Why Can't We Be Friends?….or President Obama visits the Republican Caucus

Today, the political shows are abuzz with the live question and answer session that took place today between President Obama and the Republican caucus. All the shows have reflected on the public’s general distaste with the partisan vitriol in Washington in both parties. To combat this image, President Obama made overtures for greater bipartisan work in his State of the Union on Wednesday and today visited the Republican caucus to participate in a “free exchange of ideas.”

What’s interesting is that the public and media seem to believe that this Republican vs. Democrat political culture is the most viscious its ever been in American politics. That may be, but I don’t believe that to be necessarily true. For example, I wish we could see a similar exchange of ideas from the 1790s era of American politics when Federalists so hated Democratic-Republicans (and vice-versa) that they would cross the street rather than share the sidewalk with someone of an opposing party. I won't even get into the antebellum and civil war years. That said, I found today’s events to be quite an anomaly. Certainly, previous presidents have spoken at meetings of their opposition in attempts to increase feelings (or the appearance of) bipartisanship. However, today’s meeting was the first such event to be taped and aired live.

Here is the full question and answer session:

[Image via mentalfloss]

There Was Nothing Phony About This Man – J.D. Salinger Dies at 91

As most of the world already knows, J.D. Salinger, the mysterious author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died at the age of 91 on Wednesday. Here is the NY Times obituary of one of the greatest American writers to emerge from the World War II era. 

I’m pretty sure “The Catcher in The Rye” is now required reading at most high schools. I know I had to read it during my freshman year. That said, its hard to imagine that this now standard text was one of the most banned books in schools for over 20 years. In honor of J.D. Salinger, here is one of my favorite passage from “The Catcher in the Rye.”

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me.  And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That's all I do all day.  I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield

[Images via cas and notablebiographies]

RIP Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn passed away today from a heart attack at the age of 87. The offer of the populist and best selling A People’s History of the United States was known for his passion and his left wing view of history. As an educator he encouraged his students to question the version of history they thought they knew, and to appreciate dissent as an essential part of American democracy. No matter your view of his politics, it would be hard to deny his influence and impact on American culture. To read more about Howard Zinn, click here.

[Image via identitytheory]

He Shall From Time to Time…..A Brief History of the State of the Union

Tonight, President Barack Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address as president. The need for a president to address Congress about the state of the union is laid out in our Constitution in Article II, Section 3, which mandates that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Like much of the Constitution, this requirement is written in somewhat ambiguous language that the early presidents interpreted in different ways. For example, what kind of requirement is “from time to time?” President George Washington interpreted that to mean once a year, and so the State of the Union is delivered once a year, usually at the start of a new legislative session.

Another interesting aspect of the constitutional requirement of a state of the union is that it does not explicitly state that the president must deliver it before Congress in person. George Washington and John Adams both chose to deliver the address in person. John Adams’ State of the Union only took about 5 minutes to deliver. Imagine if that was the case today. While the first two presidents delivered the address in person, Thomas Jefferson believed the sight of a president addressing Congress was too similar to the practice of the King of England addressing parliament. He rankled at any display of monarchial power. Therefore, he sent a written copy of his state of the union to be read to Congress. This became the standard practice for presidents until Woodrow Wilson. He resurrected the practice of delivering the address in person, a practice that was later adopted by FDR. While presidents still have the constitutional right to mail their address to Congress, it has become an unwritten requirement of the modern presidency to deliver it in person.

There have been some tense moments surrounding previous addresses, check out a NY Times article that describes some of these addresses in greater detail.

To read more about the State of the Union address and the American presidency, check this out.

Delivering the State of the Union address live on primetime television was a practice started by President Lyndon Johnson. Will you be watching tonight?

[Image via knowledgerush]

“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” – On the walls of the Library of Congress

On January 26, 1802, Congress passed an act calling for the establishment of a library within the U.S. Capital. The primary purpose of the library was to field research requests from Congress. Only members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices and other high-ranking government officials are allowed to take books out of the library. The rest of us have to obtain a library card to use research materials within the library.

The Library itself has a rich history full of intrigue, drama and fires. Much of the library’s original collection was destroyed by fire during the War of 1812. Thomas Jefferson sold 6487 books to the library, which made up his entire personal library. This act shows how seriously Jefferson believed in the mission and importance of the Library of Congress, and how much he needed money to keep his ever tenuous personal finances in the black (which they rarely were).

The Library of Congress remained in the Capital building for much of the 19^th century. After the Civil War, the library began to grow in scope and in prominence and was eventually moved into its own building. It has come to serve as our de facto national library and now encompasses programs to promote literacy and greater historical appreciation nationwide. It is the largest library in the world in terms of shelf space (530 miles of bookshelves) and the 2^nd largest in terms of number of books held in its collections (29 million books). Visit the library’s website to do some research or just to check out the cool services the library offers online.

For more of the history of the Library of Congress, check this out.

[Images via Zanegrant, bbg-aura and about]

Never say Nevermore

Today would have been Edgar Allan Poe’s 201^st birthday. The NY Times is reporting that an anonymous man known for visiting Poe’s grave dressed entirely in black on Poe’s birthday did not make his usual pilgrimage this year. For years, spectators have turned out to Poe’s grave in Baltimore on January 19th to watch as this unidentified man drank a toast to Poe before pouring the rest of the cognac out over Poe’s grave. This same man also brought three roses to place on the grave every year. I never knew this tradition existed, but somehow, it doesn’t surprise me. I wonder if he’ll return next year? If not, who will take his place?

I Love Lucy (more than Eisenhower)…and so does the rest of America

On January 19, 1953, Lucy Ricardo had her baby on the I Love Lucy show. This was one of the first pregnancies shown on television, and it captured national interest. Interestingly, Lucille Ball was pregnant in real life at the time and had her baby on the same day that the episode showing her character’s labor was aired.

The I Love Lucy Show was an incredibly popular show which has been shown on television continuously since its end in 1957 through reruns. An incredible percentage of the population tuned in each week to see how Lucy might try to break into her husband’s nightclub act or attempt to get rich quick through some crazy scheme. Lucy’s pregnancy on the show only heightened public interest in an era in which the word “pregnant” could not be used on the air and Ricky and Lucy’s bedroom featured twin beds.

To show the level of interest in the I Love Lucy show and the birth of Lucy and Ricky’s television baby, more people tuned in to watch Lucy’s labor than watched President Eisenhower’s inauguration the next day. In many city newspapers, news of Lucy and Ricky’s baby pushed articles about Eisenhower’s inauguration off the front page.

Here is a clip from the infamous “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” episode which originally aired on January 19, 1953.

[Image via forbes]