MLK: A MYTH AND A NIGHTMARE

Martin Luther King Junior is regarded as the quintessential success story that represents the embodiment and essence of everything that America stands for. It is the drama of how one man’s talents, perseverance, integrity, faith and personality effected a change that altered the course of history in a country that was receptive and conducive enough and constitutionally amenable to a then cataclysmic modification to the body politic. His efforts resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voters Rights Act of 1965. Both of these landmark acts legislatively transformed the status of the “Negro” and the future of America politically and socially.

He is the legendary icon of the “feel good” story of American folk lore - from the genre of log cabin to President. No other American, not even Lincoln, has had a Public Holiday enshrined in his honor and on and on. This Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is undisputedly the greatest orator of the twentieth century and with Ghandi and Mandela one of the most influential activists who initiated transformation. At the height of his popularity in the early sixties he was voted, in a Gallop poll, the second most influential man of the twentieth century. Today he is revered and even the crazies pay homage. The honors and eponymous buildings, highways and the like are only rivaled by popular Past Presidents.

NOT REVERED IN LAST YEAR OF LIFE

It is the perception, of most, that this revered status existed till his tragic end rising to a crescendo following his assassination, that is challenged in a recent book by Travis Smiley, entitled “Death of a King”. Smiley lays bare that myth. Smiley, in a tightly written volume with suspenseful prose, chronicles the nightmare the final year of King’s life.  He also reveals that at the time his death, in April 1968, three quarters of Americans were against him and fifty - seven percent of African Americans thought he was “irrelevant”. Travis and his co writer David Ritz compellingly explain how all this came about. In so doing they revealed much about what shaped the giant’s persona, his commitment to non violence, his unswerving faith and his humility. They spell out the factions that were responsible for his rejection by the body politic that had lionized him so recently. Finally, they detail the deep depression he suffered, his self medication with alcohol, his torment with sleeplessness, his awareness of imminent death and fixation on the latter and suicide in the final year of his life. The message of their narrative is that much of what caused King’s spiraling downfall prophetically relates to today’s controversies on poverty and America’s propensity to militarism.

MLK’S DILEMMAS

 King was dissatisfied that the benchmark legislation that Johnson had enacted was having enough impact on the day to day lives of the newly “freed” citizens. “What does it profit a man to have access to an integrated lunch counter when he does not earn enough to take his wife out to dinner”. While his emphasis was on a new attack on poverty - “Poor People’s Campaign” - he linked this with militarism and this is where his major problems with the administration begun.

Vietnam.

As Smiley’s story opens, a year before his assassination, King is reflecting on his decision to agree to talk on the Vietnam war. He feels that this extravagant militarism is connected to racism and poverty. So against all his advisors advice he feels he cannot, in good conscience avoid the burning controversy of the day any longer. The “doc”, as he is referred to by his closest, vents in no uncertain terms. “America is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” and “Bombs being dropped in Vietnam land in the ghettoes of USA”. In one fell swoop he brings down on his head, the liberal media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Life and the like. The “Negro” establishment including, Ralph Bunche, Carl Rowan and Thurgood Marshall all are at odds with his decision not to mention those within his movement the Southern Christian Leaders Conference, (SCLC),”. Not the least he has antagonized the paranoid Lyndon Johnson who believes that any criticism of the war is directed at him. In the months to come he would add insult to injury by refusing to have meetings with the President. This allowed the manipulative FBI director, Edgar J. Hoover, to gain traction with his off the wall belief that MLK was a Communist. The FBI, who some credibly believe was responsible for his assassination, infiltrate his organization and make his life more and more uncomfortable. 

It is no exaggeration to conclude after he made that speech at the Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, he was politically dead. He had needed to remain in his political space as so many of his advisors had cautioned. 

Black Power

As if the black establishment weren’t enough to handle Stokely Carmichael of the Black Power Movement was steadily eating into his support. The youth was more attracted to Carmichael's style and his commitment to violence. Disgruntled with the lack of progress and angry with the establishment, they were in favor of violence and militancy. In addition at every Southern Christian Leadership Convention there are more and more challenges to his leadership. It is uphill as he goes into the last year of his life wedded to non violence under any and every circumstance. He is being told on the one hand to leave the Poverty Campaign alone by an increasing number of his supporters and on the other to start the Second American Civil war.

War on Poverty linked to the world, racism and Vietnam. 

This  war on poverty project was his main thrust and he envisaged that it would climax in a gigantic march and an encampment in Washington in the following year. He remained dogged and persistent in this objective that became more and more politically unrealistic as the year went on. The more quixotic the notion became the more he frenetically championed its fulfillment. 

He saw poverty globally: “Like a monstrous octopus, poverty spreads its nagging, prehensile tentacles into hamlets and villages all over our world. Two thirds of the world go to bed hungry at night”….. in Marks, Mississippi,… “I saw hundreds of little black boys and black girls walking the streets with no shoes to wear. They are ill housed; they are ill nourished and shabbily clad. I saw their mothers and fathers trying to carry on a little Head Start Program, but they had no money.”

Smiley comments in this context, “He speaks of his recent visits to the tenements of Newark and Haarlem and the frustrations that he faces as a man determined to heed the cries of the dispossessed”. 

He has his greatest condemnation for Congress whom he maintains together with the WhiteHouse are about to enact an immoral and monumental backward step on the War on Poverty, "I am appalled that the House may eliminate 272,000 poor children from Head Start; 250,000 high school drop outs from the Neighborhood Youth Corps and an additional 50,000 poor adults from much needed jobs - (this is) an open invitation to social disorder in the streets of our beleaguered ghettos. It is disgraceful that Congress can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam but cannot vote a weak $2.5 billion to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wounds of our nation’s 32 million poor. This is nothing short of Congress waging political warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation.”

