No buzzkill here!

Allow me a word or two in my own defense.

The blessedly slow trip through Guthrie's The Big Sky yesterday was the occasion for some significant soul-searching on my part because my appreciation for the novel rises from a heart ever-conscious of the vast difference between Guthrie's work and what we might consider "political correctness." That gap is as wide as Montana. What's in every chapter of The Big Sky cheapens the humanity of women and minorities. What's more, the n-word is sprinkled liberally throughout (pun intended). There's much that's objectionable in The Big Sky, and I doubt that I'd ever use it in a high school literature class. But doggone it!--I loved the novel.

You and me, we should agree, I think, that all of us be allowed at least a few contradictions now-and-then. We're not planks in a political platform, we're real live human beings, for heaven's sake. If we occasionally depart from paths of righteousness, we should get a pass or two, or, pray tell, what's forgiveness for? I loved The Big Sky, despite its impossible-to-miss transgressions. Shouldn't each of us be similarly treated?

And then, just yesterday, Barack Obama--you may have heard of him!--gave an interview on someone's podcast in which he stated that he himself, the liberal's own answer to prayer, sometimes got plumb tired of political correctness. In a story they titled "Barack Obama Blasts Cancel Culture," the Murdoch-owned New York Post didn't try to disguise its glee: the liberal's liberal was--get this!--scolding his own blessed Dems for being way too uptight about things. Here's how the Post wrote it up:

In a new interview with on the “Pod Save America” podcast on Friday, the 44th President said that Democrats have strayed away from a message of equality to “scolding” on social issues.

“My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun,” Obama said. “Hell, not being a buzzkill. And sometimes Democrats are.”

“Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes,” he added.

So how's that?  Just when I was fretting about coming clean on how much I loved that novel--and, yes, it's racist and it's misogynist, I couldn't help but think that me and Barack aren't forsaking our principles, not for a minute. No buzzkill here. Ain't no way A. B. Guthrie, who won the Pulitzer in 1950 could get anywhere near a National Book Award this year, no way at all. But that doesn't mean I can't like his work.

Me and Barack, we're saying, "Lighten up, libs."