – while fielding a question about Scooter Libby, he facetiously said that anyone who outed a CIA agent was a traitor, and he agreed with Nixon I think it was that all traitors should be shot.
But then he turned thoughtful, and finally passionate, full of righteous political anger – all without losing his ability to back off again into humor.
I couldn’t hear the questions that prompted Franken’s responses – but the responses were right on. First that the major issue facing America today is the lack of universal health care: it’s behind increasing personal bankruptcies, vanishing pension plans, the Social Security crisis – the real one, not the one Bush manufactured – and it’s what traps us all in jobs we don’t like, instead of taking a risk and maybe finding a chance to do what we love.
Now that’s serious – as Franken said, that’s something the Democrats could run on, and beat the Republicans.
The other issue to beat the Republicans with? Their rampant corruption. Under Bush and his allies in Congress, it’s become government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. Why was Brownie in charge of FEMA? So his old college chum and former Bush chief of staff Joe Allbaugh could leave that post and begin a lucrative career as a consultant for landing FEMA contracts. Why are we losing the peace in Iraq? Because most of the money we’re sending there is disappearing into the pockets of corrupt Bush-connected corporations here, and their allies among the corrupt over there. The common Iraqi citizens know it – and are dying to get us out.
Maybe it was actually here that Franken retailed his treason joke – though I doubt it: he was so passionate about these issues, it wouldn’t have been funny. I do, however, clearly recall him mentioning at about this point that he was thinking of turning politician himself.
Before last night – I also would have laughed. Today – I’m not so sure. Maybe I should be taking the Franken phenomenon more seriously.
After all, Franken is at least as qualified to become a part of the Executive Branch as, say, Harriet Miers was to go on the Supreme Court – or Bush himself to become Governor of Texas. What political experience did Ronald Regan have before he became Governor of California – or Arnold Schwarzenegger for that matter?
When you get to that level, the difference between politician and popular entertainer almost vanishes.