Does this sound like the beginning of so many deja vus to follow?

MEMPHIS - THE SALVATION?

So the die is cast. The visionary is way ahead of his flock. The political animals around him see the dangers and try and warn him. The vultures in the movement challenge him to take over the mantle that he has created. The black activists mock his non violent and establishment like demeanor. His family suffers and Coretta is resentful at his continual absence and her inability to play a role in the struggle. He confesses to his infidelity to add to the pressure. No-one but him is interested in his Poverty Campaign. The SCLC is penurious and money has stopped coming in. To cope he emerges himself in a backbreaking schedule. He drinks, is obsessed with death, discusses his eulogy and expects to die. He is in hopeless denial and continues obsessively to discuss the Poor Peoples March where he envisages thousands pouring in from all over America. In retrospect it all looks like a Greek tragedy with an inevitable ending.

The Memphis saga started when “Doc” learns that two black garbage workers in Memphis sought refuge during a storm in the only area they were allowed, a garbage storage cylinder. The mechanism misfired and the workers succumbed. King follows the sequels and learns from a fellow pastor, Reverend James Lawson, that the city officials refuse to improve safety conditions and nearly all of the 1100 employees have gone on strike. Then follows a march where the police bludgeon the protestors. The media are ignoring the whole incident and Lawson repeatedly calls for King. The latter is ambivalent as his priority has to be the Poor People’s Campaign. He also is under constant threat of death. Finally, he acquiesces and  addresses a crowd of 15,000 in Memphis. He is once again the conquering hero and he reiterates what he has been prophesying for some time America may be going to hell. 

He is exhilarated by the response to his message and he is rejuvenated that his grand vision of occupying Washington with a shanty town in the Mall can become a reality, “I ask you to make this the beginning of the Washington movement. We are going to keep marching until the walls of injustice come tumbling down", all articulated with the old familiar mesmerizing cadence. Memphis, as Smiley sums up, is his new rallying point.

The denouement of the Memphis movement will be a protest march on March 28. The latter turns into a disaster with looting and rioting, arrests and a 16 year old dead.The instigators of the violence were black agitators. His old friend Stanley Levison attempts to comfort him as he resigns himself to the blackness and gloom ahead, “Martin Luther King is dead” he opines. The vultures pick at the corpse, The New York Times screams that this is a powerful embarrassment to Dr. King and his descent on Washington would be likely to counterproductive. 

His advisors once again caution him not to go ahead with yet another march but there is no way he will stop clinging to this mirage. He will lead another march in Memphis but he is so ill he is unable to address the throng prior to the event. There is also no way that the crowd will disperse till they have heard him. He is on message non violence is the most potent weapon. The march will still go on regardless of legal attempts to stop it. The march once again ends in chaos and violence. What is now resonating in his head and heart is “Why America May Go to Hell’. as he steps out of his hotel room and a shot rings out and a King is dead at the age of 39 years.

WHAT AND WHY

It is understandable that a reformer such as MLK could not stop reforming. It is comprehensible that those who had the political nouse would want to curtail him when they thought it was impolitic. The question is why those that had followed him deserted him in every direction. The simple answer is that his support came from many constituencies. The youth were no longer motivated by his non violence and the politicos knew that America was not ready for more. The liberal media cynically shared the politicians' assessment. There needed to be a pause. His administration powerful allies deserted him when he became a threat to the status quo and if the perception was that Kennedy was killed by the military industrial complex who was King to take them on? 

That Martin Luther King was a prophet is borne out by the fact that the two issues he honed in on, the poor and militarism, are front and center again. It was Travis Smiley’s motive for publishing this book to provoke discussion on the three missions in King’s life - racism, poverty and militarism. He has provided the ideal vehicle to do so and if nothing else his book should be compulsory reading for all those in public life today.

While Smiley was not optimistic when Jon Stewart interviewed him he should take some solace from the fact that the Congressional African American Caucus has 43 members and that African Americans are widely represented in the every sphere of life in America . And in case no-one has noticed the re elected President of the United States is an African American. Obama has acknowledged that this could never have happened without Martin Luther King Junior. Also the financial inequities that were central to MLK’s raison d’être will be addressed in the next decade even if it is only because the demographic change in the American electorate will force it to be.

So while racism is still alive and well the bohaai the Travyon Martin and the Martin Brown killings have provoked, for example, are indicative of the fact that the majority of Americans are agonizing over the still present discriminatory behavior against minorities. 

Martin Luther King, notwithstanding his doubts, was fundamentally an optimist and believed that all was attainable:  “Our goal is freedom and I believe we are going to get there however much she strays from it the Goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be as a people, our destiny, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America”. 

Jay H. Ell believes that when the day comes that there is no more freedom to strive for on this earth the messiah will have arrived! In ending - just a quote from two of his heroes - Mandela, “The walk to freedom is long” and Churchill. “You can trust the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else”.

A GLIMMER OF SANITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST LUNATIC ASYLUM?

At the moment there are two disconnected processes taking place in the Middle East. On the one hand there is the chaos arising out of the Syrian Iraqi quagmire and the surfacing of the nightmarish Jihardi Islamic State, (IS or ISIS), and on the other there is a realignment of Arab States with Israel, accompanied by some paradigm changing enterprises. The latter has been overshadowed by the IS crisis. Obama’s move to make the key Middle East problem the elimination of IS has relegated the Israeli - Palestinian "problem" to the back burner.

