Magoo

It has been quite a while since I mentioned my Uncle Dick, this week I was reminded of his influence on my life.  Dick was my father’s only brother and basically a second father to my four brothers and me.  Very fortunate to have two role models – and they could not have been more different.  Ed, as we called my Dad, was quiet and introspective while Uncle Dick was the outgoing gregarious soul. Uncle Dick  was known to tell and equally enjoy any joke, the bawdier the better. Any story, including and especially his own, concluded with his distinctive laugh.  Dick enjoyed making a point when things went his way of quoting Mr. Magoo in his interpretation of the voice, “oh Magoo, you’ve done it again.”
J. Quincy Magoo is a fictional character created in 1949 and voiced by the late Jim Backus. Mr Magoo was an elderly, wealthy, short stature retiree who gets in a series of comical situations as a result of his extreme nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. All of this came to mind, thanks to Jon Stewart, “political satirist and voice of reason” in a recent NY Times Magazine interview.

Stewart describes our fearless leader as a “malevolent Mr. Magoo.” “He always knows the I-beam is going to swing down and the building is going to collapse-but who cares, because he will walk out unscathed.” Cartoon bystanders just thought Magoo was a lunatic.  In the case of the two time Oscar winner, he was just nearsighted and stubborn.  Contrasting Fearless Leader with the loveable Magoo does a significant disservice to one of the few “human” based cartoon characters. Stewart does remark that our current President “who has suffered no consequences…a recklessness born of experience.”  Impeached, but saved by  the misguided allegiance to party priorities and fear of the certain known reprisals, the I-beam of testimony from folks like John Bolton swung wide. Perhaps the lucky streak of Fearless will be halted with the clear knowledge that he did try to leverage Ukraine for his own benefit and sounds like again attempted that strategy with China. Mr.  Magoo had a short but memorable run in entertainment history, I will vote and support all efforts to assure that his malevolent counterpart is gone and forgotten.

Hail to SCOTUS – two meaningful decisions this week in regard to federal law protecting gay and transgender workers and against the administrations decision to end the DACA program. Maybe it will be safe for us to begin Dreaming again about our country’s bright future and justice for all.

A couple of thoughts as we consider defunding and reallocating to the benefit of our communities. “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan. Never the goal.” I like Mario Andretti And thought he got this right, “if everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough. “

Let’s speed up our involvement and be the vocal majority.   Mike