By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent
Look up the word “erudite” in any dictionary published since the mid-1970s and there might be a picture of William Safire, one of the New York Times’ longest running and most respected political columnists. As the author of the Times magazine’s weekly “On Language” column, in which he has focused on grammar, usage, and etymology since 1979, he can explain why. On December 4, people attending the 2004 Community Campaign kick-off dinner for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle will be able to find out for themselves, when Safire discloses his educated estimations of what is in store for both the country and the world in the pivotal year ahead.
In a telephone interview from his suburban D.C. home, the Transcript asked what he plans to talk about when he keynotes the Federation dinner and program at the downtown Seattle Westin Hotel Grand Ballroom.
“I won’t tell you what I’m going to say, but I’ll tell you the areas that I will cover,” Safire responded. He said subjects will include “the future of our instilling democracy in Iraq, its implications for the rest of the Middle East; our relationship with Europe and Russia. Then, the future of the U.S. economy, and I’ll choose a Democratic nominee and predict the outcome of the elections.”
When the Transcript asked to follow up on some of those subjects, he responded: “You can follow up on anything you like but I don’t have to answer.”
William Safire is almost uniquely qualified to offer his insights on these subjects, having been a close observer to politics and power in the “other” Washington for almost 50 years. In 1959, as a vice-president of a New York City public relations firm, he brought then-Vice President Richard Nixon together with Soviet premier Nikita Khruschev in a Moscow display of a modern all-American kitchen to publicize his client’s products. The resulting encounter made international headlines as the now-historic “kitchen debate.”
A year later he left the executive position he had held since 1955 to form his own company, Safire Public Relations, Inc. In 1968, he left to join the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, staying with the president as a senior speech writer after the election. It was in that capacity that Safire coined the term “nattering nabobs of negativity,” referring to critics of the Vietnam war.
While the phrase was memorable, relatively few people could be assumed to know exactly what a “nabob” was or how it applied to the protesters. Some 30 years after the fact Safire explained it — though not necessarily for the first time — as “an Indian word — it comes from India. It’s a high potentate.”
He used it in that context, he said, “primarily an alliteration. It also shows you the self-importance” of the people he was intending to skewer, he added.
Safire began his journalism career as a U.S. Army correspondent before coming to the New York Herald Tribune, where he wrote a profiles column. In 1973, he joined the editorial staff of the New York Times, where his insights and opinions have been on display ever since.
Among the many subjects, both social and political, Safire has written on over the decades is his views on Israel and the Middle East, a topic he was willing to expound on. While he recommended that people with access to the Internet read some of the columns he has filed over the last few months for a more complete perspective, he did say that he believes that a U.S. victory in Iraq would help transform the face of the Arab World by promoting democratic reforms throughout the region.
“I think the Wilsonian idealism that we’re asserting may be a century late,” he said, “but it’s my feeling that, in that sense, the second Bush administration may be the most idealistic that we’ve had in a long time.”
An avowed hawk on Israeli-Palestinian issues, he is a personal friend of Ariel Sharon. Safire said he believes the Israeli prime minister — whom he often refers to in his columns by Sharon’s nickname “Arik” — “is more inclined to compromise than I would be” on territory for an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Asked if he thinks Sharon would agree to dismantle most, if not all of the settlements he helped to construct, Safire said that “most, if not all, is too broad a generality.”
“I think that, just as Menachem Begin gave up some settlements in the Sinai, Sharon will make what he calls the ‘painful compromise’ when the time comes,” said Safire, “but not until the time comes. He’s not about to make any offers until there is an interlocutor.” Pressed for his opinion on how many of the 200,000-plus settlers would have to relocate in that compromise, he answered that “some of them” was the best way to characterize it.
“I think the fence being built now, which will include 80-85 percent of them is a good indicator of what the future boundaries would be — although Sharon is quick to say that this is not a border,” he said.
On the question of whether American Jews should avoid criticizing Israeli policies regardless of the party in power, Safire said: “It’s entirely appropriate for free Americans and free Israelis to criticize each other’s governments.”
Before allowing him to go back to rearranging his library, which he was doing before being interrupted for the phone call, the Transcript asked him, as an expert grammarian, what one common semantic or grammatical error he would wipe away from the face of the Earth if he had the power.
“I could care less,” he said.
Asked whether he meant to excise the phrase or if it was his reaction to the question, Safire responded, “I chose the phrase with care.”
“An Evening with William Safire”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle presents “An Evening with William Safire” on Thurs., Dec. 4 as part of its kick-off dinner for the 2004 Community Campaign.
The event takes place at the Westin Hotel Seattle Grand Ballroom, 1900 Fifth Ave., Seattle. A reception and no-host cocktail bar will begin 5:45 pm, with the Dinner and Program at 6:30 pm.
Dinner is $75 per person or $150 per person for Patrons. A minimum gift of $1,500 (or $1,000 for members of the Ben Gurion Society) to the 2004 Community Campaign is required to attend.
For more information, please contact Pam Waechter at 206-774-2259 or [email protected]