THE LUNATIC ASYLUM

The  Arab and Muslim world plus Israel, loosely interchangeably known as the Middle East, is in sheer and utter chaos. In the not so distant past the simplistic narrative, whether verbalized or not, was  - “If only the Israeli - Palestinian “problem” could be resolved all the rest of the Middle East would be mollified and they would stop hating the Americans and the West, who either overtly or covertly back Israel”. Some were less subtle than others being openly irritated with Israel for not just meeting Palestinian demands and letting everyone live happily ever after.

Then along came the Arab Spring which has since turned into an Arab winter. Iran also became a major threat as the theocracy demanded its democratic right to produce a nuclear weapon. Then there were problems everywhere in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Yemen with players such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia getting more and more involved in the action. One hardly knows where to begin it is all such a shambles……. 

DEGRADATION AND DESTRUCTION  OF IS -THE NEW MIDDLE EAST POLICY

So let’s begin with the latest simplistic analysis and work backwards. The current focus is on IS or ISIS the latest collection of crazies to emerge from that cauldron of insanity.  If one would have written a smear on the Islamic fundamentalists and called it “The Protocols of Islam” and just chronicled what IS is now enacting one would have been driven out of town as being Islamophobic. However, it is for real and they are proud of it too! Their behavior is trotted out on the internet by themselves for all to see. - pure unadulterated totalitarianism, barbarism, rape, enslavement of women, ethnic cleansing of minorities especially Christians, child exploitation and primitive Sharia law with whippings, and executions for the “unbelievers”, all with children in attendance. Their piece de resistance is periodic beheadings of Westerners. What is more this crowd are growing stronger and stronger by the day and are said to have 30,000 fighters. They have sequestered huge chunks of land in Syria and Iraq. IS controls towns and has set up administrations. So all the other complex affairs of the Middle East have been swept under the carpet in favor of the degradation and destruction of IS. 

WHY ISIS?

It is fair to interpret that Obama’s policy was to stay out of the Middle East as far as possible -  other than to resolve the Israel and Palestine “problem” of course and more lately to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Congress and the USA population were ad idem. They didn’t even want him bombing Syria. However, when ISIS became a reality Obama weakened and started moving back into the Middle East arena. (Blog: Iraq: Obama Won’t You Please Stay Home - 6/19/14). So what allowed and even forced Obama to go ahead and change direction to degrade and destroy ISIS? What compelled Obama suddenly to realize it was in the USA’s national interest  to take on the heinous ISIS? Everyone is agreed that it was the hideous videos of ISIS beheading two American journalists. (One can predict that Cameron's attitude to IS will change dramatically now that a UK citizen has suffered a similar fate). 

So when “It comes down to reality” to quote Billy Joel, what triggered the USA into ISIS was the beheadings. 

Thus in the final analysis this is the beginning of the declaration of war between two cultures - one of life and the other of death. 

Of course the US rationalizations followed for the change in policy - this is not a “feel good” or “national ideal” exercise, the reason for the policy is “national Interest”; there is a need to protect American citizens in the area; IS threatens the stability of the whole Middle East, thereby becoming a danger to the USA; and sooner or later they will become international terrorists so there is a need to wipe them out now! (Another unspoken rationale is they don’t need IS controlling too much oil). 

Not terribly convincing arguments as why to go to war again to say the least but let us carry on. 

Coalitions against ISIS

In effect there are three coalitions "against" ISIS. The whole of the West and the rest of the Middle East are against the barbarians for differing reasons. Then Obama has put together a “feel good” coalition of Western Countries and certain Middle Eastern countries, none of whom, will have “boots on the ground” but will provide, to varying degrees, material and other support. Then there has to be a third coalition, yet to be announced, of those who will put “boots on the ground.”

How IS can be degraded and destroyed with “no boots on the ground” and who and what the boots partners are and are going to do the necessary is still uncertain. The USA with the firepower and drones and the like will cause IS distress there is no doubt. However, the “Homeland’s” attempts to execute similar ventures in the recent past have taken battalions of boots and numbers of years with, to put it kindly, mixed success. Part of the current mess is thanks to George W and Cheney and his neocons trying to do whatever they were attempting to do in Iraq and all after all those USA efforts in Afghanistan the latter is still corrupt and unstable although the Taliban don’t run it for the moment.

Whose Boots?

Then who the partners who are going to have boots on the ground is a mystery. The obvious candidate, the Iraqi army, thanks to Bush is totally dysfunctional. He dismantled the army, and a 1000 Obama American advisors are not going to improve their prospects in a hurry. (The Iraqi Defense Force retreat from Mosul leaving their heavy uniforms and American tax payer paid for munitions show just how far they have to go to become battle ready).The Kurds are a fighting force but no match for this crowd. Iran can deliver but we can hardly kiss and make up with them in the midst an economic boycott and don’t forget they are central to much of the  Middle East shambles. They support Assad, Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran really philosophically would like a Caliphate but their Shia Caliphate and not one that opposes their Assad. There are no other contenders who are inclined to send ground troops. So sadly Obama’s approach is not going to make the real problems in the Middle East go away and if anything have just muddied the waters even further.

However, finally Obama has found an issue to unite with Congress and they are all backing him to the hilt with relatively few ifs and buts.

THE NEW UNITED MIDDLE EAST?

Obama’s move has made a new united Middle East. All of a sudden the dynamic has changed. The whole Middle East including El Qaeda, and even Syria is on the same side. Even Saudi Arabia is ostensibly Iran’s newest best friend. However, this coalition as well as the more formal Obama “feel good” group can only offer what America is already providing - munitions, money and cheerleading. Obama still mistakenly believes that with the new Iraqi government the country will become unified so they can stop their own virtual civil war and their army can then concentrate on IS. Iran is really the only force on the ground with boots that realistically can take on IS -  as Churchill might have said, “Our noble allies the Russians I mean the Iranians” will wipe them out.

