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| The Acrobatics Aren’t Confined to the Olympics | The Acrobatics Aren’t Confined to the Olympics |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. I think I’ve been … wrong. | Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. I think I’ve been … wrong. |
| Gail Collins: Bret — wrong? What? President Biden’s social spending plan? Medicare for all? Tell me more. | |
| Bret: Oh, you know: universal health care, climate change, taxes on the rich, the Iran deal, broken-windows policing, critical race theory, the Kavanaugh nomination, Fauci. | Bret: Oh, you know: universal health care, climate change, taxes on the rich, the Iran deal, broken-windows policing, critical race theory, the Kavanaugh nomination, Fauci. |
| But what I have in mind now is that I’m getting really into the Olympics, after jeering at them a few weeks ago. | But what I have in mind now is that I’m getting really into the Olympics, after jeering at them a few weeks ago. |
| Gail: So you’re post-jeer? What brought you around? | Gail: So you’re post-jeer? What brought you around? |
| Bret: I think it has something to do with all the videos of the fans and family back home cheering their hometown heroes. I teared up watching footage of Suni Lee’s parents just as their daughter was winning gymnastics gold. | Bret: I think it has something to do with all the videos of the fans and family back home cheering their hometown heroes. I teared up watching footage of Suni Lee’s parents just as their daughter was winning gymnastics gold. |
| I know you’ve always been a fan. Are these Games living up to your expectations? | |
| Gail: Yeah, or living up to different expectations, if that makes any sense. I’ve been very conscious of those empty stadium seats. But the fact that the Olympics are actually happening in the Covid world is moving. | Gail: Yeah, or living up to different expectations, if that makes any sense. I’ve been very conscious of those empty stadium seats. But the fact that the Olympics are actually happening in the Covid world is moving. |
| Bret: Right. For all of the problems — corruption, doping, evil coaches, greedy TV networks — it still comes down to insanely gifted and determined athletes and the families and teams that nurture them. That’s especially true for Lee, whose parents came to the United States as Hmong refugees. What could be a greater vindication of the benefits of immigration than that? | |
| Gail: I was glad women’s gymnastics had the first spotlight. Watching young women swing around on the bars and leap on the balance beam was one of the first experiences many Americans had with rooting for female athletes. | |
| Bret: Would love your thoughts on the Simone Biles drama. | Bret: Would love your thoughts on the Simone Biles drama. |
| Gail: The outpouring of national sympathy was heartening. When we look back on these Games, it’ll probably be her story that’s most remembered. | Gail: The outpouring of national sympathy was heartening. When we look back on these Games, it’ll probably be her story that’s most remembered. |
| Bret: My first reaction to her decision wasn’t positive: Quitting on her team just seemed like the opposite of the Olympian spirit. | Bret: My first reaction to her decision wasn’t positive: Quitting on her team just seemed like the opposite of the Olympian spirit. |
| But I changed my mind about this, too, thanks to a brilliant column by Jason Gay, a friend from The Wall Street Journal. Jason made the point that it’s time to start treating mental health as an intrinsic part of physical health, not something unrelated to it. If Biles’s decision forces the public to think a little harder about the connection, that’s progress. | But I changed my mind about this, too, thanks to a brilliant column by Jason Gay, a friend from The Wall Street Journal. Jason made the point that it’s time to start treating mental health as an intrinsic part of physical health, not something unrelated to it. If Biles’s decision forces the public to think a little harder about the connection, that’s progress. |
| Gail: And meanwhile, back at the ranch … Congress is getting ready to pass that big-bucks infrastructure plan. Are you inspired by the way the Republicans and Democrats worked together? Or is this just a demonstration that they can get along only when it comes to road paving? | |
| Bret: Thumbs up. For starters, it’s money being spent on stuff the country really needs. Also, when was the last time Congress did anything this substantial on a genuinely bipartisan basis? My inner Alan Simpson is much more comfortable with a $1 trillion bill than with the $2.65 trillion the Biden administration initially proposed in March. And naturally I’m delighted that a tax hike wasn’t part of the deal. | Bret: Thumbs up. For starters, it’s money being spent on stuff the country really needs. Also, when was the last time Congress did anything this substantial on a genuinely bipartisan basis? My inner Alan Simpson is much more comfortable with a $1 trillion bill than with the $2.65 trillion the Biden administration initially proposed in March. And naturally I’m delighted that a tax hike wasn’t part of the deal. |
