Eugene Robinson's Blog, page 128

As an architect, he soared

Just this once, I wish I could write with pictures instead of words. That would make it easier to explain why the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who died Wednesday at 104, was one of my heroes.

Not for his politics, of course — he was, to the end, an avowed communist — but for his glorious buildings, which are freedom itself, sketched in concrete and glass. It is ironic that a man committed to an atheistic ideology designed one of the great religious structures of the world, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Aparecida, in Brazil’s futuristic capital, Brasilia.

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Boehner plays a weak hand

How dare he? President Obama, I mean: How dare he do what he promised during the campaign? How dare he insist on a “balanced approach” to fiscal policy that includes a teensy-weensy tax increase for the rich? Oh, the humanity.

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Is this the planet we want to leave behind?

You might not have noticed that another round of U.N. climate talks is under way, this time in Doha, Qatar. You also might not have noticed that we’re barreling toward a “world . . . of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought, and major floods in many regions.” Here in Washington, we’re too busy to pay attention to such trifles.

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Breaking Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge

Maybe the fever is breaking. Maybe the delirium is lifting. Maybe Republicans are finally asking themselves: What were we thinking when we put an absurdly unrealistic pledge to a Washington lobbyist ahead of our duty to the American people?

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In Gaza, status quo won’t do

The drama unfolding in Gaza seems numbingly familiar. This time, however, there’s a big and potentially tragic difference: Not even the actors — Palestinians and Israelis — can possibly know how it will turn out.

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The Republicans still don’t get it

I know it’s early, but I have a sinking feeling the Republican Party is taking all the wrong lessons from last week’s election. Short term, that’s a boon for Democrats. Long term, it’s a problem for the country.

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A spy tale with missing pieces

The one familiar aspect of the David Petraeus scandal is that he had an affair. Everything else about this story is weird.

Petraeus, who resigned Friday as director of the CIA, is brilliant, brave, dedicated and accomplished. But he is also vain. Even his most loyal and ardent supporters have to acknowledge the care with which he has always burnished his own image. He is used to being surrounded by acolytes — staff officers, journalists, hangers-on — whose fawning attentions can only foster a sense of superiority and entitlement.

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A new America speaks

So much for voter suppression. So much for the enthusiasm gap. So much for the idea that smug, self-appointed arbiters of what is genuinely “American” were going to “take back” the country, as if it had somehow been stolen.

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Keeping the next storm at bay

NEW YORK

Let me propose an initiative for the next administration, starting with Day One: Get the nation started on the surge barriers, flood walls and other big infrastructure projects that can protect our coastal cities from being ravaged by the next Hurricane Sandy.

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Will Hurricane Sandy be our wake-up call?

We’ve had two once-in-a-century storms within a decade. Hurricane Sandy seems likely to become the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, behind Hurricane Katrina. Lower Manhattan is struggling to recover from an unprecedented flood, and the New Jersey coast is smashed beyond recognition.

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