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Steering A Crooked Course

I

Dry Bones

ME ANTI-ARAFAT PROVE THE OLD
SAYING THAT IN
GUNMEN IN THE
THE MIDDLE EAST.
STREETS OF
GAZA

n Jewish tradition, nuance is much admired.
long in accommodation with dicta-
tors, giving them economic and
Every position is examined for its merits and its
military support and deliberately
demerits. We stand first on the one hand and
then on the other hand.
ignoring reprehensible behaviors
— at first because they would help
It is not a character trait that America has histori-
us achieve some short-term goal
cally embraced. Americans like their positions to be
and later because we couldn't find
clear-cut, black and white. Admitting grayness is
a way to unwind the involvement.
frequently seen as a character flaw, particularly in
We did that with Iraq's Saddam
our politicians. We want them to tell us their posi-
Hussein, for example, when we
tions unambiguously, even on hideously complicat-
ed issues.
were battling Iran. We have done it
repeatedly in South America and
In our dealings with other nations, however, lead-
Africa, always pleading some
ers are often forced to set aside those thumbs-up,
instant necessity that overrode
thumbs-down judgments in search of temporary
advantage. We have seen that in recent
humanitarian concerns.
months as President George W. Bush,
Doing that almost always
almost endlessly vocal about his moral
comes back to haunt us
absolutes, has had to confront the reality
— economically, militari-
ly, in world opinion and in our
of dealing with other countries over the issue of ter-
own opinion of ourselves.
rorism. Most notably, the president who urges dem-
Currently, we need Pakistan's
ocratic values as the indispensable ingredient for
help in the hunt for the most dan-
other nations now finds himself dealing with two of
gerous Al Qaida terrorists and we
the most autocratic Muslim regimes, Saudi Arabia
need Saudi support both for that
and Pakistan, for information about and actions
against terror leaders.
cause and for affordable oil for our
faltering economy. But we need to
The point is not that the president is necessarily
develop a credible and sustainable
wrong to seek help from Riyadh and Islamabad, but
plan that either moves them
rather that doing so undercuts his own mocking of
toward much more democratic
Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential
institutions or allows us to end our
nominee, as a flip-flopper. Clinging to absolute pre-
support over a fixed period of time.
conceptions (or policy positions) simply doesn't
work all the time.
The conditions of the deal must be
well understood by both sides.
The further point, however, is that in our national
dealings with undemocratic states we shouldn't lose
We are going to have to put up with some ambi-
sight of our long-range goals. Often, we stayed too
guity, a little of that old Jewish nuance, for now

EDFFORIAL

"ME ENEMY
OF MY ENEMY"

-t,

-

'■ 11MMIN•

But we will not succeed in the long-term search for
a terror-free world unless we find a way to return to
a straight and moral path. ❑

Joe Falls: An Appreciation

J

oe Falls was simply the best sports columnist
I ever read. Period. End of story.
He could write humor and he could write
emotion. But the humor was truly funny and the
emotion was genuine, which is the hardest thing
to pull off in our business.
He could also write tough. He was a bulldog of
a reporter. He had a genius for finding the angle
everyone else had missed. His approach and style
influenced an entire generation of sportswriters.
He had no interest in being pals with the ath-
letes, nor did he ever slam someone for the sake of
making himself look big. A lot of current colum-
nists could take note.
Joe, who passed away last week, was also my
friend for almost 40 years. I learned more about
what good journalism should be by working next
to him than from any other experience in my
career because he was the best.
He was pretty unimpressed with me at our first
meeting. I had just been snatched from the Detroit

8/20
2004

30

George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor@thejewishnews.corn

Free Press city desk to take his old job of
became one of my biggest boosters, and
baseball writer after he had been promoted
when he decided to switch papers, he
to columnist. I was 24 and looked younger
called me to pave the way for him at the
than that, and when we met for dinner, he
Detroit News. Easiest job I ever had.
kept glancing sideways at me as if to say:
You should know this, too. When one of
"They're going to give the best beat on the
the players made a remark about me that
sports page to this kid?"
Joe, who was Catholic, considered anti-
But things got better, even though he
Semitic, he insisted on confronting him.
referred to me as "Young George" for my
I felt it was made in stupidity rather
G EORGE
entire first season on the beat.
than
malevolence and was inclined to let it
CANTOR
The Tigers' opener was in Yankee Stadium
go.
No
way, and it got angry and ugly in
Reality
in 1966 and I was awed. Joe knew I was awed
the
locker
room before things cooled
Check
and decided he would watch my reactions.
down. But that was Joe. You didn't back
When we went to the pressroom, the atten-
down if you thought you were right.
dant didn't believe I was old enough and refused
He spoke to a class in sports writing that I
to let me go inside until Joe came to my rescue.
taught at Wayne State, one of the last times I saw
"I'd have shown him my draft card," I told him,
him.
He brought a bag of cookies to pass out "so
"only I burned it last week. ,,
you'll be on my side," he told the kids.
Joe laughed for half an hour and the wisecrack
They sat there rapt for an hour while he told
seemed to have proven something to him. From
them story after story about his career and how he
then on, our friendship grew. We both loved good
got started. They even forgot to eat the cookies
food, good writing and baseball. That was more
because Joe knew how to tell a story.
then enough.
He was the best. ❑
We helped each other through bad times. He