Dan Sewell: Feedback on your feedback after one year | Opinion

It’s been a full year now since Enquirer Editor Beryl Love invited me to disrupt an idyllic retirement to try something new: writing a regular newspaper column.

It’s been an interesting challenge.

It came after 44 years in daily journalism, mainly with The Associated Press. The mission was to cover news as it happened, break news by developing sources and digging out records, and to step back on trends or ongoing stories to provide context and explanation. All presented with objectivity and balance.

Now, it’s writing an opinion column, which takes a point of view. It aims to be persuasive, informative and, we hope, entertaining. It began as weekly, now my contribution alternates weeks with Beryl’s "From The Editor" columns.

A lot of you take the time to offer your comments, and I welcome them, especially via email to dsewellrojos@gmail.com, my personal email (I’m not an Enquirer staffer, just a contributor). And especially if they’re constructive, not just trolling.

There are certain themes that have emerged, so here is some feedback on the feedback.

"YOU’RE A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT”

It’s been fascinating to see how important it seems to be for many people to affix labels.

Democrat? No. Humorist Will Rogers famously said: "I belong to no organized political party. I’m a Democrat."

In my case, end it after that first sentence. I’m not a Republican, either, following the "vote the candidate, not the party" credo.

Over the years, I’ve voted in more Republican primaries than Democratic. That’s mainly because in Georgia and in my native Butler County, we’ve lived in some areas that were so Republican-dominated that the winner of the GOP primary was virtually assured of winning in November.

My November ticket is usually split. In our two-party system, I think divided government works best, when the elected officials have to compromise and find common ground. We have one-party government by Republicans in Ohio, and have seen corruption and court-defying gerrymandering as a result. We have one-party government by Democrats in Cincinnati, which has brought its own corruption problems.

Liberal? I consider myself a moderate overall. A conservative Republican friend who also writes columns described me as "left of center." Fair enough.

What makes labels difficult is that some definitions have blurred over the years. Is opposing same-sex marriage or giving mandates to teachers about what history they can’t teach and to librarians about what books they can have on their shelves really "conservative?" Or is it Big Government, increasingly trying to intrude into people’s private lives and into academic and literary freedom?

For some, "liberal" isn’t strong enough. They escalate to "Marxist." It’s hard to believe that people who throw around the word Marxist know what it means. I can guarantee I’m not advocating for the proletariat to seize the means of production, overthrow the government and establish a communist state.

“YOU’RE ALWAYS NEGATIVE AGAINST TRUMP”

Guilty as charged! Just never liked him. Long before he got into politics, I considered him an amoral narcissist. His time as president or since hasn’t done anything to change that perception.

When he came to Ohio for rallies, I often covered or helped cover them. You can go back and look at my news stories and won’t find anything showing bias or unfairness. Opinion wasn’t part of my job then.

It took a few times to get used to having him point at the assembled news media and call us "corrupt" and "enemy of the people." That got us booed and occasionally, angry individuals would come over to our pen to yell at us. It was a standard part of the show, but when I think about watching video of a photographer friend being assaulted by the Jan. 6 mob, I also think back to those rally moments and what could have happened.

I have plenty of friends and family who have backed Trump, and understand their reasons. He spoke to people who felt they were being left out of the nation’s politics and to those who wanted a tougher edge to U.S. government.

It’s a little dismaying to think that the 2024 presidential election is likely to be a rematch of Trump, campaigning between court appearances and potentially from jail, and Joe Biden, already in his 80s and facing increasing questions about son Hunter’s entanglements. It’s going to be like one of those old heavyweight boxing matches, where they circle each other most of the time, move in for a quick flurry of body blows, then wrap into a clinch until the referee separates them.

It would be nice to have some fresh blood and messages.

“YOU’VE WRITTEN POSITIVE COLUMNS ABOUT J.D. VANCE, WHO’S VERY PRO-TRUMP”

I met Vance when he was an author promoting his 2016 book, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis." While a generation apart, we share Middletown as a hometown, had close family members who worked in the city’s steel mill, and family roots in the same eastern Kentucky town, Jackson.

His book recounted the decline of Middletown as factory jobs went overseas and opioids came in. Things are recovering a little, but the account also described many places where people felt left behind and were attracted to Trump’s message of Make America Great Again.

I see in the Yale Law School alumnus his retained Appalachian traits such as enjoying telling stories, being close to family, laughing a lot.

Journalists don’t develop their relationships with politicians based on shared political beliefs. It’s about trust and comfort levels.

One I’ve had a very good relationship with going back to meeting him in 2006 is Rob Portman, a Republican former congressman, White House official, and two-term U.S. senator who retired this year.

He was very accessible, whether in reporter group settings or one-on-one, taking questions on any topic. He was comfortable enough with me to discuss sensitive topics "off the record." We also have shared interests in things such as Ohio history and the Reds, so we could have casual conversations, too.

However, I learned very early in my career not to become too friendly with your sources, because there might come a day when you’ll need to write something negative about them. For example, as a young sportswriter in Buffalo, I had a very genial relationship with the Bills’ star running back: O.J. Simpson.

Keep those emails coming.

EXTRA POINTS

EVERYTHING’S A CONTROVERSY

Bud Light’s decision to feature a transgender influencer spurred outrage and boycotts. Country music star Jason Aldean’s use of lyrics and video images that evoked vigilante justice for his hit song “Try That in A Small Town” stirred a backlash of what he called, during a Cincinnati concert, "cancel culture."

But does everything have to be controversial?

Another country music star, Luke Combs, did a heartfelt cover of Tracy Chapman’s poignant 1988 hit, "Fast Car." Combs’ version shot to the top of country charts, which irritated some who didn’t like that a Black woman’s song had become a hit for a white country guy with audiences that had been basically inaccessible to Chapman.

Even the blockbuster summer movie "Barbie" drew criticism. Some male commentators said it was too feminist, with the Barbies dominant over the Kens.

Uh, Barbie dolls were created for girls, who could use them to imagine that like Barbie, they could be whatever they wanted to be. Ken was created later as an accessory, as is the movie character. The movie poster says: "She’s everything. He’s just Ken."

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas claims to have detected a pro-China message in the movie on a scrawled depiction of the world map.

On the bright side, Chapman has expressed appreciation to Combs for breathing new life into her hit and introducing it to new audiences.

A message seeking comment was left on the door of Barbie’s Dream House.

COUNCIL MEMBER GETS INTO THE SWIM

Cincinnati council member Liz Keating has been volunteering as a lifeguard one or two afternoons a week at Hirsch Recreation in Avondale, after volunteering last summer at Evanston.

Keating, who earned a swimming scholarship to UCLA after swimming for the Cincinnati Marlins program, says besides doing something she enjoys, lifeguarding is an opportunity help ease a shortage and to understand more about city recreation needs for the Republican’s work on council.

She says the pools have been drawing good turnouts of children, especially on the hottest days, and provide a "safe, fun and positive place" for them to be while school is out. It also helps build a sense of community in the neighborhoods.

"Every afternoon is a packed pool full of kids with the sounds of laughter and shrieks of joy," Keating says. "That’s what summer should sound like."

Dan Sewell is a regular Opinion contributor. Email dsewellrojos@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Dan Sewell: Feedback on your feedback after one year | Opinion