A Conversation with Bob Levey

Disclaimer: Unedited AI Transcript

Larry (00:07):

You are listening to specifically for Seniors, a podcast designed for a vibrant and diverse senior community. I'm your host, Dr. Larry Barsh. Join me in a lineup of experts as we discuss a wide variety of topics that will empower, inform, entertain, and inspire as we celebrate the richness and wisdom of this incredible stage of life.

Larry (00:40):

We've just been through an historic election and we thought we'd ask a veteran journalist about it. Sure. So we invited Bob Levy, a prize-winning journalist who has covered the Washington scene since the Johnson administration. Bob wrote a daily column, Bob Levy's, Washington for the Washington Post for 23 years. Bob, welcome to specifically for seniors, and thanks so much for being with us today.

Bob Levey (01:11):

My pleasure. Thank you.

Larry (01:14):

Let's talk a little bit about your years at The Post. I understand the Game of Bridge played a big role in you getting the first job, <laugh>.

Bob Levey (01:23):

Well, it did. I was very lucky to have gotten hired by the the man himself. Ben Bradley, the famous executive editor of The Post and Bridge, did play a key part in that because in the job interview he asked me what the last book I had read was, and it happened to be a book about bridge. And for some reason I told him the truth. He obviously wanted me to say David Copperfield or something like that. And I said, better bidding in 30 days. And he was just so taken with that. And he told me all about his bridge exploits. So when he was in college and, and that's what led to my being hired.

Larry (02:03):

What was it like working at the Post?

Bob Levey (02:06):

Well, it was just the, the most energetic, committed forward, forward-looking environment I've ever seen. People literally ran off the elevator every morning to get to their desks. And there was a sense that everything we did was going to matter. That everything we did was going to change the conversation. And that doesn't happen every day, certainly not in these days. And it was exciting because in those days when I first began it was a time when the post was still moving up the ladder of influence. It was not yet being mentioned in the same breath with the New York Times. And that quickly changed.

Larry (02:49):

Who who were some of your colleagues at that

Bob Levey (02:52):

Time? Oh, geez. I, I could go on for hours, but some of the names that will be familiar perhaps to your audience would be David Broder, who was the chief political correspondent for many years, Haynes Johnson, a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner. Bill Greer, who was a political correspondent, a national editor, Larry Stern, who was a political correspondent, a national editor. I don't want to take up all of our time on this, although I could. These guys were murderers row. They were great, and they were great colleagues of mine and mentors of mine.

Larry (03:31):

And now you've retired from The Post and since this is specifically for seniors, I read something about Senior Beacon newspapers.

Bob Levey (03:41):

Yeah. Senior Beacon Newspapers is a chain of newspapers published in the Mid-Atlantic area. And I have been a columnist for that chain of newspapers for 21 years.

Larry (03:53):

Tell me a little bit

Bob Levey (03:54):

About it. Well, here, <laugh>, there's a very little bit about it to tell you shortly after I left the post, and by the way, I don't like the word retirement. I will never retire. And I have not retired. And the good news is that I still have enough energy to be able to say that I had been gone from the Post for just a few weeks. And the publisher of the senior Beacon called me and said, would you like to do a monthly column? You can write about anything you like as long as it touches seniors. And I said, yeah, that sounds okay to me. And I've been doing it ever since.

Larry (04:32):

I agree wholeheartedly with you about the word retirement.

Bob Levey (04:37):

Yeah. We need a new dictionary or a new entry there. The r word really annoys me. And you know, when people come up to me and take one look at my hair and say, oh, how do you like being retired? They assume that I am irrelevant. They assume that I am over the hill. I don't like that

Larry (04:58):

I was once a dentist <laugh> and I really never retired either. No. I mentioned before that this has been called an historic election, but was it really, or, or have we been here before?

Bob Levey (05:16):

We have been here before. In some senses, you know, the pendulum swings all the time between blue and red, between Democrat and Republican. But what makes this election historic is that one candidate, the one who won, has spelled out in excruciating detail exactly what he intends to do. That has not happened before in this kind of detail. Certainly every candidate runs on a platform, every candidate makes a lot of promises. Most of those promises are quickly forgotten or never realized. It's too soon to say, of course. But I really think that this is historic in the sense that this candidate, this elected president, has said that he wants to suspend the constitution. He wants to be a dictator on day one. He now thinks that he can adopt recess appointments to his cabinet without Senate confirmation. None of this has happened before.

Larry (06:20):

This has been a really one-sided election with a change in the mode in of the country in general. Do you feel that way as well?

