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Potomac Confidential
With Marc Fisher
Post Metro Columnist
Wednesday, April 2, 2003; Noon ET
Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
In his weekly show, Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
Submit your questions and comments before or during today's discussion.
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Marc Fisher: Welome aboard, folks, on an irregular day for Potomac Confidential. A couple of quick schedule notes: I'll be online next Monday April 7 to discuss my story in this coming Sunday's Post Magazine on two young teachers' first years in the D.C. school system. And I'll return to our usual Thursday noon get-together here next week.
But for today, there's much war news, including the dramatic rescue of the West Virginia woman from a hospital in Iraq, as well as a local phenomenon detailed in Metro--the silent battle of yard signs for and agaist the war.
Also up for grabs today, the slots question is headed for a big deadline, and Gov. Ehrlich and the legislature are playing a dangerous game of chicken with massive cuts in the balance.
Prince George's has hired a new schools superintendent, a former schools chief in Yonkers NY who has a checkered history of rough relations with teachers and politicians. Doesn't bode well.
And in Fairfax, the principal of Thomas Jefferson high school has refused to allow students to invite to campus the George Mason law professor who wrote a journal article criticizing the school's affirmative action policy. The principal calls it "unconscionable" to invite the professor; the principal's decision is unconscionably repressive and sad.
Your views?
Northern Virginia:
On my way to work this morning, every telephone pole on the 4-mile stretch of a road to the Beltway had a peace sign. I would like to thank the person or persons who took the monumental effort to do this. This for me is a sign that there are still peace loving Americans.
Marc Fisher: Passions are indeed running high. But where do all these peace signs and yellow ribbons get us? Wouldn't it be more helpful if anti-war activists put those energies into a cause with more practical meaning, such as using this as an opportunity to push for less reliance on foreign oil? Why not channel those energies into campaigning against big cars?
Long Beach, Calif.:
Greetings, Your article on the stark
differences between rural and urban America,
or the blue and red states of 2000) was a
story worth telling for sure. Did you know that the Homeland Security money goes to states like Montana and Alabama to a much greater extent than to New York or California, the two most vulnerable states? This is one more example of the rank partisanship of the Bush crew. Who else would put in a capital gains tax into a bill
for 9/11 on the 13th of September? Talk about
no class!
Marc Fisher: The pork belly approach to handing out Homeland Security money to the states is another sign that even in wartime, petty politics comes first. There's simply no reason for Montana or Georgia to get the same portion of cash as places that are obviously threatened, such as our area and New York.
I come to you this morning from Los Angeles, and driving over to our bureau here a couple of hours ago, I noticed police stationed all around the perimeter of the Beverly Hills police headquarters--not exactly high on any terrorist's list. But everybody wants to feel they're part of the action.
Vienna, Va:
Occassionally I listen to talk radio to get an idea of where the far right stands. No matter the personality, the message is always the same "Hate Cronkite", "Hate Democrats", "Never disagree with Bush", "Hate the UN", "Hate France"...
My elderly mother listens to this stuff and has reached a point where her conversations are simply repeats of the phrases used on talk radio. The messages go into her head, there is no processing, they just come staight out. And she says them with such certainty and conviction.
Then she turns on a religious program, prays and sends them money; and calls me to talk about the rapture.
I am slowly realizing that she represents maybe 50 percent of America! It is scary. She didn't used to be this way. Something is going on here.
Marc Fisher: "Hate Cronkite????" Wow, that's a stretch.
Talk radio has certainly played a role in polarizing the nature of American political discussion. But that's true on both ends of the political spectrum. Yesterday, I interviewed Ruth Seymour, who runs KCRW, the Santa Monica, Calif. public radio station and a pioneer in public radio. She told me she thinks NPR has played a similar role on the left as the right wing talkers have on the right, in narrowing the political discussion and making people less open to other views.
