Quick Takes

It's the end of another month -- my fourth as a blogger -- and time for another round of Quick Takes.

1. After much anticipation, I get to see Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller tonight in concert at Oaks Park. They're touring as Three Girls and Their Buddy. I saw Emmylou long, long ago at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene. I've been waiting forever to see Patty.

2. After much anticipation of a different sort, I was gratified to read the news that we're finally beginning to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Obviously, whether Jordan winds up serving in Afghanistan or Iraq or is something that weighs heavily on my mind as we prepare to fly out to Ft. Benning tomorrow morning.

As The Washington Post's Marie Cocco points out:

But there is a reason the Bush administration was unable to get out of Iraq quickly, and it is found in the regional, ethnic and sectarian divides that persist: "The problem with Iraq is that there really is no state. Iraqis can reach agreement but they can't make it stick," [a Middle East expert, Joost Hiltermann] says. "There are all these fractures. The Americans will have to provide that glue, still.

3. I finally -- finally! -- got around to reading The New York Times Magazine article, "The Mellowing of William Jefferson Clinton." It's an excellent piece by Peter Baker, in which he writes that Clinton, 62, and now out of the White House longer than he served in it, can now cede the spotlight, doesn't need to shake every hand and, finally, can let go. Here's a snippet from the May 31 article:

Two sides of Clinton's persona have longed warred with each other, sunny optimism versus angry grievance. Clinton succeeded in politics largely because he projected the former; his worst moments usually came when he gave in to the latter. Both sides are genuine reflections of who he is.

Twelve years after his last campaign for office, he found it harder to control his resentments when he returned to the trail on his wife's behalf. In his view, the news media and the political world held her to a different standard, while practically anointing Obama. And when he says her, he also means, in the back of his mind, himself.

Two things I didn't realize about Clinton: He wears a hearing aid. He doesn't use a computer.

The man who ushered in the Internet age still does not use a computer, much less a BlackBerry, but keeps up with blogs and sites like The Huffington Post through clips printed out by aides.

Photo of Clinton by Ruven Afanador for The New York Times