| But I think the larger battle is over the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. I’m guessing you’re a fan. | But I think the larger battle is over the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. I’m guessing you’re a fan. |
| Gail: Yeah, I’m rooting for it. You know, we ought to think about the budget battles the way we do Olympic events — like the steeplechase but drier. Here comes free community college! Medicare expansion just cleared another hurdle! | Gail: Yeah, I’m rooting for it. You know, we ought to think about the budget battles the way we do Olympic events — like the steeplechase but drier. Here comes free community college! Medicare expansion just cleared another hurdle! |
| Bret: Actually, I was hoping Biles could be a role model here, too, and we could just let it go. Sorry, continue. | |
| Gail: I am a fan of the Biden package. Maybe not every detail — for instance, I’m concerned with academic standards when it comes to free community college. But the whole point of being a Democrat is to support government programs that make people’s lives better. Like assuring low-income mothers that their 3- and 4-year-olds will be taken care of in quality programs while they work. | Gail: I am a fan of the Biden package. Maybe not every detail — for instance, I’m concerned with academic standards when it comes to free community college. But the whole point of being a Democrat is to support government programs that make people’s lives better. Like assuring low-income mothers that their 3- and 4-year-olds will be taken care of in quality programs while they work. |
| Is there any particular part you oppose, or is it just the whole deal? | Is there any particular part you oppose, or is it just the whole deal? |
| Bret: The whole deal. We tried the Great Society already. A lot of unimpeachable intentions, a lot of unintended consequences. Expanding federal financing for education sounds like a great idea. But there’s a fair amount of evidence that it’s also a driver of tuition increases. Accessible day care is another lovely idea, and it works well in places like France — except that there’s a perpetual shortage of spots in the program. | Bret: The whole deal. We tried the Great Society already. A lot of unimpeachable intentions, a lot of unintended consequences. Expanding federal financing for education sounds like a great idea. But there’s a fair amount of evidence that it’s also a driver of tuition increases. Accessible day care is another lovely idea, and it works well in places like France — except that there’s a perpetual shortage of spots in the program. |
| Also, this isn’t what middle-of-the-road voters wanted when they elected Biden. They wanted a presidency that returned us to pre-Trump normality, not a Sanders presidency with a better-tailored suit. | Also, this isn’t what middle-of-the-road voters wanted when they elected Biden. They wanted a presidency that returned us to pre-Trump normality, not a Sanders presidency with a better-tailored suit. |
| Gail: Bret, do you really believe middle-of-the-road voters didn’t want their next president to expand quality preschool? Of course it’s hard to provide for every family that needs it. But in a country with around 18.5 million working mothers, we just have to keep plugging away at the goal. | Gail: Bret, do you really believe middle-of-the-road voters didn’t want their next president to expand quality preschool? Of course it’s hard to provide for every family that needs it. But in a country with around 18.5 million working mothers, we just have to keep plugging away at the goal. |
| Bret: As of 2018, close to 70 percent of 4-year-olds already attend preschool, a figure that jumps to almost 85 percent for 5-year-olds. So it’s not exactly a national crisis requiring a permanent federal entitlement. I think this is something best left to states. | Bret: As of 2018, close to 70 percent of 4-year-olds already attend preschool, a figure that jumps to almost 85 percent for 5-year-olds. So it’s not exactly a national crisis requiring a permanent federal entitlement. I think this is something best left to states. |
| Gail: The problem with best-left-to-states is that it screws the parents and kids who happen to be in, say, Oklahoma or West Virginia. But let’s move all the way up to higher education. We’ve always had shared concerns about how federal aid to colleges and universities gets spent. I want to figure out a way to turn it into an incentive for quality schools that don’t waste a lot of money on excess administration. | |
| But we’d still have to spend a lot of money — or would you rather just tell lower-income kids to settle on a career in waitressing or Uber driving? | But we’d still have to spend a lot of money — or would you rather just tell lower-income kids to settle on a career in waitressing or Uber driving? |
| Bret: Not at all, though, as a former waiter myself, it was one of the most useful jobs I ever had, in terms of teaching valuable life skills. A good lesson in seeing what’s on the other side of the plate, so to speak. | |
| Gail: Think I told you that one summer I worked as a sort of robocaller. The only life lesson I learned was to find less horrible employment. | Gail: Think I told you that one summer I worked as a sort of robocaller. The only life lesson I learned was to find less horrible employment. |
