Sunday, May 03, 2009
Jack Kemp
I am sorry to see that Jack Kemp has passed; I had missed that he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in January.
I've always liked Jack Kemp. Of course, I have seen him many times on television, and I heard him speak in person once or twice on college campuses back in the day (I cannot remember whether it was Princeton or Michigan). He was, like me, a big fan of the future, a believer in America's bottomless spirit of enterprise and opportunity, and honest enough in his market conservativism to know that there are people out there who need help even to survive. Jack Kemp was a "big tent" Republican without compromising his core, and the sort of person who could revive the party today.
MORE: Nice words from Ilya Somin at Volokh.
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun May 03, 07:48:00 AM:
I heard this last night on the radio and I too am saddened. However, we were returning from the OSS Society annual dinner where General David Petraeus was awarded the William J. Donovan Award. He is truly a magnificent speaker and someone who could pull the country together. I was saying under my breath all evening, "Run, David, run." This was an affair of friends and allies so no major political statements were made beside the comment of the emcee that he was glad that we hadn't taken VP Biden's recommendation and stayed away from crowds. Awards were also give to Ross Perot who is a hero among military families, and Dr. Christian J. Lambertsen. The place was filled with warriers both in and out of uniform including the heads of the special forces arms of both the Army and Navy. Of interest was one of our tablemates, a fortyish woman in civilian dress with flaming red hair and three diamond studs in her left ear. Turns out that she is this woman.
Obligitory Princeton Reference:
Robert L. Cruikshank '58
Charles A. McCrann '68
William E. Caswell *75
Martin P. Wohlforth '76
Robert J. Deraney '80
Joshua A. Rosenthal *81
Karen J. Klitzman '84
Jeffrey D. Wiener '90
John T. Schroeder '92
Christopher N. Ingrassia '95
Robert G. McIlvaine '97
Christopher D. Mello '98
Catherine F. MacRae '00
This is the list of Princetonians who were killed on 9/11. This is not a police action it is global war.
JLW III '67
By , at
Sun May 03, 08:49:00 AM:
My family and I spent an evening with Kemp and part of his family many years ago in Colorado eating dinner and drinking tequila, and we enjoyed every last second of the opportunity. He was an enormously charming guy without any evident arrogance, intelligent and surprisingly thoughtful. As you so rightly put it, his optimism for the future was contagious. We could use a good man like him now.
By 
AmPowerBlog, at
Sun May 03, 11:16:00 AM:
We didn't do senior theses at Fresno State, but all poli. sci . majors had to take the seminar in public policy and the course was about writing a position paper all semester, with multiple revisions.
I did housing policy and this was when Kemp was HUD Secretary. As I said at my blog, no one spoke more powerfully to the power of markets to empower the individual, in this case black homeownership as the key to upward mobility and community stakeholding.
I don't know all of Kemp's social views, but if the GOP could get that social policy foundation back, we'll win back minority constituencies a little at at time.
He'll be missed...
By Escort81, at
Sun May 03, 11:39:00 AM:
There is an argument to be made that Kemp should have been on the top of the ticket in 1996, not that it would necessarily made a difference (it was Bob Dole's "turn"). Bill Clinton was an outstanding retail politician and campaigner, and won a good margin in the Electoral College, even with just under 50% of the popular vote.
I agree that a young Kemp-like figure would be good for U.S. politics right now. J.C. Watts and Heath Shuler might be the closest in terms of QB backgrounds, but Watts is more focused on lobbying and perhaps Oklahoma politics and not national politics, and Shuler will struggle to have a significant role in the Democratic caucus because his views are not that near the mainstream of the party in 2009. I can't even think of anyone (regardless of the athletic background, which is really only relevant in terms of initial name recognition) who is comparable to Jack Kemp today, in terms of speaking ability, optimism, inclusiveness and pro-growth views.
JLW - I hesitate to ask, but what is the general view of the members of OSS Society to the movie that came out in 2006, "The Good Shepherd," which was directed by Robert DeNiro, and has him portraying a character based on General Donovan and Matt Damon portraying a character based on J.J. Angleton? There is actually no action in the movie that takes place on the continent during the war, so it is not about the OSS per se, but it makes an attempt to depict the early days of the organization.
By , at
Sun May 03, 08:46:00 PM:
As a former Buffalonian, Jack Kemp was more than just our Championship winning QB, he was also our Congressman for all of my youth. His beliefs were so out of step with the very ethnic, blue-collar, union doting electorate and yet his margin of victory every two years was always huge. I think the reason he could bridge the gap, (aside from his Bills pedigree) was his eternal belief in what was possible in America. His unshakable belief in the power of the individual and in America was so infectious that even Union bosses would get behind Jack.
One more point to consider, is that it is a shame that he did not stay in elected politics longer. By all accounts a 73 year Pol is almost middle age compared to all of the Dems running committees and holding Senior level roles.
By , at
Mon May 04, 05:53:00 PM:
Escort81:
I am unfamiliar with that movie, and, since we have a 5-year old daughter in the house anything without Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, or current interest Shirley Temple doesn't get much airplay in our household. Also, I don't travel in the inner circle of the OSS society. When your emcee is a retired MG, I'm left in the last row of tables.
That said; the comments about Bill Donovan leaned towards, "Man of Action," "Get it done," "I'd rather have an insubordinate 2LT than a down the line Colonel," "He was a man whom you didn't want to get to know too well. If he liked you, he just might airdrop you into someplace really dangerous," and "I'm looking for a PhD who can win a barfight." The last comment was stated by an earlier speaker and repeated by General Petraeus referencing his own (Princeton) PhD.
I forgot to mention in my prior post that he introduced his wife from the head table and indicated that he'd married the Sup's daughter as a 2LT, as in the USMA Superintendent's daughter. He also mentioned that it was a fortuitous blind date. This was a good move on both their parts. She got a rising star and he married a General's daughter who knew the ropes. There's an old Army saying that any man can make Colonel, but it takes a wife to make General.
JLW III '67
