Put away whining, opt for wine-ing, and work together

<p>Becky’s brother, the one who travels a lot, brought a bottle of wine to a family gathering a couple of weeks ago. But not just any bottle of wine. This one had “Trump” printed on the label. He stayed at a Trump Hotel somewhere, and, apparently, a bottle of wine comes complimentary with the room. At least, it did with his room. He brought it to the gathering, no doubt, to start a conversation.</p><p>I started wondering about the bottle of Trump wine and came up with what I thought was a catchy marketing slogan: “Make America Grape Again.” Then I considered the vintners on the other end of the spectrum. Not sure what would be on the label, but there must be thousands of barrels of their product somewhere. After all, since the day he was elected, Anti-Trumpers have been in full whine production.</p><p>Like America itself, our family is divided on the current occupant of the White House. Unlike some of the country, however, most of our kin are not perpetually furious. It appears the country is sharply divided. One side argues President Trump is returning the country to greatness while the other side considers him an evil and incompetence charlatan who poses a danger to life as we know it.</p><p>Most conversations these days turn touchy when his name comes up. Because he is such a lightening rod, I try to shy away from political discussions except those of the most theoretical kind. These days political conversations can merge quickly into crazy. Even when you are joking.</p><p>I have often wondered what happened to political and cultural humor. I’m not talking about the snarky comedians who dominate late night TV and other talk shows who mostly lean left or those ranters of the talk radio universe where the humor tilts right. Those “humorists” are quite often cutting and mean. I’m talking about a kinder, gentler humor as one former president might put it.</p><p>And if history is any guide, U.S. presidents from the beginning have been pretty funny. Perhaps here on the eve of the our country’s birthday, we might revisit a few of the best smile-inducing observations of our past leaders.</p><p>Our first president was described by one member of the Continental Congress as having “a pleasant smile and sparkling vivacity of wit and humor.” Sounds like Washington was quite the character at parties. Fourth President James Madison was not only funny but calmly accepting when, while on his deathbed he quipped, “I always talk better lying down.”</p><p>During the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln responded to one partisan accuser by saying, “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, archly commented on what some in the future would call “The Swamp” when he stated: “Washington D.C. is twelve miles bordered by Reality.”</p><p>An adversarial press is a key element in the mechanism of a liberal democratic system, so it’s no surprise presidents and the press often have rocky relations. Sometimes these result in humorous comments. President Chester Arthur commenting at a Republican banquet on how he won the Indiana vote: “If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.” And Lyndon Johnson said, “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ‘President Can’t Swim.’”</p><p>Presidents are identified, often unfairly, with public images that are hard to shake: Gerald Ford, a bumbling klutz; Jimmy Carter, a good man but out of his league; Ronald Reagan, an “amiable dunce.” To their credit, they mostly accept it as part of the job and move on. Sometimes they even joke about it.</p><p>President George W. Bush, to put it kindly, was considered an intellectual lightweight by many. He acknowledged this assumption and said he was worried even his staff believed it. “There on my schedule, first thing every morning, it said ‘Intelligence Briefing.’”</p><p>Surely things will change. Maybe we can move away from black and white thinking which, I believe, contributes to mean-spirited humor. Perhaps, working together, we can make America grape again.</p>