Readers respond

In the September '08 Jazz Times, there are two letters in response to my column on jazz and politics (pdf here). Both focus on my unsurprising and by now barely controversial endorsement of Barack Obama.

The first letter is a classic:

Regarding David R. Adler's recent Solo guest column: Although most jazz devotees may reside on the left, there are exceptions. Barack Obama's leftist utterances and references are not the recipe for cleansing and healing, but serve to create further divisions. I will make a side bet with Mr. Adler that an Obama presidency leaves this country worse off rather than better. Lastly, I hope that Jazz Times continues to bring us the music and lets such sad political commentary remain in the leftist rags where people like Adler can rant to themselves.

Harold Black

Knoxville, Tenn.

Oh, Mr. Black. I only rant to myself here at Lerterland, and a good deal of my ranting is about leftist rags. And so sometimes leftists mistake me for a rightist (I'm a diehard social democrat). But I'm hardly surprised when a rightist mistakes me for a leftist. As Stewie from The Family Guy once said, World keeps on spinnin'.

As for Mr. Black's argument about Obama, I'd respond if there were an actual argument on offer.

The second letter, from Tom Semioli of New York, contends that Obama is not nearly leftist enough.

Semioli is a Naderite (I was too, back when) — here he is taking Michael Moore to task in an open letter published at Counterpunch, the leftist rag to end all leftist rags, a webzine that recently published material by Eric Walberg, a notorious antisemite and far-right fellow traveler. I'm not saying Semioli is too. I'm wondering why his principles demand he oppose Obama, yet permit him to wallow with the Counterpunchers.