What Exactly Is A President For If Not Reassurance?

First it was just one old guy recalling his boxing days, Now 

he's actually the president with an influence on steroids. As he

calls for civility, will he change his stump speech attacks?

A time consuming writing project forced me away from my typical opining on current events, which has worked out fine because my Super Bowl 50 champion Broncos suck almost as much as our president, and there are only so many ways you can ridicule John Elway or Donald Trump before YOU start to look like the idiot and not them.

My two Trump loving followers who read that previous paragraph are thinking to themselves, Trump doesn't suck, CNN sucks. Even they, however, are smart enough to keep those words inside at a time like this. Our president is not. He is too small a man to simply call the targets of terror and offer his words of sympathy.

As it stands, Trump has postponed his own verbal attacks on CNN and the rest, but he smiled and listened to the ritual chant- "CNN Sucks"- of his campaign crowd,  just one day after FBI agents arrested the pipe bomb terrorist who targeted CNN and others declared enemies by Trump himself.

If news is nothing more than what WE find interest in, these recent acts of terror and violence are mostly news worthy out of decency for the victims not because they are unique, irregular or terribly interesting. I've forced myself to opinionate on this "way too regular" fringe violence crap because I find myself- once again- a normal, Regular American longing and waiting for my president to comfort me into rationalizing away America's violent nature, like presidents usually do. 

I'm still waiting.

If the president of our country were simply capable of saying the right thing at the right time, WE could all feign sadness and quickly return to whatever television show we binge watch over the weekends so we can mentally recharge for our understaffed, underpaid work weeks.

Despite the 11 people murdered at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, following 5-days of pipe bomb terror all over America, President Trump continues to do and say everything except the reassuring words regular Americans need right now.

In reality, there will always be extremists behaving extremely. Regular Americans understand this even as WE wait the 2 hours of post-tragedy grief that is customary before we argue over gun rights, the NRA or just return to our television binging for mental health escape.

WE, the regular People of America, don't blame George W. Bush for wars or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan even if we believe Saudi Arabia deserved the brunt of our anger, and maybe still does. Some of US might blame Bush, but the lion-share of America understands the industry of war, the necessity of war and the hair-triggers that cause violence of all kinds.

WE also understand that, sometimes, we war with ourselves whenever weapons of war become tools of terror in our streets, because Regular Americans understand the parable about living by the sword and recognize the inevitability of all this. When things grow beyond our ability to explain, Regular Americans know enough to follow the trail of money to clarify confusion. War an violence bring tons of money even as they bankrupt those who overuse them.

When it comes to war of any sort, presidents are often nothing more than the guys who listen to the advice of the generals and sign or decline their documents to proceed- especially now that Congress has abdicated that role among a few others. A president can choose to fight another day or in another way, but the industry and the machinery chugs along with our without their 4-8 years of consent. Violence in our streets is a byproduct of war in our world. It is a sad reflection of our inner-most nature to confront difficult challenges with rage.

Russian president, Vladimir Putin, predicted

 the end of American greatness. Is he right?

And if so, what will be our demise?

As it relates to violence in general, WE, the People, are a peculiar lot. We continue to market our land with milk and honey even though guns like the AR-15 have long since become the item most reflective of modern America and its nightmarish Dream.

The eerie connection between the Dream of America, our gun lust and that caravan from Latin America is a lengthy conversation all by itself.
(The Latin American gun leak. -- LA Times. Jan. 6th 2015)



Any notion that people willing to walk over 2,000 miles for a dream could be lazy is even more silly than the idea that ISIS would fly to the Guatemala just to join their death defying journey. The Trump administrations attempt to stoke fear of migrants by claiming Middle Easterner infiltration of the caravan. Making descendants from the Middle East analogous to terrorists is possibly more shameful than his refusal to be a president for Real Americans when Real Americans need it.

In some ways, WE are a land of type-A personalities who breed, attract and inspire those same personalities from near and far to come, live in our land and argue alongside US about what it means to be American, or how America can ignore the dangers of our violent compulsions, yet, still remain the best country in the world and not just a nation conforming to one man's distorted view of greatness.


WE will never lose our partisan divide even if the lines get blurred by another flawed, reactive socialized program or two that Regular Americans discover they need too much to let go of, flawed or not. Regular Americans want our degrading social programs to be replaced with sensible, dignified hand up legislation because Regular Americans realize that the sacrifices of the American Dream are also the exact formula for achieving it. Regular Americans still believe in the dream and see their dreams as clearly as they see the obstacles because regular Americans understand what it takes to keep ALL of our dreams alive.