It is obvious that a “boots coalition” doesn’t exist and if anything this whole exercise can be detrimental to American interests. Just citing one example how tough is Obama going to be on Iran’s abrogations of nuclear policy if indeed they wipe out IS? Also one can be sure that if Iran does fight IS it will be in tandem with bolstering Assad, Hezbollah and Hamas.

A GLIMMER OF SANITY?

But wait while all this is going on Israel’s Middle East anti - Jihardi coalition is showing some movement even though the Israeli - Palestinian madness continues of its own momentum.

Hamas

Hamas is defiantly rebuilding their tunnels with tours available on U- Tube. They have not denied that their policy was to run up as many civilian deaths as possible and are rearming while demanding the right to be rebuilt so that they can start firing rockets at Israel again and have more civilian deaths and have all the buildings where their fighters with their armaments and where women and children hang out once again reduced to a pile of death and rubble. 

But even here there is glimmer of light. A Chief Hamas official, Abu Marzouk, says that there is nothing wrong with negotiating with Israel. He states that Hamas may be forced to follow this path as the population of Gaza demands this. Marzouk maintained that this would become a reality if  Abbas fails to address the Gaza situation. This resulted in a sharp rebuke by Abbas’s Fatah calling such a move “treason”.

Arab Countries Paradigm Shifts

The most significant  break in the logjam is in the Arab Muslim world as the non jihadist Sunnis separate themselves from the Sunni and Shia Jihadists. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and UAE are firmly on Israel’s side against Hamas. All of these countries see no merit in this counterproductive destructive lunacy that at the end of the day achieves nothing. It is important to accentuate that this happenstance did not occur in a vacuum and is the pay off for decades of good faith efforts by leaders such as Rabin, Peres, Begin, Ohlmert, Barak and Sharon. The message may not have gotten through to the Palestinian leader Jihadists but has permeated through to the environment around them. Now none of the countries Israel is involved with are models of democracy and or tolerance but this pragmatic attitude is a great start.

Jordan has just done a paradigm shattering $15 billion energy deal with Israel. Israel can well be the economic and resource engine that fuels a new Middle East. From all accounts Egypt have made an earthquaking move offering to give Gaza a chunk of land four times its size. Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post discusses the significance of this move in detail and indicates why this offer, that has since been denied following Abbas’s public refusal of it, was most likely a genuine effort to break the deadlock. Abbas as Jay H. Ell has blogged is part of the old school of a one State solution - Palestine and until then chaos.

Surreal Israel

Meanwhile back in Israel they are holding hearings to access whether there were any abrogations of policy in some of the civilian deaths in the Gaza incursion with a view to disciplinary action for those IDF members who violated policy. The Chief Military Prosecutor has opened criminal investigations into 5 cases including the incident where four Palestinian teenagers were killed on a beach and the bombing of an UNRWA facility where 14 Palestinians succumbed. All in all, according to the Jerusalem Post, Military Advocate - General, Major General, Dani Efroni has opened investigations into a 105 different episodes. (This civilized behavior is surreal in this madhouse). Israel is also building more security systems that will eliminate even more risk of fatalities when Hamas strikes up the band again. This suits Hamas as they play on the differential between Israeli civilian deaths that they are targeting and Palestinian civilian deaths that Israel are trying to avoid. 

There also appears to be a mood in Israel that is sick of this all. The feeling is that there has to be some accommodation. While the extremists they are opposing are amoral there has to be a majority of Palestinian parents who love their children as much as the Israelis love theirs. Netanyahu’s ratings have dropped from 82% from during the fighting to 38% now that it is over. The Israeli media was awash with the decision of 43 Intelligence officers who refused to continue in the processing of information in the WestBank as a result of the IDF’s methods of obtaining material there. 

In general no-one is giving up the right to defend oneself but there has to be some thinking outside of the box. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY.

“If my analysis of the position is right at the end of the tunnel there is a glimmer of light”

- Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

* The Middle East is in the process of splitting. On the one hand there are those of the Gulf States including Qatar, with Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq who are the in Obama’s “feel good” coalition against ISIS. On the other there is the Syrian, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah axis. ISIS is the real enemy of all and sundry and in the long run are not going to go anywhere unless they become an effective terrorist group acting outside of the Middle East.

* The Iran axis is the one Obama should be concentrating on instead of trying to get the Sunnis, Shia and Kurds to become one happy state in Iraq. Iraq is a failed state as a result of the Bush, Cheney et al criminal misadventure. Eliminating ISIS is not going to save Iraq.

* Israel is no longer alone in the Middle East and has allies in the key members of Obama’s “feel good” coalition. 

* There appear to be openings in the 70 year old Palestinian Israeli dispute. These will be exploited by the new anti Iranian axis which includes Israel. The Egyptian Premier Sisi is in a strong position to broker a deal and he can do the obvious by giving a relatively tiny chunk of land to make Gaza viable. There is an apparent beginning of a split between Fatah and Hamas, who well may being pressured by Qatar. Qatar has a foot in both camps but are members of the anti Jihadist Sunni Gulf Cooperation where two of its members are already part of the Israeli axis. Hamas is more under the influence of Qatar at the moment than Iran. There is no way that Abbas could beat Hamas in any election so in the grand scheme of things he is more irrelevant than Netanyahu.The Palestinian population believe that Hamas won the last war so they have a ton of credibility. Maybe Hamas are pondering giving up playing games with Abbas, whose tactic is to go to the World Court to charge Israel with war crimes, and actually accommodate those they purport to represent. 

