David Brooks

From Daily Planet Staff Reports

President Barack Obama and his administration have antagonized Republicans and conservatives to a point where needed bipartisan cooperation appears to be an impossibility in resolving the United States’ spending and debit crisis, renowned journalist, writer and pundit David Brooks said April 22 at Asheville School’s Walker Arts Center’s Graham Auditorium.

Brooks said the polarization stems from the overly self-confidence and assertive attitude of Obama and his administration.

Rccent polls show that the approval rating of Democrats fell from 58 percent to 32 percent in recent months. “People are disgusted with the government in Washington,” Brooks said.

“Instead of moving past the polarization, we’re back in another war between bigger government and smaller government (proponents). Neither side is moving. Ths is a big problem because we’re not going to be able to solve” the looming debt debacle.

Followng his 45-minute address, Brooks fielded questions from the students in the audience for 15 minutes and then signed copies of his books afterward. His talk drew a near-capacity audience to the 324-seat facility at the elite private boarding high school in West Asheville.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Brooks has been a conservative op-ed columnist for The New York Times since September 2003. He has been a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and he is currently a commentator on “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer.”

He is the author of “Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive : How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense,” both published by Simon & Schuster.

Brooks began by noting that he began his professional life as a liberal and, in 1983, wrote a parody about William F. Buckley Jr. that impressed the conservative pundit, as follows:

“In the afternoons he is in the habit of going into crowded rooms and making everybody else feel inferior. The evenings are reserved for extended bouts of name-dropping.”

Buckley was so impressed with Brooks’ parody that he offered him a job at The National Review and his transition to conservativism was sealed by a debate with economist Milton Friedman.

Brooks said he was pleased to be at Asheville School — and that he had a tough time reaching his speaking engagement. His flight to Asheville Regional Airport was canceled, so he had to fly to Knoxville, Tenn., and was driven to the school by Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville.

“It’s true I was once a liberal,” Brooks reiterated. “At age 5, my parents took me to a “be-in,” where the hippies were burning their money in trash cans. When Brooks spotted a $5 bill in the trash can, he grabbed it and ran off, he said. “That was my first step to the right.”

He bccame a journalist and a writer, accepting every writing assignment — on any subject — that he was offered.

He said his best interview was of actor-comedian Jackie Gleason and his worst was with actor Tom Cruise.

To be a journalist, Brooks said, one has to be able to stand alone and observe from the outside as an outsider. “If everyone’s doing the wave and you’re not, then you should be a journalist,” he quipped, triggering laughter from the audience.

“Writing is really about ideas ... I’m not the most emotional person on earth ... The more I cover politics, the more I cover life.”

Brooks added that he feels it is important for one to get “the full scope of life,” which his work in journalism affords him.

“If you want to see who will be the most successful, it’s not the SAT scores” that are the most telling measure — it is social skills.

“If you marry well and fail in your career, you’ll still have a happy life,” Brooks said. “If you marry poorly and succeed in your career, you won’t have a happy life.”

In a stream-of-consciousness narrative, Brooks asked the audience if they ever notice that “people named Dennis disproportionately become dentists and people named Lawrence disproportionately become lawyers.”

Next, he noted that successful people learn early that “actions lead to consequences, so learn to control your impulses.”

In his own work, Brooks said he has “become much more attuned to the people I cover.”

“I interview three politicians per day and they’re emotional people, but they have these social skills” that tend to be exceptional.
He cited an unnamed politician who “goes around a room and introduces himself to everyone and, before he leaves the rooms, he repeats everyone’s first name.”

Brooks said the “most important politician now is Barack Obama ... You see in the nature of the person, a number of traits” that emerge from interviews in which Brooks was involved, “even though I’m about six notches to the right” of him.

Brooks listed as positives for Obama as:
• “He’s very perceptive.”
• “He has a level of intellect that’s unmatched in recent history” in the president’s office.
• “He’s an extremely nice person.”
• “He’s a very calm individual.”
• “He’s a self-confident guy.”

President Barack Obama

“In 80 years, I think we’ll use Obama’s name as a synonym for self-confidence.”

To that end, Obama is known to say that “I’m a better speach-writer than my speech-writer and I’m a better political strategist than my political strategist.”

After a pause, Brooks said, “If you think this, then you’re extremely self-confident,” which has its good and bad aspects.
Despite his confidence, Brooks noted that Obama allows “a culture of debate” to surround him, “which is a good thing.”

While Obama’s predecessor, George Bush “was a smart guy” and read more than 100 books per year as president, “which is remarkable,” there “wasn’t a culture of debate around him.”

Obama has “hired a number of smart people — half from Harvard (University) and half from Yale (University),” Brooks said. “If we have a terrorist attack during the Harvard-Yale (football) game, we’re screwed!” The audience laughed heartily at his joke.

“There was a huge debate (in the White House) over Afghanistan. Obama was moved 180 degrees. I find that very impressive.”

On “the bad side,” Brooks noted, Obama has introduced 181 major initiatives in the first six months of his presidency, resulting in $9.8 trillion being added to the national debt over the next decade.

Obama’s lack of “epistomological modesty,” Brooks said, means he is not aware of how little human beings know or can know. Instead, he said Obama and people in his administration think they know more than they do.

Brooks also said there is “an addiction to the homerun” in the administration. “Obama always wants to swing for the homerun ... I’m all for hitting singles ... The homerun tendency will require raising taxes or cutting spending,” both of which wlll require bipartisan effort.

In Brooks’ view, Obama’s actions have so antagonized Republicans and conservatives that any hope of achieving anything now through bipartisanship will be in vain.

Brooks then spoke of a radio show called “Command Performance” that was aired in 1945. He said the variety show “went out to the troops” during World War II.

“This one was on V-J Day — the last day of World War II,” Brooks said. “Bing Crosby came out and said of the war victory, “We just got through it.”

War correspondent Ernie Pyle expressed similarly modest sentiments in his writings, Brooks said.

Both Crosy and Pyle are examples of “the theory of humility.”

After Brooks saw a portrayal of the show, he went home and turned on a football game, where a wide receiver gained two yards “and did a bigger victory dance” than did the victors of World War II.

He said the U.S. has transitioned from a self-effacement culture to one that feels a sense of entitlement.

Bing Crosby

“In 1950, 12 percent of high school students said they were important people,” according to a survey then, Brooks noted. “Last year, the number was 80 percent.”

Similarly, he said, personal debt has skyrocketed, signifying “a shift in culture.”

“Nine trillion dollars in new debt” accumulated “just this past year ... This is the legacy we’re leaving to you high school students ... This is not only an economic problem, but a moral problem.”

On the bright side, Brooks said the current generation of teenagers are showing the U.S. is going through “a period of social repairs,” as teen pregnancies and abortions each have dropped by one-third and “community service is up.”

However, “I don’t see any way out of the overspending crisis.”

Brooks said a friend in New York had said he never felt so optimistic about the non-government situation in the U.S., or as pessimistic about the government situation.

“We have in this country a moral militarism .. In Asheville, I think it’s socially acceptable to have one luxury car, as long as it’s built in a country hostile to the United States.”

He added, “If you want to see the character of a man, go to Home Depot and watch him buy a barbecue grill — one that’s big enough to cook a bison. That’s when he’s most exposed.”

Turning serious, Brooks was greeted with a standing ovation as he concluded, “If we could only solve the government part, we’d be in great shape” as a nation.