And they seem to have jumped on Rush’s bandwagon and hope that Obama fails — and the hell with the country if they can be proved right.

Downtown notebook

Listening to Obama and the racists in my W.W. II tent

By JERRY TALLMER

It was a tent, on Guam, just large enough for four cots and a tinny radio that day and night conveyed from 10,000 miles away the searching voice of a skinny phenomenon named Sinatra who was packing the Paramount back in New York with screaming, fainting bobby-soxers.

One of the songs he was soon to sing was Abel Meeropol’s “The House I Live In,” a 1943 hymn to the ideal of a multi-ethnic, bigotry-free America, but Sinatra or no Sinatra, that cut no ice with three of the four occupants of the tent — young crewmen in a B-24 squadron, one from Detroit, one from St. Louis, and one from I forget where — whose daily and nightly converse was so unremittingly peppered with nigger this and nigger that as to drive the fourth occupant crazy enough to one day…

…That was the way I was going to start this piece, but on Tues., Jan. 20, toward the end of President Barack Hussein Obama’s inaugural address, I changed my mind. Everybody was expecting him to quote from Lincoln, but the man who’d surprised us so many times in the past two years surprised us once again by summoning up another towering American, indeed the first and foremost, via the following quietly thrilling peroration:

So let us mark this day with remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of Americas’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words to be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.”

Hope and virtue — not bad as beacons. And I, listening, shivering — not from cold but from emotion — suddenly thought of some correlative words that, lodged in my head and heart, had carried me as a sort of armor (spiritual armor if you will) all the way through World War II to Guam and beyond and back:
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

That was composed by Tom Paine on Dec. 23, 1775, two days before Washington and his handful of ragged, bleeding, freezing men crossed the Delaware to save the Revolution. And yes, Tom Paine was a full-fledged radical, so I guess that waitress in the diner at Croton-on-the-Hudson last summer was right when she said Barack Obama was “too radical” for her. Because in his cool, calm, self-contained way, Mr. Obama is certainly as radical as any president can very well get. He is also something of a knife-edged Calvinist; let us but pray there is nothing in there also of a cold-blooded heat-seeking Robespierre.

It was when he was something more than halfway through his address to the million and a half in front of him and the billions of others around the globe that one realized how much better this address would read on the morrow than in its now somewhat dry and constrained delivery by someone who had only a few months earlier set afire a huge Denver football stadium of 90,000 souls plus anyone and everyone else within reach of television and/or radio.

Awed by History, I guess you could say of his oratory now on the Mall — awed by the very history he was making, had always known he was making, was going to make. Remember when, in the campaign, as he and Hillary were heading down the homestretch, he icily replied to the suggestion that they toss for No. 1 and No. 2: “I’m not running for vice president, I’m, running for president”? That history.

And, yes, the first inaugural of President Barack H. Obama does in fact read better, richer, more movingly, more historic than came across in its somewhat flattened deliverance under the pale, cold Tuesday-noon sunlight of Jan. 20, 2009.

That pale cold sunlight – and the occasion, and History itself, and Barack Obama’s full realization of the occasion and of History, did something else: At least to me and some others with whom I’ve spoken: it suddenly made his face seem 15 or 20 years older, tougher, cannier, more angular.

Also, perhaps — however distantly, however kept deeply under wraps — not afraid, not cautious, but … preoccupied. I only know that for my own part, watching the television — and, I would think, the best part of a million and a half others more immediately present in that great space that day — one was holding one’s breath from first to last and even beyond the last, when the speech was ended, giving way to kisses and handshakes all round — even then might be the moment for a shadow to protrude from the columns of the Capitol, the barrel of some madman’s gun…

Someone like the nut case in New Jersey who a few days later was blustering on the tube that he was out to kill The Man. Someone a great deal worse than my three benighted tent mates 65 years ago on Guam.

Which brings me back to where I came in. Or even earlier, when, like Larry King, I got my first hard dose of racial reality as a high-school kid coming in to Union Station in Washington, D.C., thirsty as hell, and walked through that marble immensity toward a far wall on which there were two drinking fountains — one labeled WHITE and the other COLORED. There, in the national capital.

Larry King says he drank from one labeled COLORED. I don’t remember if I did or didn’t do that, hut I do know that in that tent on Guam, when I finally had my bellyful of days on end of nigger this and nigger that, I finally, one fine night, up and said: “Hey, fellas, lay off, I have Negro blood myself” — only a small lie in a good cause.

