AAMP!itude

Straight Outta Compton

I saw this item when surfing the LA Times on the web: "College Overseer Gets Bodyguard". Apparently, a special trustee overseeing the state takeover of the Compton Community College District will receive bodyguard protection after receiving a threat to his safety.

Well, maybe that means the thuggish ways that spawned NWA still linger.

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And speaking of the LA Times, kudos to Peter Hong on his recent article about home real estate prices in Baghdad. I'm sure it taps into the Calif. obsession with home prices (one that also exists elsewhere on both coasts).

I remember Peter from his days in DC. I particularly remember one question he asked of Clinton during an AAJA convention one summer in DC. ('92 or '96? - one of those election years). [Note: AAJA = Asian American Journalists Ass'n.]
He asked Clinton about his thoughts on Japanese American internment in WWII. Can't recall exactly what prompted the question, but it seemed that Clinton's ready acknowledgement of internment camps in Arkansas (Jerome and Rohwer) made it seem that the exchange had been set up beforehand.

Of course, Clinton is a master of empathy ("I feel your pain"), and his response touched the audience of Asian American journalists. (He was speaking via satellite from Arkansas.) I don't know if Hong's question was preplanned, but I'd rather imagine that he'd known of Clinton's awareness of the issue.

Anyhow, it became readily apparent to me that this was a softball question. I remember scrutinizing Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), who was at the luncheon, in person, representing the Republican campaign. I wondered how he could top or neutralize Clinton's remarks. Gramm's remarks that followed couldn't neutralize Clinton's empathic appeal.

(It's interesting to recall how his wife had been on the Enron board. She'd joined with a week or so of leaving her job as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Don't wanna discuss this, 'cause it's better dealt with in other stuff you can find on the web.)

Posted by raacluse at July 24, 2004 10:23 AM