On the fringes of American society, we will always have pessimists who think all this a nightmare. Because fear and misery demand company, those on the fringes have no choice but to bring the rest of US into their nightmares just to legitimize their own miserable fear induced realities. The reasons for those on the fringe are numerous and real, but no more real than the fact that the extreme fringes are not the majority. The majority of US love this land for what it is and can be, and are enjoying our chase of the dream the best WE can.

WE the People, know quite clearly what happens if we remain silent when they come for the Jews, so we depend on the civility of our president whenever those on the fringes terrorize our neighbors until we no longer understand how to feel about our country, or ourselves. 

While Democrats focus on the rhetoric of the pipe bomb terrorist, 

Republicans deflect by pointing to his Native American race.

Maybe this pipe bomb terrorist is not a Nationalist like our president recently  announced himself to be. And hopefully this Pittsburgh killer doesn't avow himself to Trump either. Regular people don't really care about the political leaning of killers who terrorize US even if our debate over weapons of war makes it look like WE do.

At moments like this, WE need to be reassured that WE are much more similar than different.

According to Trump, some 

of these are fine people.

Trumpians might have found a feeling of reassurance in the words Trump robotically read before he stepped all over them with some weird attack on the media and a few false equivalencies about congressman Steve Scalise, but Regular Americans are still empty.

Whatever Trump called his moment of reassurance only stoked terror and the debate further. With every shallow call from our president for "all sides" to improve, I am hard-pressed to understand what Trump wants to see from the media, or what he intends to change himself? I am beyond baffled as to who will change first when our president hasn't even declared what change should look like...."on all sides".

If there's anything the media should change if they could, what exactly should it be Mr. President? Lead US! Reassure US, if you can.

I will give Trump this concession on behalf of the media. If Congress was at all worthwhile, guns wouldn't be so rampant and presidents wouldn't be allowed or expected to send troops to war because war would only happen as the Constitution prescribes- via congressional order.

If this current Congress was at all fulfilling it's coequal duty, they might consider this president guilty of yelling fire in a theatre from campaign speeches that have stoked his fringes to act against a hit-list of opponents and other undesirables. It is perfectly legitimate to question the impetus of recent radicals. It is unthinkable that any president would call for civility while running so hard away from it at the same time.

Let me say this once more, for effect! The day after catching the pipe bomb terrorist, our current president was not wise or courageous enough to discontinue the "CNN Sucks" rant while campaigning. Is that a high crime or a misdemeanor? Did those two black people at Kroger die from just being black in Trump's America and or did they die from Trump's inability to promote the very civility he calls for? 

Will  there continue to be more unexplained terror stoked and promoted by our Nationalist president until a seemingly clear connection is no longer avoidable? 

If the next pipe bomber goes a step further after a Democrat mid-term takeover of congress, Trump could easily be considered a cause of this and could be impeached from the deadly toxicity of his presidency alone.

In reality, high crimes and misdemeanors can mean whatever Congress wants it to mean when they are convinced that a president is no longer fulfilling the call of the office. And what is more vital to the call of the office than what WE need from a president at moments like these?

Americans don't like the impeachment of a president, so smart Democrats like Nancy Pelosi won't let her party forget that truth. Unless, of course, the next wave of pipe bomb terror comes at her. How Pelosi managed to avoid pipe bomb terror is as mysterious as why none of them exploded.

Trump: "You should have had an armed guard in your 

church....and capital punishment. God bless all."

From military to economic, Trump has waged war with his own advisers and appointees, yet, none of them seem to care or seem compelled to follow his radical lead in areas of such vital significance. Republicans in Congress have tried to cater to his whims, but even they could only pull off a tax cut for themselves and a controversial Supreme Court pick that might work against them come November 6th.

The quandry for the GOP is that they will either l retain their majority and have to explain why they still can't agree on anything useful enough to turn into law, or they will lose their majority and have to fend off the kind of congressional oversight of the president that used to be part of co-equal governance. Anything left to be accomplished in America can not pay for itself, something Republicans promised their tax cut would do.

The bully pulpit of the president has always mattered because it is essentially their only weapon. Presidents function on influence alone, although nothing is more powerful than being able to influence the media cycle and popular opinion. Congress used to be powerful, but those days are a distant memory.

Presidents don't write the bills they eventually sign, and they obviously can't even force their own party to buy a wall they promised Mexico would pay for. Obama used his influence to complete universal healthcare, but he did it using the Republican plan based on pressure from his own party even though he didn't get a single Republican vote for his conciliatory effort.

Unless the president of the U.S. is attempting to comfort US with their yearly State of the Union- or a monthly address from another act of terror- presidents don't really have a whole lot they can do but comfort US when our world appears frenzied.

Until WE all screwed up and allowed Russia to suppress and influence enough voters into our orange accident, WE had always elected a president with the capacity to speak words of reassurance to the bulk of US and not just those fringe folks who terrorize or tacitly approve.

