Time Present, Time Past. Bill Bradley.

Time Present, Time Past
Bill Bradley
New York: Alfred A. Knopf
1996

Why read it? Bradley wrote this book and others in order to become a Presidential candidate in the year 2000 election. Of course, he didn't achieve his goal of becoming President, but his book offers a view of some of the issues the next President needs to consider: the need to renew people's faith in the government, the problems of racism, uniting the many cultures in our society, urban education, the use of downsizing to increase corporate profits and the nature of politics in the 21st century, among other issues. He wants to use Presidential power to alter the national self-perception.

He may not have become President, but his review of the issues in 21st-century America is most enlightening. His biggest problem, from my point of view, was his inability to speak effectively in public. His monotone and lack of apparent enthusiasm put audiences to sleep. A serious problem in the age of television. Perhaps if people had been able to focus on Bradley's ideas and not be distracted by his method of presentation, things might have turned out differently for Bradley and for America. Reaching America through books certainly did not work.

Some sample ideas from the book: Bill Bradley sees Americans as losing sight of the nature and purpose of America. In emphasizing individuality, we lose a sense of our common humanity. The cure for racism, he says, is to see people as individuals, not as stereotyped members of minorities and special groups. But reforming urban society will require the politics of common effort.

Bradley's comments are often interesting: The goal of Americans should be both to achieve personal excellence and extend a helping hand to others; the stereotype of our political parties: the Democrats fight for the little people and the Republicans protect the rich; when he hears Americans' stories, he tries to determine the big issue behind the story; When you make commitments, you need to review the commitment at later times; the CIA;s mission is counter to America's ideals; Americans see politics as good vs. evil; rarely does TV news make the human spirit soar; America is not as bad as it looks on TV; on his wife's breast cancer: will today's chemotherapy go down in history as useless as bloodletting was centuries ago? Character assaults and personal attack leave political scars; the goal of most political campaigns is to reduce a political opponent's career to a few negative events; Americans need to learn to abandon the fast pace and take time to reflect; thinking all Germans guilty of the Holocaust is the same as thinking all Jews are Shylocks; shift the tax burden to unnecessary consumption.

Bradley discusses his ineffectiveness as a speaker and what he has tried to do about it. He reviews his practice of walking the beaches in the summer to meet the public and to ask, "What's on your mind?" "What do you want me to know? " "Anything you want to ask me?" He mentions the need to identify with local audiences when engaged in a political campaign. He is careful not to offend the members of the press because it is what they choose to emphasize that can hurt a candidate.

Quote: "Optimism is one of our [Americans'] great virtues."

Quote: "No predicament is hopeless."

Quote: "The act of writing has always been a method of clarification for me, a way of getting down to how I really feel about an issue, a decision, a place, a person."

Quote: "Thinking about events you have experienced, and developing perspective about them, in some ways completes them, and finding the words to express that perspective brings about a sense of closure."