New Orleans, La.:
I am coming to visit Washington next week even though everyone thinks I'm crazy to fly and absolutely nuts to fly to Washington right now. Can you recommend bars or coffee houses or places I can go to hear people in the know talking about the political scene, sort of after work hours letting off steam sort of places. As long as I'm going I want to learn something about why it's different in Washington during the war than it is in other cities.
Marc Fisher: Hmmm--readers, any suggestions for our visitor?
Offhand, I think you'd get a decent start by checking out a couple of places on the Hill, maybe Politiki and the Penn. Ave Pour House, then wandering over toward Dupont Circle and Kramerbooks or the Fox & Hound. Other ideas?
Somewhere, USA:
Campaign against big cars? Are you trying to give your colleague Mr. Brown a heart attack?
Marc Fisher: I wish Warren only the best of health, even if such a change in American driving habits would send him running in search of his favorite Hummer dealer.
Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.:
To the person praising the signs ... it's all well and good, but nine times out of 10 all those signs, no matter what they are promoting simply become more litter for our environment ... trust me, I live in Adams Morgan so I know of what I speak. Put up your signs, but don't forget to take them down!
Marc, as a tutor of a DCPS high schooler, your Sunday story is going to make me want to cry and stick my head in the oven isn't it?
Marc Fisher: I hope there's no oven in your future. The story chronicles the experiences of two Teach for America teachers, young idealists who had two extremely different years in the DC schools--one went as badly as can be imagined, while the other found a path through the madness. Please let me know what you think.
Washington, D.C.:
And why don't those pro-war activists do the same with their energy? Unless you think all the flag-waving actually does something. I know you don't HAVE to be impartial, you're a columnist, not a reporter, but your bias is glaring every time you address this issue.
Marc Fisher: I don't see nearly as much in the way of pro-war activism as I see anti-war, and that's natural, given that the pro-war folks got their way and have nothing to protest. But I agree with you, this is an issue that all people, for or against the war, could coalesce around.
Bars:
How about the Post Pub?
Kramerbooks, Politics and Prose, even the Tune Inn, Hawk and Dove, Bullfeathers.
Marc Fisher: And Rocci, our producer here on the big show, adds Tryst in Adams Morgan to the list.
Re: Talk radio mindbending:
What the world needs now is AM radio that plays music and not a bunch of incendiary political views! AM radio like the old days that embraced a variety of genres ... can't we all just groove along?
Marc Fisher: You mean, gasp, a return to Top 40 radio, to the idea that we listeners are not merely part of a demographic slice that will only listen to a single type of music? How daring. But don't hold your breath.
College Park, Md.:
Marc:
Oh, I'm dismayed that you think the antiwar people should instead channel their energies toward less reliance on foreign oil. The two things SHOULD be completely unrelated. We're against the war because it's wrong. But we have the freedom to drive whatever car we want to drive. We understand that the people who have oil need us as much as we need them, and they can set the prices and it's up to us to either choose to pay it or buy cars that use less oil. Our government has no right to tell them what to do with the oil nor to tell them how to run their country.
Marc Fisher: Isn't it fascinating to see how good old American isolationism has moved so quickly from the Republican right to the Democratic left? Suddenly, the same Dems who thought we had a moral duty to intervene in Kosovo believe that we should let nice tyrants like Saddam be, and the same Repos who slammed Clinton for his foreign adventures are now leading the charge for remaking the world. Strange.
Rockville, Md.:
Your poster was right about Conservative Radio's "Hate Cronkite" message. This all started (on Sean Hannity's show, anyway) after Bernard Goldberg came out with, "Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News"
Marc Fisher: Yes, CBS is at the heart of the anti-media assault from the right, but it just strikes me as funny that anyone would turn Walter Cronkite into a target of a political campaign. Good old avuncular Walter now is free to spout his political views and it should surprise no one that they are queasily liberal--how that could outrage anyone is beyond me.
Gaithersburg Cube Farm:
The obvious solution is to listen to both NPR news and right-wing talk radio. Then you'll hear both ends of the spectrum. And you can decide for yourself which one speaks in paragraphs and which one repeats slogans.
