Entry from October 7, 2004
As I did on each day of the Republican convention, I am writing poetry for broadcast on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” after each of this year’s presidential and vice-presidential debates. The poems are broadcast side by side with ones by Calvin Trillin, who is writing on the same subject but with a rather different point of view. The second of this series of poems, on the Vice Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, I have titled, with apologies to Leslie Bricusse’s and Anthony Newley’s “The Candyman,” The Smileyman
Who can take th’Iraq “mess”
Fold in new allies,
Add some extra soldiers
And much faster Iraqize?
The Smileyman.
The Smileyman can
With the Smileyman’s plan,
‘Cause he mixes it with Spin
And makes the World shine bright.
Who can take our health care,
Cut the premiums,
Chop out all the waste, then
Make it free to low incomes?
The Smileyman.
The Smileyman can
With the Smileyman’s plan,
‘Cause he mixes it with Spin
And makes the World shine bright.
The Smileyman can
‘Cause everything he spins
Is so charmingly ambitious,
Fulfilling everybody’s wishes,
Who could care if it’s fictitious?
Who can take the deficit,
Sprinkle it with “the rich,”
Give the rest a tax break,
Make from red to black the switch?
The Smileyman.
The Smileyman can
With the Smileyman’s plan,
‘Cause he mixes it with Spin
And America shines bright.