Bob Levey (06:31):

No, I don't feel that way as well, because if you dissect the numbers here, there was only the slightest move toward Donald Trump in the majority of electoral districts in the country and in the majority of counties in the country. This is not a red wave at all. If you look at the numbers, he improved on his 2020 numbers by 2% here, 1% there, 3% there. And it's very easy to pinpoint what parts of the electorate he drew to him as compared to four years ago. And as compared to eight years ago the Democratic Party still got millions and millions of votes. I think the real story here among many, but the story that I would write today is that young people did not feel it about this election and did not feel about it, about the Democratic candidate. That does not mean that disaster disasters around the corner for the Democratic Party. I don't believe it's,

Larry (07:36):

What are your thoughts about the job that both print digital media did in covering the days leading up to the election?

Bob Levey (07:44):

Well, I I'm glad you asked that because not for the first time, not for the last, I am so, so tired of horse race journalism. I am so tired of relying on polls two months before the election as if they're written on the Mount. I am so tired of reporters parachuting into states where they've never been in their lives, like Iowa and Nebraska, and asking the first Uber driver what they think is going on and treating that as gospel. The way to cover elections is to cover what trends are actually happening on the ground, what are the issues that individual voters are thinking about and caring about? And I don't think there's any question that inflation was the number one issue this time. And we, in the media, we in both digital and print, seem to have glided past that we glided into thinking about other things. And they were factors for sure. I mean, we have a major party candidate who is a woman, a major party candidate who has black skin. I think both of those played a part, but to understand where people's frustrations are and where their concerns are, I think we dropped the ball yet again.

Larry (09:09):

So it didn't appear to be the general economy. It was the day-to-Day ability to afford to feed your kids.

Bob Levey (09:19):

Yes. And you know, the fact that eggs are 30% more expensive than they were four years ago, the fact that until a couple of weeks ago, gasoline was much more expensive. This really lands hard on a lot of families. And let's remember that the bulk of Americans are working class and middle class, and this really hurts them. Now, it's an open question whether any president can affect these prices. It's an open question as to whether any president not named Joe Biden could have done anything about this coming out of the pandemic. I am a little surprised that that the campaign didn't make those two points, although they would've looked like whining and excuse making perhaps. But that's the truth. The truth is presidents don't control the prices of gas or eggs, and it's, it, it's gonna be interesting to see whether this president has any effect on prices himself.

Larry (10:19):

How do you personally feel about Bezos refusal to endorse Harris in the post?

Bob Levey (10:25):

Well, I think it was a disastrous error, but it's easy for me to say that since he doesn't pay me anymore. And he never did. I don't see why you want a newspaper if you can't affect the conversation. And I don't have any evidence that he made that decision in service to his other businesses that that's been alleged by a lot of people. I think that's a pretty deep bet if that's the bet he was making. I do think, though, that there is a case to be made for major newspapers not to endorse, because I have been a hard news reporter on campaigns where my newspaper in a completely separate part of the newspaper, the opinion section has endorsed that candidate's opponent. And so I go up to the opponent that I'm covering that day, and this opponent looks at me and says, how can you possibly be fair to me?

Bob Levey (11:24):

Your newspaper has endorsed my opponent. And I say, of course. Well, I I didn't do that endorsement. I'm here to cover you for the news section. And then that that candidate will inevitably say, oh, well, but isn't your check signed by the same people? You, you work for the same newspaper. It's a very odd situation where we have to make that case and straddle that divide. And it is a divide. It's a very serious red line, but we in the media have always done a terrible job of explaining that to the public. And we've done it again that I think in the Bezos conversation about the non endorsement, that's what that was all about. It was not about the Wake hard news at the Post covered the campaign. It was about some other motivation, which actually could be a motivation in, in most normal situations, <laugh>. Now I'll wake you when we hit a normal situation. But and this one was not that. But I do think there's a case to be made for avoiding endorsements.

Larry (12:33):

While we're on that that brings us to a, a, a broader discussion on control of thought being assumed by billionaires like Musk on Twitter or X and Bezos with the Washington Post, even Murdoch with the New York Post, should, should a single person be able to control that much thought?

Bob Levey (13:01):

I don't see anything remarkably wrong with that in a capitalist economy. I think it's gonna happen. I'm actually surprised that it hasn't happened more often. A lot of people are saying that the the salvation of heritage media, like the Washington Post, will be these kinds of millionaires and zillionaires should it happen. I don't see any evidence yet that that there's been a disaster here. But it would certainly be better, I think if the world were back in 1970 when local newspapers were owned by local owners and were no big newspapers were owned either by Zillionaires or were public companies owned by stockholders. I mean, we could go on for half an hour about the dangers of being owned by the public, but there are also pluses to being owned by the public. A lot of 'em the New York Times is owned by the public at at least one kind of stock is owned by the public, and that has allowed them to to get access to capital that has allowed them to grow. What could be wrong with that? Nothing.

Larry (14:14):

On a broader topic, is the freedom of the press in jeopardy with this administration?