* For all this to happen Netanyahu and Abbas have to go. They are relics of the past. Also there has to an incredible amount of backroom work which no doubt is going on as we speak.

* Hopefully, watch this space...... 

“ROSE WATER” OR NOT JON STEWART IS THE KING

Jon Stewart is back in the news, having taken a three month sabbatical from The Daily Show in order to direct a movie entitled “Rosewater”. The whole interlude reflects in many ways the very essence of Stewart. The film is based on the novel, “They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity and Survival”, by Maziar Bahari. Before everyone says who and why, let Jay H. Ell explain. Bahari was a little known Iranian commentator and still is not much more than that. He was a supporter of the Green Movement, and was featured on The Daily Show. Stewart relates Bahari’s saga in his venture into cinematography. “Rosewater” was featured at the Toronto film festival on September 8, and has received mixed reviews from being hailed as "Oscar nomination material" to being a “clumsy but earnest directional debut”. It is due to be released on the general circuit on November 7 and Stewart’s following alone will ensure a sizable audience.

Briefly the storyline runs as follows. After Bahari’s appearance on Stewart’s program he was arrested and his “subversion” on the Daily Show interview was played to him as proof of him being a traitor to the Iranian Islamic Republic. He was interned for a 120 days in Iran’s infamous Ervin prison before being released and is currently residing in London. Stewart hawked Bahari’s story to anyone that mattered, in order to have it made into a movie, with no success. He thus felt obliged to proceed himself into the celluloid world, obviously feeling some responsibility for Bahari’s plight. As Stewart explained to “The Hollywood Reporter” he has no intention of pursuing a career in filmmaking so this is it.

This whole interlude makes this as good a time as any to reassess Jon Stewart’s proficiency at his craft and his raison d’être in society generally.

RECOGNITION OF STEWART’S TOTAL DOMINATION OF HIS MEDIUM 

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has influenced the nightly television scene in so many dimensions, that it is difficult to comprehend his achievements in the here and now. It is akin to assessing Roger Federer during his playing career in terms of the history of tennis. Or a Walter Cronkite while he was anchoring the news at CBS. Or as the New York Times labelled him, as a result of his political influence and integrity, the modern equivalent of the icon of journalism, Edward R. Murrow. In 2008 the same prestigious newspaper asked whether he was “The most trusted man in America”.

He has so totally dominated the television category entitled, “Variety, Music or Comedy Series” that he has been nominated for 50 Emmy awards, in 15 years, The Emmy awards adjudge the best program in various categories of all of television. The Daily Show has won the Emmy for the most outstanding feature in this broad section ten times and in addition Stewart has had won the Emmy for the most outstanding writing performance nine times. (To put that in some perspective Johnny Carson who is considered the doyen of the Late Night Comedy genre, over a thirty year period, only garnered a total of six Emmys in an era where there were a fraction of the channels that currently operate).There have been book awards, even a Grammy for an audio.  Stewart has achieved all this in addition to prestigious Peabody awards and endless other honors not the least of which was, “The Most Influential Man of 2010”, by AskMen.Com. 

LARGEST AUDIENCE WITH KEY RATINGS

But Stewart is not just a pretty satirist journalistic face only recognized by the cognoscenti, his program has the highest ratings of any of the now legion of late night comics which have become the only compulsory viewing for the all important millennial demographic. The latter are critical not only to the political process but financially. The millennials are the only demographic advertisers are interested in. They are the group with the most disposable income. Their significance was illustrated when the long time respected Ted Koppel and his widely followed “Night LIne”, that was an institution for decades and had the highest general rating but the lowest among the eighteen to thirty - five year numerical, was axed. 

So to a large extent Stewart’s success is twofold. Not only is his show the most honored it has among it’s audience the highest number of viewers that attract advertisers. And as Jay H. Ell has repeatedly blogged it is all about selling soap. Not quite soap in Stewart’s instance but Jay H. Ell is sure you get the gist. This fact should not detract from his achievements, as his following is across the board. Not only that but there are clips from his show that are interspersed on so many programs that extend his influence further and further. The key demographic maintain that The Daily Show is where they get their news from. So it came as no surprise that Comedy Central renewed Stewart’s contract for between $25 and $35 million a year. Not only is The Daily Show a money spinner in its own right it is the lynch pin of Comedy Central’s night programming. The shows around it benefit as well.

“POLITICAL” INFLUENCE

Stewart politically is fiercely independent, (he even voted for Bush 41, regarding him as a decent fellow). He leans towards a liberal approach but is mainly against cant and hypocrisy. He is in favor of the underdog, the downtrodden and oppressed. He is unafraid to take anyone on. He is not disrespectful to those who he is interviewing but will not give an inch just because of civility. His interview with Chris Christie was a model of respect, intellect and at the end of the day exposing a major hypocrisy in Republican philosophy, (Blog: Jon Stewart, Chris Christie and Republican Philosophy). Here he challenged Christie as to why he didn’t follow his own mantra and allow the private sector to finance the reconstruction of the Katrina disaster. The now troubled New Jersey Governor responded that Katrina affected everyone. Stewart contrasted that with Christie’s position that on that very same day he rejected  Obamacare when health affected everyone as well. 

Stewart handles the most delicate issues in a tasteful matter even when being at his most satirical best. This included programs on the Sandy Hollow shooting and 9/11.

WHAT MAKES IT ALL WORK

What is the unique formula that does this all night after night, Monday to Thursday? The show is so much Jon Stewart and it so much not about him himself. First he does his schtick just a few minutes on the issues du jour with his hilarious interpretations always tinged with a message. The format then follows with news or dialogues with or by his talented fake correspondents interviewing and or pontificating farcically on the days events and issues generally. More than often Jon is feeding them the lines and playing second fiddle as they display their skills and comedy. The half hour show ends with an interview with someone or other which can go in any direction. In that section his brilliant ad libbing comes to the fore.  

