Politicians

Lewis H. Lapham's Dec. 13 Op-ed Page column, "Surviving the White House follies," was the best yet. It was also good for a few laughs - especially the closing line "On watching Reagan's bungling geopoliticians wander in and out of press conferences . . . at least it's reassuring that they didn't choose to become airline pilots or water engineers or surgeons. " Marilyn Fusfield Doylestown.

I have been wondering whom to invite to my Halloween party. Of course, I'll ask the usual passel of friends. But I want this year to be different. Special. Full of VIPs. So since I think and write about them all the time, I am writing up an invitation to the stars of our system, our wise and worldly politicians in that great pulsing hub of Washington. My only problem is, I can't see them doing Halloween. Sure, it's possible that they're not so different from the rest of us. Maybe those who have kids stock up on chocolates and jawbreakers, escort their kids around a familiar neighborhood, or take them to parties where everyone eats too much candy corn and the adults muse over the good old days of knocking on doors and saying, "Trick or treat!"

As Hurricane Andrew gave its final shriek and retreated into the Everglades last week I knew we were really in trouble. Within minutes my worst fears were realized. The tiny screen of my battery- powered TV overflowed with the unctuous faces of politicians taking credit and assigning blame, promising and demanding comfort. The particulars varied but there were a few constant themes: Someone else should have predicted the hurricane earlier, prepared for it better, provided more aid for its victims.

Václav Havel was past president of the Czech Republic, and the author of 21 plays and the essays "The Power of the Powerless," "Living in Truth," and "The Art of the Impossible. " He wrote this essay in 1998. He died Monday/ Does an intellectual - by virtue of his efforts to get beneath the surface of things, to grasp relations, causes, and effects, to recognize individual items as part of larger entities, and thus to derive a deeper awareness of and responsibility for the world - belong in politics?

In his interview with Rolling Stone, Bill Clinton exploded at the claim that he had not honored his commitments. "I have fought more damn battles here for more things than any president in 20 years with the possible exception of Reagan's first budget and not gotten one damn bit of credit from the knee-jerk liberal press. I am damn sick and tired of it. " To the press, the outburst was the self-indulgent grousing of a thin- skinned politician. But Clinton was right that the press has been overly negative.

Former state Sen. James R. Lloyd Jr., named this week as Gov. Casey's adviser on eastern Pennsylvania matters, said that one of his tasks was to smooth relations with local politicians. So far, the appointment has had just the opposite effect. "This thing with Jim Lloyd upset the whole city," one Philadelphia Democratic leader said yesterday, asking not to be named. "Some of our guys don't even know him or like him, and nobody was consulted. Not even the mayor was called in on it. " Mayor Goode could not be reached for comment yesterday.

When the Northwest Summit convenes this weekend at Chestnut Hill College, it will bring together community leaders from neighborhoods poor and affluent, black and white and mixed in a search for creative solutions to problems that recognize no boundaries. The problems include crime, drugs and cutbacks in city services - issues that summit organizers say demand prompt and coordinated attention. "We call it a summit because at a summit you take care of business," said Horace Small, Northwest director of the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network, one of the organizers of the event.

The winds have yet to blow. The rain has yet to pour. But this fall, the threat of a powerful wallop from El Nino hangs like a rare storm cloud over the perpetually sunny skies of Southern California. Constant publicity about the unpredictable worldwide weather phenomenon has brought big business to West Coast insurance agents, who are writing out flood insurance policies by the thousands every day. It's also been a boon for politicians, who have been quick to position themselves as defenders against the deluge.

IFOR ONE AM a proud senior citizen. I've seen many come and many go. I say we need term limits to any elected office. Some of these geezers are like fixtures on the wall. Two terms and hit the road. We need some young blood in office to represent the taxpayers. Vote the bums out, the people must push for this resolution. Pat Panichelli, Philadelphia

We're in for nine solid months of politics. There will be moments in those months when our attention will be drawn to events that seem to be divorced from politics. Don't let them fool you! Almost every important pronouncement defending old policies or projecting new programs that comes out of the White House will have been studied, restudied, vetted and revetted to assess its effect on the November election. So will statements from the Democratic side. If we, the voters, react as we have in most of our past elections, there will be a not inconsiderable amount of grousing.

