Time columnist Joe Klein conceives of himself as outside the “blinkered orthodoxy” of the political parties, but for many years he’s been a blinkered adorer of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, touting them both as centrists despite the governing realities. In handing out his “Teddy” (for Roosevelt) awards for "doers, diplomats, and leaders who ignored our worst instincts," the trend continued. He deeply bowed to Obama for making a deal with Iran, and then proclaimed his alleged moderation:
His quieter achievement was his continued moderation in the face of constant provocation. Moderation? Conservatives will scoff. But Obama stood firm against his party's left wing on trade, and he rightly sniped at nativist opponents who proposed an un-American ban on Syrian refugees. He also sang, in the midst of his lovely eulogy for the Charleston churchgoers, which was the emotional highlight of the year, and of his presidency. Thanks, Mr. President. We needed that.
Vice President Joe Biden had a terrible year, given the loss of his son, but he showed grace and a somber humanity-the sort of humanity often trampled at the intersection of public and private life.
At the end of this column appearing in the December 21 "Person of the Year" issue of Time, he also praised the Iran deal, insisting the chief negotiator for Iran is the exact opposite of a terrorist:
And finally, a Teddy to all the diplomats out there–from John Kerry to Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif to the unsung Americans toiling everywhere from Baghdad to the U.N. As Bill Clinton once said, diplomats are the exact opposite of terrorists. They struggle for peace, against all odds, in a world that seems to want only war.
Winning a “Teddy Award” for Joe Klein should be the political kiss of death on the Republican side for any conservative. So guess who Klein adores? The Bushes.
A Lifetime Achievement Teddy goes to George H.W. Bush, whose good works were revisited in Jon Meacham’s essential biography this year. Bush the elder remains an exemplar of civility in office, especially in the arena of foreign policy, where he remade Europe and reunited Germany after the Cold War by refusing to rub Russia’s nose in its defeat. Now that was a reset! A Teddy should also go to Bush’s Secretary of State, James Baker, who chose to give this year’s keynote address at the annual dinner of J Street, a moderate pro-Israel [?!] group. He was reviled for this by the intemperate Israeli-expansionist right, and unfortunately criticized for it by the normally civil Jeb Bush. But Baker did it for a simple reason: he still believes in a two-state solution in the Middle East, as J Street does and the rest of us should.
Speaking of Jeb Bush, he wins a Teddy for holding on–just barely, on several occasions–to his enlightened positions on education and immigration reform, and for his demeanor. More than a few journalists said Bush didn’t seem to “want it very badly” because he refused to shout and curse and demagogue. Most of his fellow candidates wanted it atrociously. A Teddy, too, to John Kasich, for his sanity and willingness, finally, to fight the rancid hate-mongering that threatened to rot his party.
Should Joe Klein’s “Teddy” for Fox News be a plus or a minus? Klein loved that first Republican debate, alongside several other Democrats who liked the hardball questions: “By the way, Fox News deserves a Teddy for running the best debate–with the best-prepared and toughest moderators–of the season, proving that good politics can be substantive and entertaining.”