Always when on stage with someone else he never tries to steal the limelight. He is generous in sharing the glow that he has created to all and sundry. What strikes everyone is the incredible talent that he has gathered around him. He in no way is threatened and is supportive of their skills. When Colbert left for the Colbert Show, the latter was featured immediately after Stewart’s own. For weeks he ushered him in with dialogue ensuring, as much as possible, that The Daily Show viewers would stay on and watch Colbert.

From a political and philosophical point of view, in case anyone has missed it, all these spin off’s invariably to a lesser or greater extent perpetuate the Stewart approach exposing double standards, duplicity and supporting the underdog, so his influence extends exponentially. Yet everyone who is anyone wants to be on his show. This includes Republicans such as McCain, Krauthammer, and Condi Rice. Obama and Hillary Clinton have been the interviewees on several occasions. But whoever it is and he certainly sometimes comes up with the oddest nonentities they are treated with respect and humility even if the occasional guest is exposed as a hypocrite or phony.

Political clashes:

Even when debating politically he does so with deference. His main target Bill O’Reilly of Fox News has the utmost regard for him and they have even done live shows together. There is only one occasion that Jon Stewart came close to losing it and that was with his encounters with Tucker Colson of CNN Crossfire fame. After the Stewart - Carlson contretemps CNN dropped Crossfire and a spokesperson was quoted as maintaining that the Daily Show’s host had a point about the show’s ranting and inanity. He also had a run in with Jim Kramer of Mad Money whom he berated for his self confessed unashamed manipulation of the market as a hedge fund manager. Kramer did not disagree with him for one moment and argued he was now on the investors’ side. He had a healthy disrespect for Larry King well before the latter sanctimoniously inferred that he, Stewart, had made it as he was being interviewed on his show. Stewart utilized that occasion to reiterate his belief that the legitimate news media were not fulfilling their professional responsibility by pandering to viewership.

There has also been some controversy of late of Stewart, a self professing jew, on his Israeli position. It is really his fame that has even made this a bone of contention as his policy has been an open book for years. While obviously supporting Israel’s right to Statehood he has noted on more than one occasion that Israel’s internal policies are not above criticism. He once even ran a particularly volatile exchange in the Israeli Knesset where the Government of the day’s policies were being torn to shreds. He wryly commented that apparently only Israelis are allowed to criticize their government. He recently ran a short segment with all his correspondents shouting at him from all viewpoints on his Israeli policy, one screaming, “You self hating Jew”. As he remarked later he has enough reasons to hate himself but being a jew wasn’t one of them. He lambastes American policy daily but no one labels him anti - American he added.

In sum his honest, congruent, generous, caring, humble and empathetic nature shines through night after night.

THE ULTIMATE PARAMETER OF SUCESS

The hallmark of an academic is the number of your proteges that go onto make it in other institutions so surely the same must apply to Showbiz. From, Colbert, to John Oliver who themselves followed a procession of “correspondents” - Rob Corddry, Josh Gad, David Cross, Mart Walsh, Ed Helms, Steve and Nancy Carrell and Demetri Martin, all Stewart past correspondents that have been up in lights, Stewart has ensured his legacy.  The current crew on The Daily Show, Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Jessica Williams, Michel Che and Jordan Klepper cannot be far off the central stage, if they want to take the plunge. Larry Willmore, his Senior Black Correspondent, has just hit pay dirt by garnering Colbert’s slot. 

It cannot just be coincidence that all this talent just pitched up. They had to be selected then nurtured and valued so they hung in there and grew and grew. Stewart cultivated them all and his lack of fear of being upstaged was nowhere better epitomized when he upped and fulfilled his mission to direct “Rosewater”. He nominated John Oliver, the then leading understudy to the maestro, and informed him that he need start thinking of his future after the three months. He knew that Oliver would, with this exposure, get his own show and join the  legion of late night Jon Stewart wannabees.

WHAT NOW

The $64,000 question is what now? Marissa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter asked him just that. He was highly evasive so Ms Guthrie quoted his lifelong friend Jerry Seinfeld on the subject. Seinfeld argued that, Stewart as an artist and not a businessman, would continue till he stopped enjoying it. The issue has resurfaced especially with his protege and admirer in chief Stephen Colbert taking over David Letterman’s slot on CBS’s Late Show. This topic has come up again and again at various junctures in the past and Stewart, although tempted, has stuck to his druthers.

He could retire and potter around like Seinfeld or also “move on” to a network. The latter is just not his chop - those shows really have to sell soap and is he going to swop his daily correspondents for banter with the orchestra leader? He has ruled out being a movie director. The question really is why should he change? He doesn’t need a network to increase his ratings or image. He is it! 

What is more he fulfills a social purpose not a business one. He has to continue as he blazes a trail with his outpourings of independent entertainers with the same value system. 