Not that I have any preference, mind you.
Marc Fisher: Quite true, except that neither seems to have much patience with probing the ideas behind the other's views. The sad truth about political debate in this country is that it is deeply segregated and fearful of the kind of real--not staged fireworks--confrontations that, for example, the British media are pretty good at exploring.
Laurel, Md.:
Just glanced at the article about the Thomas Jefferson High admission controversy, and I'm afraid I agree with the principal as far as her stated opposition goes. It IS a privacy problem to have a talk based on the test scores of just 10 black students in the freshman class. If there were 100, that would be different.
Unfortunately, denying the affirmative action opponent the opportunity to speak tends to confirm the complaint of many conservatives ...
"Diversity" means inclusiveness except where ideas are concerned.
Marc Fisher: Sorry, I don't see how privacy has anything to do with this. Yes, there are only 10 or so black students whose test scores are at issue, and yes, the law journal article focuses on the fact that those scores are lower than those of many white applicants to Jefferson. What does any of that have to do with privacy? No individual student is named, and while the results tell us that some or most of those students had lower scores, it tells us nothing about any one student's scores.
Re: Where to go in DC for political insight:
My Vote: go see Capitol Steps - not just bipartisan (rare in D.C.), but also very very funny.
Marc Fisher: Agreed--I had long avoided the Steps show thinking that it would be lame, but was pleasantly surprised to find them both biting and witty. It's not radical theater by any means, but it's a lot of fun.
Alexandria, Va.:
Tell New Orleans to stick around for the weekend and head to the White House area for the new round of ANSWER protests.
Marc Fisher: Not exactly my idea of entertainment or a useful exchange of ideas, but it is a spectacle, so why not?
Arlington, Va.:
I see the Virginia baseball people finally revealed their sites officially. Do they stand any chance of actually building their stadium in Arlington? I just can't see the people who live here allowing that to happen.
Marc Fisher: I think you're exactly right. Both because of the massive cost of land acquisition at the Rosslyn site and the overwhelming neighborhood opposition, I think it's fair to say that that site is a non-starter. The Costco/Pentagon City sites are more realistic, in part because acquiring the land would be easier, if hardly cheap. But again, there promises to be considerable NIMBY opposition, and it's hard to see a stadium project that's already gasping for funds getting much traction without community support. The District seems a far more realistic option.
Arlington, Va.:
Marc, in light of Prince Georges' hiring yet another school superintendent, shouldn't we be asking what we can really expect of these officials and how long they should have to accomplish what they are hired to do? When I went to the New York City public schools in the great long ago, the superintendent whose name was Jansen had been there over 20 years. Now supers have the same projected longevity as major college basketball coaches.
Marc Fisher: School superintendents have become something akin to baseball free agents, wandering from city to city, taking the best deal, trying to score a big impact by putting up big numbers fast, then moving on to the next city before anyone has a chance to realize that the test score improvements were illusory or faked.
Finding strong, smart superintendents like Domenech in Fairfax or Vance in the District and getting them to stick around is a daunting task, and it looks like Prince George's has failed at it once again.
Arlington, Va.:
I was talking to a friend recently who is a supporter of Jim Moran. He suggested that if the Post wanted to it could find borderline inappropriate lobbyist/politician stories about every member of Congress and the administration. Yet Moran gets focused on and tracked by the WP. Do you agree with his assessment? I personally think Moran should step aside, but I think my friend has a valid point.
Marc Fisher: I think you'd probably agree that if we had similar stories about any other congressman in our area, we'd not be shy about putting them in the paper. So no, I don't buy your friend's point. Sure, Moran gets more scrutiny now because of his track record. There are more eyes on him and more opponents out there scouring his behavior for misdeeds; to that extent, your friend is right. But he has to make his missteps before we can report them, right?
Derwood, Md.:
Marc -
What are the latest odds on if gambling returns to Maryland this year?
Also, does watching the Erhlich administration remind you of Amateur Hour Two?