There was dead silence. And then, in the days that followed, those three guys, each by each, one at time, so as not to let the other two know, came to me and said, pleaded: “Come on, tell me, it isn’t true, is it? You’re not really a nigger. Are you? You can’t be.”

But I never did change my story. Not to one, to the other, to all three. A small, silly, maybe stupid thing, but as you can see, I’ve not forgotten it. And that is my inauguration present to Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of the United States of America. I would take an oath on it. Faithfully.

Demand for cosmetic procedures continues to soar each year, with Americans getting nearly 12 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures in 2007 — an 8% increase in surgical procedures over 2006, with the trend showing no signs of turning. Plastic surgery is so popular there are TV shows about it, including the offbeat series “Nip/Tuck.” Yet any time the body is opened up, for cosmetic reasons or otherwise, there are risks that should be weighed well beyond whether your eye lift will turn out okay, and sometimes the results are disappointing.
Since even rich socialites and successful celebrities who theoretically can afford “the best” have had plastic surgery problems, it’s important to plan carefully for plastic surgery. I called Richard D’Amico, MD, FACS, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), chief of the department of plastic surgery at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey, and assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City for his thoughts. We talked about issues you should consider before any cosmetic procedure and — for those who elect to have surgery — how to approach it carefully and responsibly.
RISKS OF COMMON PLASTIC SURGERIES
First thing to remember: The risk is never zero. “While you can take important steps to minimize risk, it’s never nothing,” notes Dr. D’Amico. Overall, in the hands of an American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) plastic surgeon operating in an accredited facility, cosmetic surgery is considered safe.
If you are considering a particular cosmetic procedure, there are right and wrong ways to go about it. For example, Dr. D’Amico warns that it is quite legal for any MD, including a primary care provider, to perform plastic surgery, but that doesn’t mean they’re trained or experienced, let alone skilled enough to trust to operate on you. To mitigate risk, you must do your homework and choose the best possible surgeon, one who is trained, experienced, has great references and is accredited by his/her peers.
Dr. D’Amico advises finding a surgeon who…
• Is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). The American Board of Medical Specialties has an on-line search tool.
• Is a member of the ASPS. This provides even greater security, because it means that he/she has already been vetted and approved by peers. (Only surgeons who have been board-certified by ABPS or Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada are eligible to join ASPS.
• Has privileges in a hospital or surgical facility that is accredited by The Joint Commission or the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF). Have your procedure done in such a place, because it means the facility has appropriate equipment and standards. The Joint Commission has a searchable database for facilities. You can also go to the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.
In addition…
• It’s wise to ask your plastic surgeon what his/her experience with your particular procedure is, what his/her complication rate is and what the revision rate is.
• Understand the risk versus benefits of what you want to do. Will the benefits that you hope to achieve outweigh the risk of having the procedure? Consider whether your expectations are realistic. For example, some people believe that their surgery will dramatically change their lives for the better. Now’s the time to think about and discuss what you realistically will and will not get out of this procedure.
Also, patients must understand their responsibilities to…
• Be honest with their physician. There may be risks associated not just with the procedure itself but also with your health overall. If you have a chronic condition such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma or allergies, tell your surgeon. Additionally, consult your primary care practitioner — or better yet, the specialist you see for managing your condition, if you see one. Risks may outweigh benefits when there are pre-existing chronic conditions.
• Follow your surgeon’s instructions before and after surgery. For instance, smokers are more prone to slow healing and complications. Dr. D’Amico advises all his patients to quit before surgery. Other instructions might include losing weight, taking it easy and refraining from certain activities or work following surgery and keeping regular medical appointments.
DON’T APPROACH (ANY) SURGERY CASUALLY
Whatever cosmetic procedure you consider, don’t make the mistake of approaching it casually. Before deciding to have plastic surgery, take every possible step you can to ensure it comes out properly, just as you would with any other operation. For more information, visit the Web site of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Source(s): ??Richard D’Amico, MD, FACS, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), chief of the department of plastic surgery at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey, and assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, New York. Dr. D’Amico has been named one of the best doctors in New York and New Jersey by New York magazine and New Jersey Monthly, respectively.