| Bret: Trying to picture a young Gail Collins selling pet insurance. Anyway, the goal of education should be to produce competent, thoughtful and ethical citizens capable of being good neighbors and enterprising workers. Unfortunately, we’ve had less and less of that over the last 50 years or so, and I don’t think the problem is inadequate funding. We spend more per pupil than nearly any other country in the world for an increasingly subpar product. Instead of pumping more money into it, maybe it’s time we rethink the model of K-12 schooling followed by four years of dubiously useful four-year college. | Bret: Trying to picture a young Gail Collins selling pet insurance. Anyway, the goal of education should be to produce competent, thoughtful and ethical citizens capable of being good neighbors and enterprising workers. Unfortunately, we’ve had less and less of that over the last 50 years or so, and I don’t think the problem is inadequate funding. We spend more per pupil than nearly any other country in the world for an increasingly subpar product. Instead of pumping more money into it, maybe it’s time we rethink the model of K-12 schooling followed by four years of dubiously useful four-year college. |
| Gail: I’m game on the college front. | Gail: I’m game on the college front. |
| Bret: And maybe a two-track high school option, similar to Germany’s, that allows some students to choose a vocational track after 10th grade while allowing others to qualify for an academic track that adds an extra year of high school but shaves a year of college. | Bret: And maybe a two-track high school option, similar to Germany’s, that allows some students to choose a vocational track after 10th grade while allowing others to qualify for an academic track that adds an extra year of high school but shaves a year of college. |
| Gail: Certainly worth examining, but we have to be really, really careful that some kids aren’t semiautomatically shoved into that vocational track. | Gail: Certainly worth examining, but we have to be really, really careful that some kids aren’t semiautomatically shoved into that vocational track. |
| Bret: Switching gears for a moment, can I mention something else I’ve changed my mind about in the last few days? | Bret: Switching gears for a moment, can I mention something else I’ve changed my mind about in the last few days? |
| Gail: Absolutely. Something you admire in Chuck Schumer’s agenda, I presume. | Gail: Absolutely. Something you admire in Chuck Schumer’s agenda, I presume. |
| Bret: Not yet. But I was deeply impressed by the Capitol Hill police officers who testified before the Jan. 6 committee, as they described the Visigothic mob they battled. On second thought, Nancy Pelosi was right not to seat the two G.O.P. congressmen who wanted to turn the hearings into a clown show, and she was right to press ahead with honorable conservatives like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. This is an important contribution to the historical record and a devastating rebuke to the McCarthy Republicans (Kevin this time, not Joe) who want to pretend that what happened that day was no big deal and mostly “a normal tourist visit.” | |
| Gail: The degree to which we are in accord is disturbing. | Gail: The degree to which we are in accord is disturbing. |
| Bret: Been known to happen. | Bret: Been known to happen. |
| Gail: I was under the impression Kevin McCarthy originally wanted to treat the whole matter as seriously as it deserves to be but was then visited in his sleep by an orangeish angel intoning, “Nothing is our fault.” | |
| And about Mr. Expresident, what’s your take on him these days? Same as ever? | And about Mr. Expresident, what’s your take on him these days? Same as ever? |
| Bret: That he’s our greatest president — save for all the others? That his character is worthy of the classics of Western literature — if those classics are “Crime and Punishment” and Dante’s “Inferno”? That he ranks as one of America’s most gifted businessmen — alongside Enron’s Andrew Fastow and Bernie Madoff? That history will remember him as a true man of the people — right up there with the Roman emperor Nero and the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez? That he has the best words — among pigeons? | Bret: That he’s our greatest president — save for all the others? That his character is worthy of the classics of Western literature — if those classics are “Crime and Punishment” and Dante’s “Inferno”? That he ranks as one of America’s most gifted businessmen — alongside Enron’s Andrew Fastow and Bernie Madoff? That history will remember him as a true man of the people — right up there with the Roman emperor Nero and the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez? That he has the best words — among pigeons? |
| Gail: Ah, Bret. One thing I’ve always been able to count on is your poison-pen sketches of you-know-who. | Gail: Ah, Bret. One thing I’ve always been able to count on is your poison-pen sketches of you-know-who. |
| Bret: Thanks, Gail. I really do believe in the importance of being able to change one’s mind — within reason. | Bret: Thanks, Gail. I really do believe in the importance of being able to change one’s mind — within reason. |
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