Marc Fisher: Slim to none at this late date, with the legislature scheduled to adjourn next week.
This is a dangerous game of chicken, and the losers are likely to be schoolchildren, the poor and the ill. If that doesn't qualify for Amateur Hour status, I don't know what does.
Washington, D.C.:
Did you read D.C. Transportation director Dan Tangherlini’s letter to the Post decrying the continued closure of E Street? At the same time he is trying to close Klingle Road permanently to make it a bike path (Tangherlini is an avid cyclist). Some would say this is having it both ways.
Marc Fisher: I'm with Tangherlini on both issues and I don't see any contradiction there. E Street is an essential crosstown thoroughfare and its closing has gummed up traffic throughout downtown Wasihngton. It's in the heart of the city.
Klingle Road, on the other hand, was a cute little shortcut, never heavily trafficked, by no means essential. Those who want it reopened constantly whine about the traffic on Porter Street NW. Sorry, but there is no traffic on Porter Street; I drive there quite often, at all hours, and there's never a back-up of more than a few cars at the Connecticut intersection. There's simply no need to reopen Klingle.
Re: Smart superintendents:
Marc,
... like Vance in the District? The man can't even look out his window and see that it's snowing! Smart?
Marc Fisher: Well, I didn't say effective, I said smart. Vance is a very impressive fellow and talking to him about what the school system's problems are and how they should be addressed makes me believe that he has the right ideas and an open mind. That said, he has had his share of embarrassments and it's not clear that he has enough control over the bureaucracy to push through his plans. The loss of Steve Seleznow as his #1 deputy will severely hurt Vance's reform efforts.
Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.:
To see actual D.C. residents hanging out and talking about what's going on, some off the beaten path spots --
Sparky's Espresso Bar on 14th St near S
Java House on Q at 17th
Ben's Chili Bowl (the most interesting overheard conversations in town I think)
Marc Fisher: All good choices--I'd also add Hamburger Mary's on 14th Street and of course the good old Florida Avenue Grill.
Long Beach, Calif.:
Marc,
Why not lobby for an expansion team instead of a retreaded Expos? Nothing worse
than used French merchandise, oui?
Marc Fisher: Contraction is vastly more likely than expansion. But not to fear, we can re-Americanize les Expos, and help all of America by cutting in half the number of times we have to hear "O Canada" sung at ballparks.
Ballpark City:
You're right that D.C. is more likely because of NIMBYism. But don't forget why -- the D.C. sites are generally near poor people whose quality of life doesn't count, politically. A ballpark is a disaster for anyone who lives remotely nearby (I used to live near one, I know.) So any successful site has to be either near nobody's home, or near the homes of people who the local government doesn't really care about.
Marc Fisher: I couldn't disagree more. The leading D.C. sites are not near poor people--the best site, now sadly in poor repute among city officials, is the one behind Gonzaga High School, and it has poor neighbors on one edge, but otherwise is surrounded by ritzy new developments and fancy offices. The most likely site, at New York and Florida avenues, is well away from any residential areas, surrounded by industrial and office, and the only nearby residential is a rapidly gentrifying piece of LeDroit Park.
Silver Spring, Md.:
If Thomas Boswell thinks D.C.-area baseball fans are unpatriotic for supporting the O's, and that we should all boycott, why was his very next column about O's Opening Day? -- I'm sure he has discretion in his subject matter, and we O's fans would just as soon do without him, thanks.
Marc Fisher: I've been arguing for a boycott of O's games for two years, so I'm totally with my man Boz on this one. It's inexcusable for any supporter of DC baseball to continue lining the pockets of our main adversary, the vile Angelos.
Van Ness, Washingtonk, D.C.:
Metrorail question:
If the Tenleytown community does not allow any reasonable high-density development, can we take away their Metro stop and give it to a more appropriate neighborhood?
