Scritti Politti: February 4, 2009

As the dawn breaks on a hopeful 2009, it is great to see the rise of a figure who so perfectly encapsulates the sense of responsibility and leadership that this nation so sorely needs. No, I'm not talking about Barack Obama, nerds. I'm talking about hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger! Pulling off a casualty-free water landing isn't enough for this guy! Turns out that every aspect of his life is lived according to an impeccable ethical code. Seriously. Dig this:

When the US Airways pilot's plane ended up at the bottom of the Hudson River on Jan. 15, so did a book he had checked out from the library at California State University, Fresno, through his local library near Danville.

Sullenberger contacted library officials and asked for an extension and waiver of overdue fees because the book was in the airliner's cargo hold.

Fresno State library officials said they were struck by Sullenberger's sense of responsibility and did him one better: they're waiving all fees, even lost book fees, and placing a template in the replacement book dedicating it to him.

The book's subject? Professional ethics.

That's pretty much awesome. I'd like to add, though, that another great thing about Sully, is that here we have this guy who's risen to sudden fame and who commands all sorts of attention, and yet you don't see this guy stalking down every camera lens in America, offering his opinions on every topic in the world, begging Rick Sanchez to plug his next project, or, say...traipsing off to Israel to make a mockery of a serious international conflict, like SOME PLUMBERS WE KNOW.

Before Sullenberger came along, we had forgotten that anyone in America could accept a little attention without demanding that attention be exponentially increased for no good reason. Truly, Captain Sully is piloting us all to a much better place.

Payback's a Bitch: Goldman Sachs wants to give America back its TARP money, saying, "You know what? I think we'll just take our chances with our incredible goddamn market savvy and our massive compensation packages! KTHXBAI!"

But What I'm Really Looking Forward To Is The Tucker Bounds Memoir: David Plouffe to pen a book! Publishers at Viking say: "For those of us who had been Obama supporters and received dozens, if not hundreds of e-mails throughout the campaign from David Plouffe, you came away with the feeling that you knew this guy and wanted to know more." I say, "OKAY, VIKING. Please enjoy each of my Facebook updates, emailed to you three times a day."

Man Up, Senators: Pareene: "Long story short, "procedural filibusters" are ruining democracy and plunging us into a new great depression (side note: the filibuster, procedural or no, has pretty much only been used for evil since the 1940s, more or less)." He is so right, especially that last part.

Cheney Baffles: Spencer Ackerman catches Dick Cheney lying, and The Politico's crack reporters not challenging Cheney's contentions, because today is BACK TO THE FUTURE: 2007 STYLE day.

Your Daily Dose of Delight: ROD BLAGOJEVICH WILL CHOKE YOU.

Comments

[MarianneEvans11]

I think President Obama should appoint Commander Sully to his cabinet. Now here is a man of great stature!

[reggie1298]

Maybe we can send a copy of "Professional Ethics" to Obama's recent appointments.

[nicole473]

Filibusters are a way of doing senate business that seriously needs to be reevaluated.

Very sad to see the arrogant sods at Politico slide further down the hill of shoddy journalism.