Mr. Mueller also did not find the president guilty of obstructing justice. Oh, he listed ten or eleven instances that in the minds of his investigators could have possibly been considered to have been construed as some form of obstruction, but, again – Mr. Mueller did not so charge nor did he recommend that such charges be made. He had his chance, and he did not charge, he did not indict, he did not arrest. Under our justice system, one can’t be found guilty without a trial, and one can’t be tried without a charge, and if one isn’t charged. . .well, you get the idea. While Mr. Trump might not have been “exonerated” by the investigation, he also was not “convicted” by it. Mr. Mueller left that part out.
Mr. Mueller did do something that no liberal or progressive or anyone else should ever tolerate from a prosecutor: by implication he smeared Mr. Trump without charging him, essentially using the President’s outrage at being falsely accused of “collusion” as being a form of obstruction. The President was, we suppose, to have not resisted being falsely charged. Of course, we are sure that would also have been used as proof of his guilt, for then it would be said, “he never denied it!” It is easy to see that this is an argument that Jerry Nadler can never lose and Donald Trump can never win – sort of like the “climate change” argument that winters that are unusually cold and snowy or unusually warm and dry both prove the global warming theory. Hard to lose that type of a debate.
Anyway, Attorney General Barr’s summation of the Mueller report hit it exactly right: there was no “collusion,” and there was no “obstruction.” Had this been a report thus clearing a Democrat, we would be admonished to accept it and to move on, out of decency, out of patriotism, out of fair play, and “for the good of the country.”
Of course, since it is Donald Trump who is not being charged, the progressive left will not move on – but instead is doubling down, claiming to have clear evidence [that somehow Mr. Mueller missed], and determined to fight this out to the last subpoena and the last slanderous accusation all the way to the 2020 election and beyond, if necessary. And just think, if Hillary Clinton had won, none of this would have taken place – except that James Comey would have been fired. Do any of you wonder if that would have been called obstruction?
GOD BLESS KATE SMITH
If you thought the reaction to the Mueller report was outrageous, how about the reaction to Kate Smith? Yes, Kate Smith, American icon; Kate Smith, who raised $600 million in War Bond sales during the Second World War (a greater amount by far than raised by any other celebrity); Kate Smith, one of the most beloved and respected singers in the history of radio and popular music; Kate Smith, a true American patriot, whose version of Irving Berlin’s God Bless America was the standard performance until a few weeks ago. Kate Smith, who passed away in 1986, was thus introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to King George VI: “This is Kate Smith. Miss Smith is America.” She was thus described by President Ronald Reagan, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982: “In giving us a magnificent, selfless talent like Kate Smith, God has truly blessed America.”
Yep, until a few weeks ago, the worst things ever said about Miss Smith referred to her weight. But not in the politically correct America of 2019, for in 1931, Miss Smith sang in “George White’s Scandals” on Broadway, and one of the numbers she sang was titled “That’s Why Darkies Were Born.” This was a satirical number, which mocked racists, and also later was sung by Paul Robeson, an African-American Communist, for the same reason, to mock and make harsh sport of racists.
But, context matters not in the politically correct age of the internet; nor apparently, can one’s other achievements, no matter how good, ever erase one misstep, for when the New York Yankees found out that Miss Smith sang that song, they dropped her version of God Bless America from being played at Yankee Stadium. We could point out that it had been played there hundreds of times before, and we also could point out that the Yankees did not employ a Black player until 1955, fully 24 years after Miss Smith sang that racist song; but that would be unfair, we guess, so we won’t do it.
Miss Smith was immensely popular in the 1940s and ‘50s, but her popularity had waned until an odd coincidence was noted: When the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team played Miss Smith’s God Bless America instead of the Star-Spangled Banner, the Flyers tended to win, and her good luck carried through to the Flyers’ Stanley Cup wins in 1974 and 1975 (their only NHL championships). After Miss Smith’s death, the Flyers owner was a pallbearer at her funeral and the Flyers erected a statue of her. Of course, last week that statue was first was covered up with black plastic and then removed, for, “the evil men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.”
Except in this case it can’t be honestly said that the evil was living, for that song had long been forgotten, was not closely identified with Miss Smith, and if it ever was much in the public consciousness it had not been for decades. The lyrics certainly are disparaging and offensive, and we don’t favor the number being revived and performed today; but whoever recently unearthed this song from its obscurity must have been on a exploration to find something to be offended about, because it was one of those thousands of songs that for many years hadn’t been played. We should be able to walk a line between pretending the song was some type of popular anthem whose existence still besmirches 88 years after it was performed and 33 years after Kate Smith’s death; and obliterating her memory forever. The best way to do that is not to play the song, and remember Miss Smith for the other events in her life.
The patriotic pride and inspiration that Kate Smith provided, the bonds she sold, her radio ratings or the millions of records she sold, the TV appearances she made; the hundreds if not thousands of other songs she sang; the causes she supported and the love she felt for America now count for nothing, for 88 years ago she sang a song that judged by today’s standard is unacceptable. A song that, even it its day, was a mocking satire of racism, not a defense of it. No word yet on when the bodies of the men who wrote that song will be dug up and scattered on a dung heap, or if everyone who attended that Broadway production in 1931 will be condemned to the fifth or sixth generation; of if recordings of the song will be smashed or burned, but we wouldn’t be surprised.
Miss Smith won a Grammy for the Best Gospel Album in 1966; won that Medal of Freedom in 1982; received the Women’s International Center Living Legacy Award in 1985; was elected to the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999; was on a US postage stamp in 2010; among numerous awards and recognitions; but we suppose it is only a matter of time before all those honors will be revoked.
Like so much outrage vented over historical figures over the last few years, this politically-correct outrage says very little about Kate Smith but says a great deal about those who are outraged. God Bless America.