Inaugurals and Oscars

“Water boarding is torture” is the phrase from Eric Holder (Atty Gen candidate) that will go down in history, but my personal favorite was his unequivocal “I made a mistake.” Not “mistakes were made” or any other weasel words, but full acknowledgement that he should have studied the matter further and been responsible. As one who fully recognizes that most of the lessons I’ve learned the best are the ones that came from doing something wrong, I have great confidence in this guy.

So why can’t I get over Timothy Geithner’s tax problems? I’ve long been a critic of the fact that Americans have to pay tax preparers then pay our taxes because of the overly complex and complicated tax code. It’s ridiculous that citizens can be held criminally liable for misinterpreting the arcane and ambiguous IRS regs. Having been bamboozled myself over terms like “cost basis,” I can understand how even a smart guy could make errors. However, I am quite sure that if it were a Bush appointee for Secretary of Treasury who had failed to fully pay his taxes until the vetting committee discovered the “errors,” I’d have jumped on the inevitable feeding frenzy from the late night comics or right-wing commentators. With Geithner, supporters from across the spectrum seem to be willing to give him a pass on this… I hope he’s okay, but it doesn’t pass the smell test. I’m nervous.

Hillary demonstrated exactly why she’s the perfect Secretary of State. I swear she has a wonk chip embedded someplace – good lord, is there anything she doesn’t know? (If so, I guess she could call Al Gore). Some of her Senate colleagues tried to make Bill’s fundraising an issue, but she was able to fend them off credibly. I hope they figure out how to exploit Bill’s talents for the greater good. (Not to mention Jimmy Carter’s).

Dubya’s embarrassing final news conference and self-serving farewell address only reinforced how grateful I am to be able to say PRESIDENT Obama in a few short days. I’ll be plopped down in front of my TV set, with NPR in the background for at least all of Tuesday. I’m even considering contacting Comcast to see if I can add HBO for a few days to catch some of the events. It really sucks that everything isn’t on the public airwaves.

Oscar run up…
Understand, for me, Academy Awards night is sort of like the Super Bowl is to most American men. I fully realize it’s a bunch of hooey, but I am an unabashed fan. To that end, I’ve tried to catch as many likely nominations as I can and offer a few thoughts…

· Sure, we all love to watch Clint Eastwood, but let’s not pretend he’s a “great” actor or director. Yes, he’s had some good ones (“Mystic River”, “Unforgiven”) but this latest one, “Gran Torino”, is even more formulaic and far-fetched than “Million Dollar Baby.” Geez, if this movie or his performance gets “best” recognition, bring on Steven Seagal, for Pete’s sake.

· My favorite part of “Slum Dog Millionaire” was hearing the game show host pronounce “millonair.” Can Danny Boyle even do a movie without shi-zatt as a prop? I’ll give it an A for originality, but other than that, I don’t get the hype.

· Michelle Williams for Best Actress in “Wendy and Lucy” and (of course) Sean Penn for Best Actor for “Milk.”

· Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep were both the definition of emoting in “Doubt.”

· I can’t even bring myself to watch “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” but would support Brad Pitt as Best Supporting Actor for “Burn After Reading.” What the heck, let’s honor Frances McDormand for that flick, too, if only for being able to make her affair with George Clooney seem credible.

· Was “Australia” really that bad? I kind of liked it.