In Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune Opinion section, we carried a piece by long-time political observer Bernie Quigley, who had some advice for Mitt Romney.
— Mitt Romney must run for president in 2020 by Bernie Quigley | For The Salt Lake Tribune
“Should Mitt Romney run for the U.S. Senate? By all means. Indeed, Sen. Orrin Hatch should step aside... Romney is not just considering running for Senate in 2018. He must be considering running for president in 2020. For Romney, more than any other, is the anti-Trump. And Romney, almost alone in America, can easily pull support from both parties as he did in liberal Massachusetts. ... Although he had lost in his previous tries, he was still seen as the moral voice of the Republican Party. Maybe he still is.
Over in the political website Slate, their Money Box writer has another career in mind for the former Massachusetts governor and manager of the Salt Lake City Olympics.
— Send Mitt Romney to Puerto Rico by Daniel Gross | Slate
Think about the job. It requires someone who has a really good financial mind, has a long history of dealing with turning around financially troubled entities, has a basic sense of decency, speaks the language of Wall Street and has no problem telling creditors to stuff it; has led an entity the size of a small state, has shown the capacity to analyze complex systems, develop effective policies that assist all citizens, and then marshal bipartisan support to make effective changes; has sufficient personal wealth that he or she is both incorruptible and can take on the task for the low wage it offers; and won’t be tempted to use the gig as a springboard for higher office. ... In short, it requires Mitt Romney.
Then again, as Quigley might say, Mitt could well use the island recovery job — if it turns out well — as an audition for the White House. (Though the last guy to manage a major recovery effort and then become president — Herbert Hoover — isn’t remembered well.)
And others, not so impressed with Romney’s history as a corporate raider back in his Bain Capital days, might well ask, “Can you flip a U.S. territory?”
Also in our Sunday section, I defended the whole idea of artistic expression, historical fiction and “Hamilton: An American Musical,” from an attack by a few members of the Utah State Board of Education.
I took serious umbrage at the knowledge that three members of the Utah State Board of Education were opposed to a plan to use some state and local money to bring a ton of junior high school students to see the touring company production of the hip-hop musical, “Hamilton” because it wasn‘t “the right kind of history.”
— Stories like ‘Hamilton’ should be central to any young person‘s education by George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune
“ ... Stories, often more than facts, raise our awareness, engage our emotions, build our empathy and make us human. Without ever crowding out the realities of life...”
Meanwhile, down in Mississippi...
— Now that ‘Mockingbird’ is ‘forbidden fruit,’ people will take a bite, librarian says by Karen Nelson | Gulfport (Miss.) Sun-Herald
“ ... A retired librarian from Texas offered the Sun Herald her observations from experience in the wake of Biloxi School District’s pulling ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from required reading for eighth graders. ... ‘I can tell you with absolute certainty what’s going to happen,’ said Kate Dungan French, retired for 41 years and keeping up with the story. ‘The bookstores, public libraries and Amazon will be flooded with people wanting to read that book ...”
— The ironic, enduring legacy of banning ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ for racist language by Avi Selk | The Washington Post
“Silence doesn‘t make us smarter. A classic is something that makes us uncomfortable because it talks about things that matter.” — James LaRue, American Library Association
