"Wouldn't It Be Nice"

About twenty years ago, Kathie and I were invited by Phil Gonring to be his guests at a gala dinner for Denver's movers and shakers honoring important teachers out of their pasts.  We met Phil at the old Hilton ballroom and sat at a table with, among others, Jared Polis, who at that time was just a fabulously wealthy internet entrepreneur beginning to get interested in politics, education in particular.  I remember Katherine tried to hit him up for a grant, but to no avail.

It was a lovely event.  It was unlike most events I've been to honoring teachers.  We didn't have to walk through a line and put slices of pizza on our paper plates, and instead of a giant transparent tank of punch in shades of pink, we were served wine and could even go up to a bar and get a drink.  To top it all off, there wasn't a power point projector anywhere in sight and no butcher paper.  Bill Cosby spoke instead.

We were looking forward to The Coz, but his speech was the only disappointment of the night.  He got up on that stage and commenced to commiserate with all of the noble educators gathered there.  He praised us for our determination to fight for the kids in the face of antediluvian authorities who are systematically bent on destroying public education.  He praised us for performing in appalling conditions, in over-crowded classrooms, and in buildings falling apart for lack of care.

As he was talking, it slowly dawned on all of us that this man had no idea what he was talking about.  His descriptions of public schools, dysfunctional buildings, and rampaging kids was right out of BLACK BOARD JUNGLE, maybe TO SIR WITH LOVE, but certainly nothing that any of us in that room had experienced.  Instead of addressing the very real issues confronting education, Cosby just reacted to his Hollywood generated conception of schools.  He relied on speaking points that missed the mark time and time again.  I almost felt sorry for him when he clearly couldn't understand why he wasn't killing.  Judging by recent developments in Cosby's life, you think he would have learned to stop feeding lines and assorted crap to his victims.

He thought if he fed off our anger about education he would be a success.  The thing was that we really weren't very angry.  We were well fed, a little high, and in the company of our favorite people, star students.

I've been taping Colbert and watching each morning.  I have heard him talk to Jeb Bush, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump.  And after each conversation I thought of Bill Cosby telling us what he thought we wanted to hear on that night twenty years ago.

I will start out by saying they all seemed like nice people, even Trump.  Jeb and Ted seemed very uncomfortable, as if their staffs had insisted they appear against their wishes.  Joe seemed exactly like Joe.  He was funny, wore his heart on his sleeve and always said exactly what he meant.  Poor guy.  That's why he hasn't a prayer of getting the nomination.  Trump was witty, with a confidence bred of billions of dollars, and he did a nice job of spelling out his fantasy of a 2000 mile wall paid for by Mexico.  Elizabeth Warren was an emotional basket case who actually left Colbert a little embarrassed and completely speechless.

That brings me to Bernie.   I agree with almost everything he says, just not the way he says it.  Quite frankly, I don't see that much difference between his progressive rage and the conservative recalcitrance he decries.

A recent Daily Beast article explains that Bernie has a solid lead over Hillary among college types.  To offer evidence, they followed Bernie to one of his raucous campus events and interviewed a handful of attendees, asking them to explain Bernie's appeal.  What follows is a list of paraphrased quotes.

-I like Bernie's message on the environment and inequality.
-He's not making compromises in his vision
-Wants 12 weeks medical leave
-Wants to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour
-Wants to expand Social Security
-Wants to increase funding for jobs, education, etc.
-Wants to force (!) publicly funded elections by insisting (!!) any Supreme Court nominee pledge (!!!) to undo Citizens United
-Wants to raise taxes on the top tenth of the top one per cent.

Favorite Bernie quote among the audience:  "While they have the money and the power, we have something they don't have.  We have the people."

I agree with almost everything, but I think messages get lost when they are shouted at you.  Now, I believe Bernie's shouting is legitimate rage.  I feel it.  Most people I know feel it.  But it's still shouting and the message gets lost.  Sometimes, like in the case of the Republican field, a candidate shouts because he has no message and he wants his audience to simply feel the rage.  Let's hope they come to their senses and realize their method destroys the country, and it doesn't do the Republican party any good to boot.

I've been working on "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys.  It think it is the quintessential rock song and should be Bernie's campaign anthem.  But he needs to be careful.  There are a couple of chords in the verse that are nearly impossible to play.