By Terry Golway Here's something you need to remember about politicians: They think like, well, politicians. Which means that they are different from you and me. So when a sitting officeholder is called to the great Electoral College in the sky, it takes no more than a nanosecond for politicians to put aside their grief and begin plotting, scheming, and otherwise preparing for what comes next. It may sound callous, but that's how politicians think. Frankly, that's how they should think.

TOKYO - An outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce sex crimes, but defended another inflammatory remark about Japan's use of sex slaves before and during World War II. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, coleader of an emerging nationalist party, said his remarks two weeks ago rose from a "sense of crisis" about cases of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel on...

We know American politics are dysfunctional. But after a week of scandal obsession during which the nation's capital and media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about - jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education - it's worth asking if there is something flawed about our democracy. Our circumstances have their own particular disabilities: a radicalization of conservative politics, over-the-top mistrust of President Obama on the right, high-tech gerrymandering in the House, and a Senate snarled by nonconstitutional supermajority requirements.

In September 1774, when America's First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, there were no "united states," just a collection of British colonies largely going their separate ways whose primary loyalty was to a distant British king. The brilliant, though occasionally cranky, Massachusetts delegate John Adams described the assembled delegates as a "gathering of strangers," complaining that "the art of address of Ambassadors from a dozen belligerent Powers of Europe . . . would not exceed the Specimens We have seen here.

WE'LL NEVER know what Juanita Bennett whispered to Barack Obama. It was during his 2008 campaign for the presidency. He was in Philadelphia for a TV appearance, and Juanita was doing his makeup. Juanita, whose makeup clients included a staggering list of eminent people in politics, entertainment and every other kind of field, all yearning to be beautiful, didn't just do makeup. She always had something to say, always of an encouraging nature. But what she confided to Obama is something she always kept to herself.

The policy mystery of our time is why politicians across much of the democratic world are so obsessed with deficits when their primary mission ought to be bringing down high and debilitating rates of unemployment. And since last week saw a cross-party celebration of the opening of George W. Bush's presidential library, I'd add a second mystery: Why is it that conservative Republicans who freely cut taxes while backing two wars in the Bush years started preaching fire on deficits only after a Democrat entered the White House?

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama joked Saturday about his plans for a radical second-term evolution from a "strapping young Muslim Socialist" to retiree golfer, all with a new hairstyle like first lady Michelle's. Obama used this year's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner to poke fun at himself and some of his political adversaries, asking if it was still possible to be brought down a peg after 41/2 years as commander-in-chief. Entering to the rap track "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, Obama joked about how re-election would allow him to unleash a radical agenda.

COPS ARE TRUE optimists. Surrounded by violence and facing danger every day, we have to be optimists. We represent the police chiefs from every major city in the nation - and we believe we can do more to make America safe. That's why we looked to the U.S. Senate for courage and leadership on gun violence, to enact reforms that are long overdue. With 94 percent of the public asking for better gun laws, we expected the Senate to do what cops do - protect the public. But a minority of senators protected themselves instead of the American people.

Bob Edgar represented Pennsylvania for six terms in Congress, but his influence in the region and the country well exceeded his time in office. Edgar, who died of a heart attack Tuesday at the age of 69, was a man of seemingly endless energy, enthusiasm, and compassion. He headed the good-government group Common Cause, and earlier had served as president of the Claremont School of Theology in California, as secretary-general of the National Council of Churches, and as a Methodist minister.

The National Rifle Association is facing attacks from Gun Owners of America for being too soft on gun control. This is like a double cheeseburger coming under severe criticism for lacking enough cholesterol. Universal background checks are supported by 91 percent of Americans. Yet there is enormous resistance in Congress to passing a bill to keep arms out of the wrong hands. Or consider the Morning Joe/Marist poll last week showing 64 percent of Americans saying that job creation should be the top priority for elected officials.