Lincolnesque

Zaller’s review of Lincoln is a double-header: sophisticated historiography (a warning about Oliver Stone’s simplicities) and shrewd film criticism.
    
Lincoln’s complex problems still haunt us: The ideological flip flop of both GOP and Dems places the fulfillment of our country’s promises squarely on our own still shrugging shoulders. Our real cliff is metaphysical, not fiscal.
    
Zaller for mayor!
Patrick D. Hazard
 
Weimar, Germany
November 28, 2012
      
Robert Zaller replies: Mayor? Well, let’s see. The first thing I’d do is to ship the Barnes back to Merion. Then I’d schedule a public whipping for all those who forced the Orchestra into bankruptcy. Then I’d close all the casinos and open more strip joints, on the grounds that the public deserves to get value received for value given. Maybe I’d have to close the Eagles’ stadium on the same grounds. Oh, yes, and I’d tear up that $50 million pea patch Mayor Nutter is putting up around City Hall and surround it with soup kitchens instead, so that City Council could remember the 25 percent— or is it now 30 percent?— of the city that lives in poverty. No, scratch that, I’d tear down City Hall itself, and rid the city of the stench of entrenched power that emanates from it. Or should I stick to reviewing? What do you think?
      
Editor’s comment: On the basis of your campaign platform above, I second Professor Hazard’s nomination of Professor Zaller for mayor— of Bala Cynwyd, not Philadelphia.