Cross Talk with Joe Klein and Catherine Crier

Political columnist and author Joe Klein joined TV personality and former district court judge Catherine Crier Thursday evening for "Cross Talk," a provacative evening of conversation at the Katonah Village Library.

The "CrossTalk" series, co-sponsored by the library and the Katonah Museum of Art, has a reputation of being one of the liveliest and most stimulating cultural events in our area, and Klein and Crier lived up to the hype.

The format of the event is as follows:  each speaker is given the opportunity to speak about their work and interests—but the fun begins when the moderator, on this occasion local recording impressario Richard Kessler, yields the floor to questions from the audience.

Catherine Crier, who began her career as a judge in her home state of Texas and went on to anchor the news at CNN, stirred things up with an impassioned diagnosis of the woeful state of political debate and action in the U.S.

"The American public needs to reconsider their own narrow focus on "conservative" versus "liberal" political positions," she said.  High on her own current interests has been a re-evaluation of what the founding fathers really wanted the United States to become. 

Pointing to the distracting nature of current political in-fighting she noted that "today Thomas Jefferson would be considered a radical and Bill Buckley would be considered a libertarian." Crier asked for a re-consideration of Ronald Reagan, beloved by conservatives but "who actually increased both the deficit and the number of Federal employees."

A self-described political independent, Crier said she wants the American public to pay attention to corporations controlling the U.S. government and hopes for a political revolution that takes power away from corporate interests and lobbyists.

"We need a new idea of corporate profits that could calibrate whether the profits really contribute to the life of American citizens," she said. 

Joe Klein deftly avoided a direct riposte to Crier's entertaining and populist message.  The author of "Primary Colors" wryly complementing her on her "characteristically low-wattage performance," adding that instead he was going to "talk about himself."

The self-diagnosed political junkie described with obvious emotion the effect that the death in the Twin Towers of his Pelham neighbors had on him. 

After 9/11 Klein immersed himself in the work of the intelligence community and to tried to understand what the war on terrorism might actually involve. 

"It was a journey that completely changed the way I think," Klein said. 

Klein spent time observing the training of officers before deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan and had the  good fortune to join the circle of warrior-intellectuals around General David Petraus, a man who he clearly thinks is a genuine American hero. 

Petraus  won him over to the importance of counter-insurgency techniques of warfare, which he characterized as "knocking on doors, rather than knocking down doors" and which Klein feels was exactly the strategy ignored by the "worst Secretary of Defense the United States has ever seen, Donald Rumsfeld."

During Klein's tours as an embedded journalist in both Iraq and Afghanistan (to which he is returning in two weeks) he gained a new respect for the egalitarianism, dedication and sense of service that permeates the U.S. military

Klein's diagnosis of our contemporary ills was less dramatic than Crier's call for an (unlikely) overthrow of the banking and finance system. The value that Klein feels is most distinctly lacking in U.S. society is a sense of service, precisely the value he found most evident during his time spent with commanders and soldiers at all levels of the military.

"I'm convinced we need a major overhaul of the public school system if young people are to actively engage in the complex problem solving that a modern democracy requires, he said.  "I'm also concerned that the mass media, is turning U.S. citizens into "tribalists," who only identify with their own particular news outlet "whether it's VH1, CNN or Fox."

And along with Crier he wonders whether American citizens have the desire to engage in a wide-ranging and truly informed debate about current affairs and problems. 

During the Q&A, one audience member challenged Klein's reservations about the impact of digital communication, noting that it was precisely the use of Twitter, Facebook, and email that the Obama campaign had used so sucessfully to gain office.

Klein agreed.  "Those networks do lead to new forms of political engagement," he said. 

On one thing both participants agreed—they are idealists.  And in their willingness to speak frankly and respond with grace and intelligence to a wide range of questions, they gave a real sense of what a more elevated political conversation might look like. 

 "CrossTalk" is $20 and includes a pre-talk glass of wine and light snack.  All proceeds from the events go to fund the children's education programs at both the Katonah Museum of Art and the Katonah Library.