Once when asked whether he made a difference he unhesitatingly said no. In 2010 he held a rally in Washington that drew over 200,000 people - up there with Martin Luther King. His stature and influence have grown exponentially since then. So stay where you are Jon Stewart. Jay H. Ell dreads the day when at 10.30 pm Central Time, he will not hear, “Good Evening Ladies and Gentleman, my name is Jon Stewart and we have a great show for you tonight”. Within a few lines there will be some hesitation or self put me down, indicative of his endearing, lingering insecurity and contrasting with the introduction bravado. Jon Stewart is about to weave his magic spell……

2014 ELECTIONS: WHO CARES THE GOP ARE DYING ANYWAY

It is just over 2 months to the mid term elections and the media are barely featuring what is normally their staple diet of ongoing electioneering, campaigning, back room maneuvering, statecraft, scandals, blunders ,whose hat is in the ring and all other related issues. The interest in the political process has to be particularly low as the three major channels that were created largely to provide us with political news, 24/7, are awash with Ferguson, Gaza, IS, and now the Ukraine. Only the party machines, their moneyed backers and the bases of both parties are working feverishly to effect their outcome. The general public are generally disgusted and nauseated by the spectacle of the last few years where Congress has done virtually nothing. They are ambivalent at the fact that Obama has unilaterally done “something” buying into the narrative that this qualifies him for the status as an Imperial President. Congress has a seven percent approval rating, although the limited media attention ignores that, and focusses on the fact that the President’s approval rating is hovering in the forty percent level. 

The consensus among the pundits is that the Republicans are going to make gains and even win the Senate. This although in the accompanying op- ed  pieces the cognoscenti maintain that the outcome of the election “is to close to call”. As Jay H. Ell has blogged no- one has the vaguest clue as to how the cookie will crumble. While the polls show a tight race these are random polls not necessarily reflective of the very few that are going to actually vote.

WHY THE REPUBLICANS? - THE TECHNICALS AND THE TACTICS

Technicals

Believe or not, like the stock market, American elections have “technicals”. For example, in midterm elections the Party of the incumbent in the WhiteHouse traditionally looses seats. In Obama’s first term in the 2010 mid terms the Democrats lost seats in spades. The situation is said to worsen in the President’s second term. Then as an act of faith and part of the technicals it is the Republicans that are said to have the more involved and committed base. In the Senate  twenty - one of the thirty - six contested seats are Democrat so according to the technicals the Democrats are at an even greater risk of losing seats. 

Tactics

Jay H. Ell has blogged on the “tactics” as early as April this year - “Why The Republicans in 2014 - Its The Plutocrats, Obamacare and Voter Suppression - Stupid!”. These tactics pose a far greater threat to the Democrats then the technicals.

Money

With the public disenchantment with the whole bang shoot, the base is all that this election is about. To bring the base out is mainly a question of money. Full time party officers and offices, transport, fliers, tea parties, collection of absentee ballots, phone calls and the like need money and plenty of it. As our fourth estate has more important rating material to see to, adverts, particularly negative adverts assume a disproportionate importance in this otherwise non event to the general populace. 

On the money tactic the GOP is outspending the Dems threefold.  The Plutocrats, first and foremost the Koch Brothers then Karl Rove are donating and amassing vast war chests. Aided by the Supreme Court the sky is not even the limit. The latter interpreted that the Founding Fathers believed that while, “All men were created equal” and that “Freedom of Speech” was an inalienable right the wise old men must have intended that if you had more money you were entitled to more freedom of speech. 

So if you have as much money as the Kochs you were entitled to have more free speech than half the citizenry of the country. The Kochs are not Johnny Come Lately’s to the table. Making the country permanently Republican has been a life time project and with $40 billion and connections with even more “free speech” they have come a long way. They are accredited with the fact, for example, that the Republicans won 750 State Offices from the Democrats and took control of several State legislatures. In this election the GOP can see their Party unravelling so the Kochs and the like are going all out to protect their investment.

Obama

Attacking Obamacare has morphed into excoriating Obama, (Blog: “Obama and the Lynch Mob”). This has been done with a vengeance. Obamacare itself has not turned the country upside down and those millions that have benefited are more than pleased. The Auditor General has maintained that it is decreasing the deficit so the attack has to be on Obama himself. The narrative is that the gridlock in Congress is Obama’s fault and it is exiting the Republican base more than it is irritating the Democratic one as law suits are filed against Obama and threats of impeachment are in the air. He is blamed for foreign policy, domestic chaos, lack of jobs and socialism for example with or without merit. So the GOP faithful hate Obama and the mantra is put him on the ballot and the Republican base will come out.

Voter suppression

According to the American Civil Liberties Union 30 States have introduced laws that have the effect of impeding a citizen’s right to vote. Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Republican Party National Committee, was quite taken by the concept of voter restriction. Ostensibly the motivation for the new legislation is to prevent voter fraud although not one jot of evidence has been produced in any of the 30 States that this represents a problem. These moves, that will impact on minorities and other constituencies, that traditionally favor the Democrats, have been vigorously challenged in court and the process is ongoing. The USA constitution’s Fifteenth Amendment clearly states that, “The Right of Citizens of the United States shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or Any State … on account or race, color or previous servitude.” This issue has still to be resolved in the courts but if the Supreme Court’s 5 - 4 ruling that certain Southern States no longer have to fulfill the mandate of Civil Rights Legislation, which was there to protect minority voters, is a pointer, one can look for another inexplicable interpretation of the Constitution by the so called majority Constitutional “purists”.

So it appears that the technicals and especially the tactics of the GOP favor a swing to the Republicans in the mid terms.

THE STAKES.

The House of Representatives, 36 Senate seats, State legislatures and Office Bearers, including Governors are on the November ballot. No pundit seriously believes that the Dems have the remotest chance of making any inroads in the House of Representatives. For the moment all attention, such as there is, is focussed on the Senate. Of the 36 Seats 16 are considered marginal. The Republicans need six gains to take over the Senate. Fox News has little doubt that this will be achieved and are running a competition as to which the six will be. The way the analysts are calling it the Republicans have three in the bag, Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia. There is one other North Carolina that is all but certain which means that the Republicans have to win two of the twelve closely contested seats remaining, most of which are considered “toss ups”.

The Governorships are also up in the air but several of the States have not as yet had their Primaries so even the bravest are not making too many predictions about these outcomes.