Now WE have a president incapable of rising above tough coverage, Saturday night live spoofs or the  insults about his spray tan to still do the only thing WE need presidents to do.

And it's sad.

New Amsterdam Explores Our Health Care Fantasies

Disclaimer: I don't love modern television shows that much because even the reality shows get overly infused with drama just to keep US watching. I do love conversations, and I often sense the potential for one to arise.  Thanks to topic and timing (when is that election?),  NBC's newest hospital drama New Amsterdam is a conversation waiting to happen.

Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin in New Amsterdam.(Francisco Roman/NBC)

The flood of commercial promos preceding the debut of New Amsterdam a  few weeks ago laid bare the apparent subject matter, and allowed critics an opportunity to pre-plan whether or not we wanted to like this show.

Reviews I read immediately following the debut convince me that the earliest critics planned to be cynical and somewhat smug about the cookie cutter appearance of yet another hospital show and another handsome white male hero as the shows lead character. 

 Dr. Eric Manheimer

The critics are not totally off target. As it relates to the conversation on healthcare, this repetitious white male savior theme does feel disregarding of all the smart and dedicated folks who've been engaged, but buried, by the bureaucratic nonsense that only handsome white guys get to fix on television. 

This criticism against the show rings especially true when you discover that the show is inspired by "Twelve Patients", the memoir of an average white man named Dr. Eric Manheimer, journaling his time as the Medical Director of Bellvue Hospital in New York .

The quicker critics are also spot on in their general impression that way too many post work beers could cause you to mistake this show for one you've seen before. 

Quick critics missed the fact that Dr. Max Goodwin (played by Ryan Eggold) is a handsome white male but a supremely flawed hero. His bleeding heart desire to help so many has turned him into an awful husband with a pregnant wife whose high-risk pregnancy has her suddenly bed-stricken at- you guessed it- New Amsterdam hospital. 

Despite the quick revelation of family issues, Dr. Max has taken on the job at New Amsterdam (the Dam for short) mainly because it is the Mt. Everest of hospitals, as he describes. And who can resist the call of Everest? Again, his words.

If the naked to the world flaws are not redeeming enough to humanize the lead character and to soften critics on the show, Dr. Max  appears to be a highly flawed hospital director given his knee jerk nature to agree to changes without researching the problem or the impact of the proposed changes.  From a script writing perspective, what better than  flawed, good looking, successful white guys to make lots of regular Americans watch and feel better about themselves?

Viewers soon discover Dr. Max to be an awful patient too when he is diagnosed with throat cancer half-way into the fast-paced opening episode. As he races all over the hospital, he repeatedly chooses to ignore his pregnant wife and his own health in his quest to figure out "how he can help" change the world one dramatic story at a time.

Dr. Max serves as the fractured lens this show uses to shine light upon all the good people who currently run hospitals like The Dam. He is the obstacle remover that reveals what smart, caring people could do for healthcare if they only were allowed.

"How can I help?", quickly becomes an oft repeated 

Dr. Floyd Reynolds, played by Jocko Sims, has
deep confrontations with interracial dating and
Faith in healing in NBC's New Amsterdam.

salvo of Dr. Max to all the good people under his direction, but it starts to seem directed at the viewing audience indirectly. It comes off as a recognition mantra of what's needed in every hospital as well as a fantasized mission statement for wellness and servitude in healthcare. 

Dr. Max asks this very question of the entire staff right before he proceeds to fire all of the dead weight, including all but one central character in the cardiology department- Dr. Floyd Reynolds, played by Jocko Sims- who he rushes to retain just before he walks out the door after the mass firing.

From creator David Schulner, New Amsterdam is a character and theme driven show rich with opportunities to chase the vast possibilities connected to our current healthcare passions. By the second episode, the shows producers stamp "How can I help?" as a driving concept of the show and of its altruistic leading man.

I'll admit that I pre-planned to appreciate this show just for its audacity and for those aforementioned conversations.

I'll also admit that I was just as jaded as other critics were by the predictable opening scene. It depicts the hospital scrub wearing Medical Director lost in the staff locker room while a group of Hispanic janitorial workers discuss- in Spanish of course- the rumors they've heard about the new Medical  Director. In perfect cliché form, Dr. Max stands up from a bench in the locker room and speaks- in Spanish of course- to the unsuspecting group of workers, comforting them that he will be the savior they need. 

Did I mention he speaks perfect Spanish?

