Hi guys -- Will Bunch from the Philadelphia Daily News here (full disclosure, for geeks...and working journalists). I'm writing a book on how to revive American media called "The News Fix" for Vaster Books -- the company founded by Markos Moulitsas and Jane Hamsher -- that's coming out next year, and as the release date gets closer I plan to cross-post more of my regular posts from over at my blog, Attytood.
Like this one, my in-person coverage of Bono getting the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia tonight:
Bono capped his whirlwind day here in Philadelphia with a short but powerful speech at the National Constitution Center, accepting (along with his poverty-fighting DATA) the Liberty Medal and the $100,000 prize, which he's donating to his One Campaign. What gave his speech so much force was that he didn't come to simply bash America, but to praise us -- and then upbraid us for not doing better.
"America is my country," he declared, to loud applause. And the Irish rocker, wearing a medal that had just been placed around his neck by ex-President George H.W. Bush, who chairs the Constitution Center, indeed had quite a few good things to say about this nation that he's adopted, at least philosophically. He said some of money he's successfully lobbied for here, both from Washington and from big business, is making a difference in fighting AIDS and malaria in Africa and in sending kids to school.
"Your America gave the world the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, JFK, MLK, the Special Olympics, Bill and Melinda Gates, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Bard and the Boss," in a long, almost jazz-like riff that also included Philadelphian Will Smith, Mary J, Blige, Allen Ginsberg, Edward R. Murrow and others.
BUT...
But his strongest words of the night were this warning:
Today I read in the Economist an article reporting that over 38 percent of Americans support some type of torture in exceptional circumstances. My country? No. Your country? Tell me no. Today, when I receive this great honor, I ask you, I implore you as an Irishman who has seen some of these things close up, I ask you to remember, you do not have to become a monster to defeat a monster. Your America’s better than that.
He expounded on that theme earlier in the day, when he met with some editorial writers and reporters at the offices of the Daily News and Inquirer. He was asked a question about America's standing in the world, in light of Abu Ghraib:
You lead the world in fighting HIV AIDS,, but these are dangerous times for America. Brand USA has never been in such a vulnerable state," Bono responded. He said something to the effect that the neon was fading "a little bit in the grubby storefont of some corner of the world somebody’s thrown a petrol bomb throough it."
He described a phone call that he said he'd received recently from an American four-star general and commander of European forces, Jim Jones. "Of all the surreal encounters," Bono said. He said Jones told him that U.S. security overseas needs a development component.
Bono said Jones told him:
"'I'm a Marine,' he said, 'and Marines do not mind being fired at for the right reasons, they don't mind being shot at for the right reasons -- they don't like being shot at for the wroing reasons.' We didn't discuss Abu Ghraib but that’s a part of it...
‘
What he did say was the United States had heroic men and women and they had good intentions and they weren't getting across. He said we had billions and billions in high tech equipment floating in the Mediterranean, aircraft carriers off the coast of Lebanon, and he said we’re losing the war because Hamas are building schools.
Bono said that America could improve its standing in the world by spending relatively small amounts on medicine, doctors, and schools. The good news that I picked up from the meeting is that Bono and his allies on the Africa issue are paying super close attention to the 2008 election -- in fact he acknowledged that one reason he wanted to meet with the Daily News and Inquirer is because he knows that Pennsylvania is a battleground state. I'd like to see tonight's message become part of the '08 debate -- in both parties.