THE REALITY

If it is all so cut and dried why are all the expositors in the next breath saying its to close to call. Ladbrokes the British Bookmaking Company that will bet on anything that moves, including whether there will be a white Christmas or not, have not a “book” on the American midterm elections. They will give you 5/1 on Marc Rubrio and even 33/1 if you care to have a small wager on Sarah Palin being the Republican Presidential nominee in 2016. The, swaggering confident Ted Cruz could clean up a fortune by putting a year’s salary and increasing it 16 fold. The odds on Hillary being the Democratic nominee are prohibitive but a Democrat is odds on favorite to being the President in 2016 and guess who that might be?  So even Ladbrokes are not even going to venture setting out odds as to how the midterms are going to pan out. Even they who have experts on everything and anything coupled with intelligence including the 2016 election are stymied.

THE REAL REALITY - DEMOGRAPHICS AND POLICIES

In what is obviously going to be a low turnout election how can anyone know who ultimately will show? None of these analysts are applying their minds to two of the ultimate deciders of where this Country’s direction is going to trend, the demographics of the voters and the policies of the Parties. The demographics favor the Democratic Party and there are not too many, if any, major positions that the Republicans have taken that have the support of the majority of the electorate. Also in a fully participatory election which Republican Party are you voting for the Tea Party faction or the Grand Old Party? 

Policies

Jay H. Ell cannot imagine another situation where a major political party is so so out of sync with the majority of the electorate. On virtually every issue from guns, to LGBT rights, equal pay for women, the support of women’s life and contraceptive choices, gun control, the raising of the minimum wage, non intervention in foreign disputes to name but some of the hot button issues the GOP are on the wrong side. However, the hardy faithful of the GOP are among those who disagree even if they don’t represent the majority of the Republicans they at least vote!

Demographics

But at the end of the day it depends on who comes out to vote in the Democratic base. Will African Americans in higher numbers than usual in the midterms be so incensed that they will vote? Can Obama persuade the youth that elected him that the alternative is to ghastly to contemplate even though he, Obama, could not turn activism into policy? Will the women, who in a recent poll affirmed that the Republican Party were uncaring make a detour to vote in greater numbers than expected? Are the Latinos angry enough at the GOP for not doing anything about immigration reform or not doing anything to help legalizing the 12 million of their “illegals”, to work themselves up into a big enough lather to be there in greater numbers than expected?

The Dems are more than aware of these variables but are short on money more than anything else. Their pleas to their base for more donations are reaching hysteria,

The Dems are thus making a determined organized attempt to mobilize these groups. For example Representative John Lewis, a veteran of the Civil Rights movement is leading the charge on behalf of the Black Congressional Caucus. The New York Times reports that NBA players are part of the effort to cajole Black Voters to Register. There is concentration in four States where a high African American vote will determine the result. In Georgia and Louisiana they represent 30% of the population, North Carolina 22% and Arkansas 15%. According to the New York Times in black churches and black talk radio African Civil Rights leaders are citing the Ferguson tragedy and all its implications, (Blog: “Ferguson - The Media, Race, Police and The USA Justice System”), coupling it with the Trayvon Martin killing, (Blog: Trayvon - All You Need To Know”), as reasons for making an impact for change. The Mayor of Atlanta, Kassim Reed, maintained that the “majority community” have underestimated the fury engendered at Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson. Both Reed and Al Sharpton, who is almost unrecognizable from his “loose cannon” past and who has a vast radio and TV audience have stated that the only way to effect change is through the ballot box.  

The Democratic Party also know, for example, that if their four women candidates in the South win, one of whom is slightly ahead in the polls against Mitch McConell, the Republican leader in the Senate, they will not lose the Senate and deal the Republicans a devastating blow by knocking out their leader. This would precipitate a crises between the Tea Party faction and the establishment in the internecine battle for Republican leadership in the Senate. 

The “unpopular” Obama, holds the key to two other constituencies - the youth and the Latinos. He has to go into campaign mode and those that are mesmerized by him will pitch up in their droves. In addition he should take what ever executive action he can to mobilize the Latinos. What are the Republicans going to do? Attack him and seal their fate forever as this demographic grows and grows.

Jay H. Ell believes the Democrats should relax cause even if they lose the writing is on the wall. In fact if the Republicans cannot win this one with all that they have in their favor they may as well regroup, split with the Tea Part and start organizing for 2020.

THE REAL REAL REALITY

The one confrontation that Ladbroke have a book on is the 2016 election and like everyone else believe that Hillary is an odds on favorite to win. In Presidential elections there is a turnout and the demographic factors that are in the Dems favor will come into play. Hillary will coat tail a major Democratic landslide. The Republicans don't even know who they are. The battle between the Tea Party and the establishment for the soul of the party wages on. They have no coherent policies on anything. Where they have expressed opinions such as on wealth distribution and taxation, equal pay, contraceptive and abortion rights for women, health care and the minimum wage they are way behind in the public’s frame of reference. So whatever happens in 2014 is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

So what if the GOP win the Senate with fifty - one seats? Will they be able to effect anymore than the Democrats were able to do with fifty - five? They can be filibustered till kingdom come. 

So Obama go for the gap. Don’t hold back on any of your projected moves on Executive Action for Immigration Reform, for example. Not only will it be the right move morally but it will pay off in the very short term. Don’t be persuaded by the party hacks who cannot think further than this election. History is on your side and take strength from Mandela whose mantra was “Its a Long Walk to Freedom”.

As an aside the electoral campaign traditionally starts on Labor Day, September 1. Nobody has stated what year in September that this dour, dogged, dirty, degrading and demented election begun.