Mission accomplished? Not really. (American politics, English football and German tours.)
“All I want to do now is concentrate over this huge disappointment,” he added. “Although this is a sad day, I’ll recover and bounce back and wait for the next challenge - I’m not one to lie around on the beach.” No, that was not George Bush, reflecting on Iraq, his presidency as a whole or his command of the English language.
It was, in fact, the now fired English football (or soccer) coach Steve McClaren, after England failed to qualify for the European Championships tournament, to be partly played, of all places, in Austria: another one time cradle of dreams, which did not exactly come true in the end.
So, now, with both the Republican party and the English Football Association desperately seeking a successor who might be able to take away the taste of recent failures and gross incompetence, it is time for contemplation, mourning and the kind of ‘if only’ wishful thinking that makes for great morning-after columns, the most grandiose bitterness and, in some cases, lifelong held grudges and obsessions.
In other words, here’s a general health warning to both the Republican fanatical faithful and England’s deeply disappointed football fans: lick your wounds and mourn your losses, by all means, but do realize that there is a time and place for everything.
As David Lynch, while touring through Germany with some highly dubious side-kick, discovered to some cost:
Film director David Lynch recently visited London, where he appeared with the folk singer Donovan and announced plans for the Invincible Donovan University promoting transcendental meditation, a discipline he has followed since the 70s.
Last week he took the same idea to Germany - with explosive results. The audience at Berlin’s Urania theatre were expecting a talk about cinema, but instead found themselves listening to a rant about the joys of TM. Lynch had brought a controversial guest: Emanuel Schiffgens, a TM guru who styles himself as the “raja of Germany”.
Wearing white robes and a golden crown, Schiffgens announced:
“We are here to found the university of the Invincible Germany … a new era in the history of Germany,”
A comment that - perhaps inadvertently - echoed an older, darker era in the country’s history. Many in the audience reacted furiously. When someone pointed out that an “Invincible Germany” was exactly what Adolf Hitler wanted, Schiffgen replied:
“Yes, but unfortunately he didn’t succeed.”
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