Kass on Obama and Hopium.

Continuing with my promise to tell you whenever John Kass writes about Barack Obama, today's column is particularly good, by which I mean funny.

It's also, of course, in the furtherance of a basic Republican talking point, which is that Obama's appeal to "hope" is naive, which I could consider insulting and offensive, but which mostly just strikes me as lame. At least Kass manages to dress it up with some creativity and humor, and the MoveOn.org ad that he mocks gives him plenty of ammunition.

Kass on Obama and Liberal Bias.

I promised to tell you whenever Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass writes about Barack Obama. This one isn't about the Chicago machine side of the story, which is where Kass is best, but a promise is a promise. It's a good read regardless.

Kass on Obama.

I have decided to make it my personal mission to alert readers of this blog whenever Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass writes about the Obama campaign. His column in today's Trib inspired this new commitment on my part.

Kass succeeded Mike Royko as the Tribune's columnist-at-large charged with broadly assessing the Chicago scene, especially its politics. I'm a big fan. I read him every day, despite the fact that he self-identifies as a conservative Republican.

For the most part (i.e., except on abortion), he is my kind of conservative Republican. He considers the current national administration to be an incompetent, duplicitous kleptocracy (my words, not his). He is always quick to expose and ridicule hypocrisy and corruption. He speaks truth to power.

His writings about the Obama campaign are important because no one writing today knows more about the real world of Chicago and Illinois politics than Kass, and no one else presents such a finely nuanced perspective. His piece today is a good example, as he explores why some on the left feel betrayed as Obama inevitably tacks toward the center for the general election.

Kass as his jumping-off place uses Jesse Jackson's castration comment. Jackson, too, is a Chicago political figure. His son is a local Congressman who would like to inherit Obama's Senate seat. One thing you should know about Chicago politics is that the local stuff always comes first. Usually that's what Kass writes about, but presidential candidate Obama is a product of the Cook County Democratic Party machine. Whether you support him or not, that's something you should know. It doesn't mean he is Dan Rostenkowski, but it does tell you something. Read Kass, he explains it much better than I do.

I don't agree with everything Kass writes, in this column or any other, but his commentary is always worth reading. That point I will defend.

My Memories of the 1960 Presidential Election.

A friend of mine, who is about ten years older than I am, recently wrote this about his memories of the 1960 Presidential Election:

I distinctly remember hearing the pastor of the First Christian Church of Flora, Illinois, warn the congregation of dire consequences if a certain Senator from Massachusetts were to run for and win the Presidency. The gist of it was that a Roman Catholic would be duty-bound to follow the Pope's direction, not the Constitution. (My father sincerely believed that the Knights of Columbus were the core of a Catholic army that would someday overthrow the U.S. government, en route to controlling the world.)

I was 9-years-old in 1960, in fourth grade at St. Peter's Catholic School in Mansfield, Ohio. As always, Ohio was in play and I saw both Nixon and Kennedy in person.

Kennedy was first, in the town square. It was just a few blocks from my school and my parents let me borrow their camera, an awesome responsibility. It was either after school or, just as likely, they let us out of school so we could go.

Nixon was later, at the local public school's football stadium. The whole family went to that one.

Although my parents were Republicans and for Nixon, virtually everyone else I knew was for Kennedy, including everyone else in Mom's family, and all of the teachers at school. We also heard the concerns of our Protestant friends and neighbors, expressed exactly as my friend above remembers it.

There was a small amount of pressure on Catholics to vote for the Catholic but my parents were in no sense ostracized or even hassled for going the other way. I don't recall it ever being mentioned explicitly from the pulpit but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. The priests, the nuns, the teachers, most were Democrats anyway and very enamored of Kennedy.

My mother, always the rebel in her family, was a Republican even before her sister married the local Democratic Party Chairman, with whom Mom feuded for the rest of her life. It didn't stop her from encouraging her kids (including me) to take political patronage jobs offered by various uncles, however.

The people in my parish were mostly Poles, Italians, and Hungarians, who were second or third generation immigrants, or Irish and Germans (my family) who had been here a couple of generations longer. Mansfield then was a miniature version of Cleveland. Catholics were immigrants, laborers and Democrats.

The excitement about Kennedy among Catholics was very similar to the excitement now about Obama. It wasn't like that in my home, but I received a big dose of it in church, at school, and from my extended family.

My Dad was raised a Democrat in St. Louis. He was only nominally Catholic. My Irish grandmother made sure he was baptized but her devotion didn't stop her from divorcing my grandfather. Dad was raised by his grandmother, who was nominally a non-denominational Protestant Christian but not much of a church-goer. Dad became a Republican sometime before I came along. I'm hazy about exactly why but I can't imagine him as a Democrat.

That's all apropos of my family not being much into that feeling that electing a Catholic president would validate us as first class Americans. A couple of my ancestors on my Dad's side fought in the Revolution and Dad was at Pearl Harbor, so we didn't feel that, but we sure lived in a sea of it. I had experienced anti-Catholic prejudice as a kid so I understood what Kennedy meant to many Catholics.

As for the Knights of Columbus, they did wear swords when they came to funerals and weddings but I wasn't afraid of them and I was nine.

Dems at Dartmouth

Biden, Dodd and Richardson -- babbling idiots. The sports term is "pressing." The theatrical term is flop sweat. Biden and Dodd have moments of lucidity; Richardson has none. Way out of his depth. Couldn't even think up his own Bible verse, had to copy off Obama.

Biden -- 300,000 cases of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome a year. Seemed high to me. That would be like 1 in 13 births. I looked it up. The real number is, outside estimate, 80,000 (1.9%, Abel and Sokol study).

Biden -- first to say, "torture doesn't work" in response to the trick torture question. Obama missed the chance. "Torture bad" not as good an answer.

Kucinich -- funny, knows his voters. How great would it be to have Dennis Kucinich and his hot wife in the White House? What are all of those little books he has in his pocket? A tiny constitution? A St. Francis prayer card? "Strength through peace"(?) What else? Energy through kindness? Equality through faith? Freedom through hope? How naïve are his voters?

Gravel -- "Get off gas in 5 years, off carbon in 10." "Hey you kids, get off my lawn."

Obama -- smooth.

Clinton -- smoother.

Edwards -- also pressing. Apparently trying to get to the left of Kucinich on Iraq(!) Making no impression on me except as a potentially dangerous populist demagogue.