The Teddy Awards: 2006

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again … who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly …”

Another year gone. Time again for this column–which was named after the Theodore Roosevelt quotation cited above–to take note of some of the people who performed honorably as winners and losers in the public arena. This was not a terrific year for elected officials; only one is mentioned in this column, and he lost his race. Happily, the public arena is not limited to elected U.S. politicians. There were others who made their mark in 2006.

Kofi Annan’s 10 years at the United Nations were not a “triumph of high achievement,” but the Secretary-General was a force for civility throughout. His work–and the efforts of the U.N. inspection teams–in the months leading up to the Iraq war deserves special mention. The U.N.’s search for weapons of mass destruction was rigorous and accurate: there were no weapons to be found. Annan quietly understood that an American invasion would be a disaster. He suffered physically and mentally over his failure to prevent the war. After the invasion, he experienced a mild nervous collapse. For a time, he actually lost his voice. For his pains, he was subjected to a chorus of know-nothing blatherings by U.S. critics who blamed him–inaccurately–for the U.N.’s oil-for-food scandal and ridiculed him for his failure to bring the rest of the world into line behind an incomprehensible series of U.S. foreign policy errors. He, more than any other public figure this year, embodies Teddy Roosevelt’s definition of “the man in the arena.”

Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was nothing new to those who have listened to the former Vice President’s inspired ranting about global warming for the past quarter-century. But it was time for that message to be delivered clearly, cleverly, with renewed urgency to a new audience. Gore’s reinvigoration was a reminder that he has been prescient on a great many issues. He was one of the few Democrats to vote, correctly, in favor of the first Gulf War. He was one of the few Democrats to argue, correctly, on Sept. 23, 2002, that Bush’s pre-emptive invasion of Iraq would be a serious mistake. Now Gore seems liberated, less awkward than he has ever before appeared in public and eager to propose more inconvenient truths–like the need for a tax on fossil fuels. I don’t know if he’s running for President. Probably not. But he should.

Congressman Jim Leach, the Iowa Republican, was a terrific public servant for 30 years. He was always independent, always scrupulously honest. He lost this year, and the manner of his losing is instructive. He refused to allow the Republican National Committee to distribute a negative mailing about his opponent. He called Ken Mehlman, then the R.N.C. chair, and threatened to caucus with the Democrats if such negative mailings didn’t stop. They stopped, but the Congressman lost narrowly to an academic named Dave Loebsack, who had similarly refused to attack him. A former foreign service officer, Leach would make a terrific U.S. ambassador to the U.N., but I doubt that Bush would appoint an anti–Iraq-war multilateralist.

Last summer Lieut. General David Petraeus invited me out to visit the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kans. Every U.S. Army major spends a midcareer year going to school there. Most of these officers are headed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and the curriculum has been revised to include intensive language courses in Arabic and Pashtu, the history and culture of Islam, a hefty dose of counterinsurgency strategy and tactics, plus the standard military disciplines. I came away inspired and infuriated: if only the Bush Administration–and the public–took the mission as seriously as the Army does! What a shame that we’ve inserted these fine people into such a mess.

Finally, congratulations to David Simon, the brains behind the HBO program The Wire, which is the finest piece of popular entertainment I’ve seen this century. The Wire began as a series about the never-ending war between the police and drug gangs in the city of Baltimore, Md., but it has expanded to include the politicians, the schools, the dwindling white working class. Watching the show takes some effort; it’s complicated, but every detail is delicious. It is, quite simply, the smartest show I’ve seen about the drama of public life, the corrosive cynicism of bureaucracies, the creativity and futility of the inner-city poor. And next season Simon is taking on the Baltimore media. I cringe and can’t wait.

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