Marc Fisher: Excellent idea. It's amazing to see the usual suspects gearing up to fight smart growth projects such as those proposed for the Martens Volvo and Babe's Billiards sites on Wisconsin Avenue. Imagine being so prunish and sour that you line up for the preservation of a car lot and a pool hall, solely to stop the construction of the housing and retail that add life to a neighborhood.
Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.:
Marc: Although I am personally opposed to the war, the protestors are starting to annoy me thoroughly. They are as guilty of cheap sloganeering as the radio talk show hosts you mentioned. Have you listened to WPFW recently? It is virually all antiwar rant, all the time. The level of discourse is absurd and is unlikely to sway anyone at all who does not already subscribe to those views. Outside of those who live in the few areas where the newspapers actually provide some in depth discussions on all sides, I fear that the majority of the populace is getting the rantings from both sides and nothing more.
Marc Fisher: Well, yes, but I've been on the road for the past couple of weeks and my sense is that those rantings we hear in Washington are limited largely to a handful of big cities, and that in most of the country, the dominant sense is of rallying around the flag, often to the exclusion of good debate about the merits of this war.
Washington, D.C.:
Why is it OK to slam Richard Perle for his business ties to Saudi Arabia and for delivering a mid-east security policy to the Prime Minister of Israel, but when a Congressman makes a broad (perhaps imprecise) reference to Perle, AIPAC and others engaging in such activities it’s anti-semitism?
Marc Fisher: Apples and oranges. Perle was open to a good, hard shot because he sought to mix his personal business with his policy role, and while that happens all too often, it remains a no-no. Moran could say whatever he wanted to about Perle and AIPAC and face no criticism that he's stepped over any line; what he did, however, went well beyond criticism of policy or personalities. He maligned an entire faith and questioned Jews' patriotism by lumping them all in one basket and ascribing to them a mythical political power that anti-Semites have been using against Jews for centuries.
20906:
Vienna's right. The right wing media outlet, is furthering hate within our own country. Fox is STILL running a crawl about NBC 'STAR' reporter Peter Arnett being fired...", yet no mention of the slapping that their reporter Geraldo Rivera got from the Army. They are out of control, spewing vitriolic diatribes re: France, Germany, Clinton (whenever possible)and calling anyone who doesn't believe what they do either "bad Americans" or "unAmerican". Looks like McCarthyism is alive and well at Fox. Especially the little helmet haired guy on the morning right wing fest. Scary.
Marc Fisher: You won't find any defense of Fox here. Their news coverage of the war, when it leaks through their propaganda barrage, has been pretty decent, but it's lost in the constant use of slanted language, overwrought music and graphics, and wildly one-sided packaging.
Re: Vienna, Va.:
People being less open to other people's views does not even begin to describe the current political situation.
For example, if you shortened my views on the current situation here and abroad it would be "pro-war, but anti-tax cut". The tax cut stance makes me the enemy in my own party because I don't refuse to let politics override basic math, and the left apparently thinks I want to kill, kill, kill -- which is not the case either. I just do not see an alternative solution.
It's driving me nuts. What ever happened to common sense? Thanks for the chance to vent.
Marc Fisher: I think you represent a large group of Americans whose views get lost in the left-right, pro-anti dichotomies that are so simple and attractive to those of us who write about this stuff for a living.
Bowie, Md.:
Marc,
Mentioning Top 40 radio makes me think of an issue I was wondering about.
Rock music is older than most of us, and old enough now that every baby boomer considers it the music "from their time." However, it's always been principally marketed to 12 to 25-year-olds, so "my" rock is from the early 70's to 80's when I was in those age ranges, and "my" stations are those that play oldies from that period.
As a result, almost all rock songs are about life events that occur in people's teenage or very yound adults years ... first kiss, first car, high school teachers. There aren't many rock songs about being over 30.
I know a lot of old bands do remembrance tours and have newer material directed at fans their own age, but is anyone else making an effort to record "new" rock music for those who left the primary demographic years ago?