That opening of this show has the kind of predictability prime time television lovers might reject, but it ends with an unexpected twist when Dr. Max hands a $100 bill to the worker in the group who joked- in Spanish- that he bets the new Director won't last one year. It was a moment of mockery of that cynical employee, as well as a challenge to cynical viewers who might decide to pre-judge this show on the predictability alone. New Amsterdam is actually an old healthcare conversation but in new ways. Dramatic new ways- excluding the handsome white hero of course.

Cynical viewers will have to survive the first scene to get a quick sense of where the shows value lies. From a cynical, "show me something I've never seen" perspective, don't bother watching this show. It is another "fall in love with the characters" prime time drama, much like the rest.

The acting and dramatic, near fantasy situations are highly infectious, but there are only so many hours of love and devotion any of us can give to our television viewing addictions. For reasons of short attention span and repetitious modeling, this show may not find enough prime-time oxygen to be removed from the life support stage every new show endures.

As a hopeful  believer in the sheer audacity of the show's name, much less the show itself, I am willing to bet alongside Dr. Max that New Amsterdam will be around simply because so many of US currently have a chronic illness, or WE take care of someone with an illness. For people who have health insurance coverage and are forced to use it a lot, this show dares to chase after our greatest, most proactive dreams for ourselves and the people we love. 

Like John McCain did during that late night ObamaCare vote, New Amsterdam acknowledges the genuine importance and growing acceptance for universal healthcare in America. The timely creation of a show like this is a recognition that people who need tumor removal surgery on their eye socket still don't care what political party their doctor belongs to even if doctors are still forced to care how some of US intend to pay. 

Senator John McCain made a conscious choice to save universal healthcare as WE know it while he was personally in the middle of receiving the best cancer treatment and medical attention America's universal healthcare could afford him and his family. Unafraid of the politics of this moment, New Amsterdam imagines the socialized dream that McCain heroically saved for US all as he was humbled into appreciating it more himself. 

I'll admit that I consider most things to be politics, however, if New Amsterdam were my show, I would explore this fantasy ride by reenacting the John McCain healthcare story as one of the upcoming episodes. You could air that show in roughly a month when politics will  drown out every television show that isn't smart enough to get on top of the impending wave.

If you think about it, bipartisan America finally embraced a near decade old program- the driving concept behind this show- on one thumb blessed night. In my mind, our recent amazing embrace of Obama's 2009 healthcare law is as crazy and drama filled as New Amsterdam. This new show.  and our slow embrace of ObamaCare, begs a really important question.

Did ObamaCare need a handsome white guy to be it's lead advocate for it to succeed faster? Would the right white man have helped to avoid the tumultuous start, or were white guys afraid or unable to get it done, try as they might? 

Our current premium focused healthcare law worked fairly well back when Governor Mitt Romney was the leading white guy representing the universal healthcare pathway forward  in Massachusetts, although Massachusetts, and America, are starting to wonder if single payer healthcare for all will make more sense in the end. 

Would the Affordable Care Act have grown  in acceptance more quickly if it wasn't black listed (so to speak) and re-branded as ObamaCare, and if a handsome white guy assumed the original leading role? Were health insurance providers fighting like hell to make the ACA fall apart simply because of the color of the man who dared to get it done? In some ways, John McCain- a white man- assumed the leading role over ObamaCare that night he saved our healthcare fantasies before they were dismantled forever. If this show takes off, the creators of New Amsterdam owe McCain a huge thanks.

I wish I wasn't hard wired to care about the bigger picture of a television show willing to have this conversation at this moment. I wish I was blessed enough to watch this show strictly as a critic and not as a transformed champion for wellness and a caregiver for someone with a chronic illness. Sadly, I no longer get to paint myself as impartial because I have spent far too many days sitting in hospital rooms listening to doctors function like money driven robots, and not caregivers.

As it relates to medical procedure pricing, 45 states in America fail when it comes to medical procedure price transparency.  And only one, New Hampshire, received an A grade.  In between repeated stories full of happy endings in healthcare, New Amsterdam has the courage to talk about issues like this and to tell the truth about intractable political problems hurting healthcare.

As much as I am rooting for the underlying cause of this show, fair criticisms are why I waited for a second episode to season and share my own views, hopeful it would give me a deeper perspective from which to assess. 

It did not. 

The show is fully formed in today's television mold- sappy and hope driven. It would teeter on the edge of being insulting to the status quo if the status quo in healthcare wasn't so worthy of whatever insults they get.  It's fast-paced if you make yourself watch, but if you a looking for a show that makes you pay attention, this show may not have enough sex or murder to get it done.

People who are totally paying attention and interested in a water cooler conversation show- especially on the vital topic of healthcare generally and the future of universal healthcare specifically- should watch this show. Anyone who understands sickness, the tenuous nature of American healthcare, and dares to imagine what might be when wellness is truly OUR mission, will likely enjoy the journey this show intends to take.