I was doing my post-swim shaving at the
JCC when I noticed that Arnold had returned, after about four months
of sightseeing in faraway lands. I was glad to see Arnold again,
especially since he still owed me five dollars from a bet we'd made
on the U.S. presidential election. (Why didn't I make it a hundred?)
He paid his debt manfully, and I, ever the gentleman, didn't even
charge him interest.
But Arnold couldn't leave it at that;
he had to get in a face-saving dig. "You may have won the bet,"
he said, "but you have to admit Obama's been a failure as
president."
I registered my disagreement in the
strongest terms, and the ensuing conversation went something like
this:
ARNOLD: Tell me one thing Obama has
done.
ME: He passed the most important
health-care legislation since Medicare.
ARNOLD: Feh [or something that sounded
like "Feh"]. (This, mind you, from a Canadian who has
always enjoyed single-payer health care, and has never had to live in
the U.S. without coverage.) Come on, tell me one thing he's done.
ME: He got Osama bin-Laden.
ARNOLD: Are you kidding? Come on, what
has he done?
ME: He inherited an economy on the
verge of collapse, hemorrhaging jobs, and put it on the right course.
ARNOLD: Oh, please. Tell me one thing
he's done.
ME: He saved the U.S. auto industry.
ARNOLD: Feh. [That word again.]
By this time, it was clear that nothing
I could say to this fellow would earn Obama any credit. Suddenly it
was 1947 again, I was eight years old and listening to Bob Feller
and certain New York tabloid sportswriters disparaging Jackie
Robinson's abilities, claiming he wasn't really of
major-league calibre; and I realized (not for the first time) that Obama, like Jackie, would
have to be twice as good as everybody else to get the same
amount of respect.
I will spend Arnold's five dollars with
great pleasure.
[The music, appropriate to the situation, is from the CD shown below: Becky Kilgore, vocal; Dan Barrett, trombone; Eddie
Erickson, guitar; Joel Forbes, bass; Jeff Hamilton, drums.]
