リンカーンの次は？

Bully Pulpit (2013/11/05) Doris Kearns Goodwin 商品詳細を見る

映画『リンカーン』のベースとなった本Team of Rivalsの作者Doris Kearns Goodwinさんの新作が発売されたようです。自分は図書館に入るまで待とうかなと思っていますが。。。





伝記を書く大統領については一緒に暮らしているの、一緒に起きて、一緒に寝るのと答えていますが、それくらいのめり込まないとやはり心迫る本は書けないのかもしれません。一般向けのテレビ番組でははじけていますが、下の動画では真面目に答えています。オバマ大統領は議会対策としてLBJを参考にすべきというのは興味深い指摘ですね。

ニューヨークタイムズの書評やそのPodcastにも登場していました。

Heroes and Crusaders
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s ‘Bully Pulpit’
By BILL KELLER
Published: November 14, 2013

そこで思い出したのですが、先週のTimeでもインタビューで登場していました。

10 Questions for Doris Kearns Goodwin
The historian talks presidential relationships, gun control and dealing with baseball nerves
By Belinda Luscombe Monday, Nov. 18, 2013

Are we now in a similar time to Roosevelt's?
A main concern in his time was that business enterprises had merged, an enormous gap had developed between the rich and the poor, and part of that was because of the Industrial Revolution, like the technological revolution we've had now. And there was also division in the Republican Party, although I didn't foresee the Tea Party when I started the book seven years ago.

Wikipediaによるとルーズベルト大統領後任のタフト大統領は共和党の分裂を招いてしまったようですから、現在の共和党と近いものがあるかもしれません。また、タフト大統領は体が大きかったそうで、ついついアメリカ人は2016年に出馬が予想されているNJ知事のクリスクリスティーと重ね合わせてしまいそうです。



Taft was a big guy, 350 lb. [158 kg] or so. In the current era, do you think weight is more of a liability for a potential leader?

It probably is. There was one picture of Taft sideways, but today you see all the dimensions often. Even more important, obesity, we know now, is troublesome for health. I think people would be concerned about that in a way that they weren't in Taft's time.

So is anybody Taft-shaped who might be thinking of running for President doomed?

It depends on how the person handles it. Obviously Chris Christie had surgery done. That means at least he is taking steps to help his situation. And he's so able to parry that if somebody tried to use it in a debate, you can picture him getting the better of the person.

彼女はレッドソックスのファンのようで、アメリカ政治に興味のない方も以下の部分はスポーツ観戦好きには共感をもってしまえそうです。自分も小学生の頃は、好きなチームのピンチはじっとして見れなかったくちです（苦笑）

Your favorite team, the Boston Red Sox, just won the World Series by not shaving. Do you have any superstitions when watching them play?
The worst part of my irrational passion is that I don't even see half the game. I get too nervous. If I'm at home and there's some guy on base for the other team, I turn it off and come back a few minutes later hoping there was a double play. At [Fenway] Park, I'm better. When it gets really nervous-making, I'll go to the bathroom.

以下は自分メモとしての動画です。