Chi Trib’s Brachear makes amusing cause celebre of a pastoral warning. Tut.
Personal recollection, St. Catherine of Siena Church, early 1940s: Fr. G. from pulpit on Sunday warning vs. Dick Tracy — for depiction of violence, as of Tracy x-ing out side of shed with tommy-gun bullets, knowing bad guy was hiding inside. Counter-cultural advice then, counter-cultural now. In 60s counter-cultural was good, but now?
Obama the orator has become the TelePrompter-in-Chief, though some still cling to his reputation as orator. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is a speaker who can manage with reminders that fit on her hand. NY Sun, conceding Obama as orator, has this about Palin addressing the Ground Zero Mosque question via Facebook:
Not only does Mrs. Palin manage, in a polite but firm way, to speak more forthrightly than the president and to draw finer distinctions than the president but she also manages to articulate a practical line more in keeping with a harmonious outcome.
In other words she does the leadership thing in what she says, which, come presidential choice time in a year or so, will matter for her and us more than ever.
Blithe Spirit 