Of Michener and his Chesapeake

So, yours truly managed to pick up a first edition of this book for a few shekels recently.

I found it to be very typical of Michener.

His detractors will try to tell you that his formulaic writing style and lack of character development made the late author nothing short of a hack.

Indeed, I found this best-seller from 1978 to be very much like the other two Michener novels I've read.

And, as he covers nearly four centuries over 865 pages, the folks who populate his narrative are painted in very broad strokes.

Still, Michener fans will argue that his novels transcend these flaws.

They have a point.

If the reader will forgive the uninspired structure and lack of identification he allows (either with would-be heroes or villains), one can put down a Michener novel feeling that they truly know the spirit or character of a given place.

This is certainly true of "Chesapeake."

Apple core! Baltimore! Who's your friend?!

Did you ever play that game as a child?

Anyway, if you were playing it in Baltimore tonight, the answer would NOT be Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, or Fred Thompson.

Each of those supposed "top tier" candidates failed to appear at the PBS broadcast of debates hosted by Tavis Smiley in the Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University--an historically black school.

And, with justification, many in the black community are taking offense. As former Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele told his fellow Marylanders in the introduction, it has been far too long that the GOP and African Americans have "stood at arm's length." The divide needs to end. But, that's not going to happen if we follow the lead of the "top tier" guys.

I will point out that Mike Huckabee was in Baltimore to participate in the debate and addressed important issues to minority voters like unemployment, criminal justice, and health care.

Remember, he's the same guy who has spoken to groups as divergent as union conventioneers and values voters right here in the great State of Florida.

That's what we need to see MORE of in our "top tier" candidates: uniters, not dividers.

I hope I'm not alone in my disgust with the status quo. I yearn for the election of a president next year who is unafraid of speaking to ALL Americans--not just those whose special interests have traditionally supported his/her party with cash or votes.

So far, in my opinion, only Mike Huckabee fills that bill.