Marc Fisher: The common wisdom in the music and radio businesses is that people don't have the same kind of openness to new music once they've past 30 or 35 as they did when they were younger. There is something to the idea that, as you say, music attaches to those elemental events of early adulthood and adolescence--the soundtrack to our first date, high school senior week, college graduation, etc.
And people do tend to stick with the styles of music they grew to love in those formative years.
From a distance:
Marc,
Three cheers to Tom Boswell for telling us to boycott the Orioles this season.
Maybe people will go see soccer at RFK instead?
Marc Fisher: No!!! Not another attack of the DC United fans!
For the record, I'm all for building a separate soccer facility on the RFK campus, because we will get a baseball team and it will use RFK and it will displace the soccer teams.
B'more:
So, living near a ballpark is a disastor? Tell that to the people in Federal Hill, right next to Camden Yard. The stadiums (yes, that would be two, since the Ravens live right next door as well) are just one of the many ATTRACTIONS of living here and one factor in the outrageous and growing cost of the rowhouses in this neighborhood.
Bring it on . . . I LOVE walking to games.
Marc Fisher: Or tell it to the folks who live near Wrigley Field in Chicago or PacBell Park in San Francisco--both quite pricey neighborhoods, and only enhanced by proximity to the ballpark.
Washington, D.C..:
Marc, About development in Tenleytown: I go to Babes Billiards and have been ever since buying my expensive house within walking distance. It's a city. You're supposed to be able to walk to stuff. Opposing new condos isn't always NIMBY.
Marc Fisher: Agreed--it's great to be able to walk to a pool hall. And I would hope that any new development there would include that sort of facility. But there's no excuse for one-story retail that close to a Metro station. Fine, keep the pool hall, but build 10 or 15 stories of residential above it.
Re: Ballparks:
I disagree with the poster who says that living near a baseball stadium decreases the quality of life for the residents. I lived across the street from Fenway Park in Boston for 2 years and didn't have any problems. As for ballparks being in poor neighborhoods - Newbury Street (the Boston version of Georgetown) is only several blocks away from Fenway.
Marc Fisher: Another good example.
Washington, D.C.:
Marc, I think the NIMBY person has a point not just about the ballpark but about the whole city. For example, Klingle Road if reopened would bring traffic past very rich people including someone who shall go nameless but who hosts a one-hour, big-three network Sunday morning news show.
Marc Fisher: Yes, that is the only good argument for reopening Klingle.
Laurel, Md.:
I support D.C. baseball and own an Orioles mini-plan because I also support baseball in Baltimore.
Some of us who live in the D.C. area are actually closer to Camden Yards (20 minutes in my case), than any of the likely Washington Metro area sites.
Marc Fisher: Fine, those who live closer to Baltimore have a reasonable argument for sticking with their team. But those who make the trek up from Virginia or the District have no such excuse.
Adams Morgan, Washington, D.C.:
Our city is in decline? Do these delusional would-be baseball owners in northern Virginia not realize that residents there literally circle my block for hours on weekends looking for parking to escape their bedroom community hamlets? Meantime, you could count on one hand the D.C. plates in such "hot spots" as Clarendon. On our planet, city residents and burbies alike realize that entertainment lies on our side of the Potomac.
Marc Fisher: My sense is that there is more back and forth across the river than you're assuming. But yes, the city remains the primary entertainment draw.
Re: baseball:
Marc,
People in the area would come out and see most ANY team, as long as there was one. The area's been dying for MLB for years, and they're tired of driving to B'more to get it.
Marc Fisher: Absolutely. Out of time, folks. Just one more...
Washington, D.C.:
My mother always refused to move near Wrigley Field, though, when we lived in Chicago ... drunks urinating on your lawn don't really do much to enhance a neighborhood ...
Marc Fisher: At last, a comment we can all agree on.
Many thanks for coming along today. We get together here twice next week--Monday and Thursday. And in the newspaper tomorrow, with a look at the anniversary of the 1968 D.C. riots, and in the Sunday magazine, with a piece on the D.C. schools.
Stay safe, and write if you get work.
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