August: boring, hot, and stupid

T.S. Eliot was wrong.  April is not the "cruelest month."  Good night, why would he think that?  Because of "stirring dull roots with spring rain"?  How is that cruel? 

You want cruel?  Try August.  First off, it's hot.  The figures aren't in yet, but they will undoubtedly show that this August has been the hottest August since records have been kept.  This can be safely said since all our months these days are like that.

Second, it's boring.  No major movies are released in August.  No big books are published.  TV is all reruns.  The kids were so bored, they're happy to be back in school.

Boring, though, is actually good, comparitively speaking.  When something does happen in August--Soviets invade Czechoslovakia, Sonny and Cher Show debuts--it's usually something odious. 

At least Congress is not in session--that's one good thing--but the reason they're not is because Washington, D.C. is a reclaimed swamp and nobody wants to be in a reclaimed swamp in August.  So we're back to that again.

Third, it's been a month of wallowing in ignorance.  Jonathan Alter lists some of the casualties, and this is just in regard to the president.

The outlandish stories about Barack Hussein Obama are simply false: he wasn’t born outside the United States (the tabloid “proof” has been debunked as a crude forgery); he has never been a Muslim (he was raised by an atheist and became a practicing Christian in his 20s); his policies are not “socialist” (he explicitly rejected advice to nationalize the banks and wants the government out of General Motors and Chrysler as quickly as possible); he is not a “warmonger” (he promised in 2008 to withdraw from Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan and has done so); he is neither a coddler of terrorists (he has already ordered the killing of more “high value” Qaeda targets in 18 months than his predecessor did in eight years), nor a coddler of Wall Street (his financial-reform package, while watered down, was the most vigorous since the New Deal), nor an enemy of American business (he and the Chamber of Commerce favor tax credits for small business that were stymied by the GOP to deprive him of a victory). And that’s just the short list of lies.

That's not to say the president couldn't be doing some things better, only that let's talk about that and not dumb stuff.

Maybe September will be better, which itself, alas, is an expectation that illustrates the triumph of hope over experience.

Comments

[Heather]

Ah, but apparently we should try harder to stay focused in the sleepy month of August--

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100826/cm_csm/322139

[Hypatia]

I’m getting a trifle bored with the talking point that the financial regulation bill is the biggest since the New Deal. Of course it is, because there’s been very little in the way of sweeping financial regulation since the New Deal. The point is that it was watered down to the point where Goldman Sachs is telling its clients with confidence not to worry, the bill is no big deal and will not affect business as usual and what was probably our last best chance to get real reform done was squandered and to no purpose, since Wall Street is angry at the Dems and throwing money at the GOP anyway.

Too bad Obama didn't use his leverage with Chrysler and GM to get them to keep jobs in this country. Even my Republican father doesn't understand that.

There's nothing wrong with being a Muslim, but I guess no one has the nerve to argue that these days.

[John Petty]

Hypatia, like I said: Let's talk about that and not dumb stuff.

Heather: Good article!