* A couple of thoughts after seeing Barack Obama as the initial guest on David Letterman’s new Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.”
< Obama’s legacy could very well be: How depressingly disappointing that the election of the first non-white person as U.S. president wasn’t a game changer for the better. It stoked birtherism and whitewashed populism. For all those, this scribe included, who thought maybe now America would come to grips with where we fit in the world, how crushingly delusional. But Mitch McConnell had set the record straight within nanoseconds of Obama’s inauguration when he underscored that it was his party’s top priority to make Obama a “one-term president.”
< The juxtaposition of Obama–articulate, classy, well-informed, personable, humorous–with Trump could conceivably prove to be a motivating force for everyone not part of the deplorable basket to get involved enough to take back their country–while it’s still there for the taking back.
* If you only see one uber-publicized movie this awards season, make it “The Post.” No, it wasn’t cooed over critically like “Lady Bird” and “The Shape of Water,” but the takeaways are worth it.
We need, as a vulnerable democracy, to be reminded of the role and relevance of real, however imperfect, journalism. Never more than now, when mainstream media is routinely demonized by Donald Trump and all those who channel his communication pathologies.
After watching “The Post,” or “Spotlight” or “All The President’s Men,” you don’t just exit the theater. You leave with a renewed appreciation of what the First Amendment means and what is always at stake in a constitutional democracy. The truth must matter the most.