Bob Levey (14:21):

Oh my gosh, yes. So this president has said for years that we in the media are the enemies of the American people. He is in his campaigns, pointed out at the media over there in some deck over there and said, they're the enemy. And it is just kind of amazing that nobody's been killed, honestly. I've been worried about that for nine years. I'm still worried about it. I'm very worried about access to this administration. It is really going to be up to this president as it always is as to which members of the media get access to him and to his people. I expect there to be very limited access to this administration.

Larry (15:05):

Can the press do anything about it? Can the public do anything about

Bob Levey (15:09):

It? Public can do a lot about it by by rising up against this kind of limited access. But even there, the way the public can do the most about it, and yeah, this sounds like a commercial, is is to support unbiased free media. And not to default into this idea that a blog which has an interest, a particular slant is, is going to be the way to quote, get your information. It is not the way to get your information. Sure, there's a lot of validity to some blogs, maybe to all, but that can't be the primary source of information. And what do we do about it? We just keep doing our jobs. We have to just tell the truth, get the truth as best we can.

Larry (15:57):

And how do we get the public to support free media?

Bob Levey (16:05):

Well, this is an old hobby horse of mine, and I am actually somewhat optimistic about the future of unbiased heritage media because of these factors. One, I think people are getting a little bit tired of tainted blogs. I think they've seen so many of them, and there are so many more every day that people are gonna say, yeah, but okay, but just tell me the story. Just lay it out for me. And that could swing us back to a more anodyne, more neutral kind of journalism. The other factor here is I think that young people now are more educated than any generation in history. Yes, college enrollment is down. Yes, suspicion of higher education is up, but we still have walking around every day, more college graduates in our country than ever before. And if college has done anything for these people, it is to teach them critical thinking and the value of that. And I think they are gonna swing back around. This is not to say we're gonna suddenly go back to 1970. I don't expect that. But I do expect more and more people to say, okay, here is a heritage medium, like the Washington Post that is really trying every minute of every day to tell it straight. I think that's worth my 5 cents

Larry (17:34):

As the post of finding news on TikTok or

Bob Levey (17:39):

X Yes, yes. As opposed to, because you're not finding news on TikTok and X, you're finding what your friend George says, enticed him this morning over his cup of coffee. It won't be news. It could be a bleed, it could be a tweet. Oops. I can't say that anymore. It could be somebody's blog. It could be somebody's just rant that he happened to put up there before he had breakfast. That's not news.

Larry (18:09):

Getting back to the election, was it Trump versus Harris or was there more to it? Could any candidate be opposed to Trump?

Bob Levey (18:24):

Well, I think any, any candidate that was linked to the Biden administration was going to lose this election because as I said before, inflation was so much the paramount issue here. And Biden was blamed so much for that. And his approval ratings were so low that I think that for example, if the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg had been the candidate he would've lost for the same reason. I think that anybody else in Biden's candidate would've lost for the same reason. But I do think that out of the, the shards of this could come a lot of opportunity. It's happened before. Bill Clinton is a shining example of that. Barack Obama is a shining example of that many examples of the Senate and the House flipping to the opposing party have happened. The game ain't over yet.

Larry (19:23):

Any advice on how we make peace with this election? I'm with a group of people my age who are just obsessing over what's going to happen over the next four years.

Bob Levey (19:36):

Well, what's going to happen is potentially very dangerous. But what is also the truth here, and particularly for people our age, is that the sun will rise tomorrow. I will sing that song from Annie, if you really want me to <laugh>, thus Sun will come up tomorrow. But it's true, it will. And the more we live in accordance to our principles, and the more we understand that the President of the United States is not the only game in town people our age and any age can communi, can connect with their communities and should, they should be involved with people of other age groups, and they should, they should be involved with nonprofit organizations that have tremendous power and effectiveness in our country. There are lots of ways to make a difference. It is not just one guy. You can make a difference in your community regardless of your age, by giving money, by giving time, by giving expertise, by teaching, even by reading books to kids in a daycare center. Yes. That has real value. So let's hear it again, Annie. The sun will come up tomorrow. Yes, indeed.

Larry (20:54):

As long as the books we wanna read are still in libraries.

Bob Levey (20:59):

Well, they might be in my personal library, but yeah, you're right. And and in some states now, those books are not in libraries, and that's a tremendous disaster. I

Larry (21:10):

Think. Let's, let's circle back to you. We talked about bridge at the beginning. You are a national champion.

Bob Levey (21:22):

Yes, sir. I am. <Affirmative>.

Larry (21:24):

Tell us, tell us more.

Bob Levey (21:27):

Tell you more. Well, I'll tell you this, that of all the hours I've spent playing bridge I've had a wonderful time. Although now late in life, I say, you know, I could have cured cancer if I had spent all those hours curing cancer instead of guessing. Who has the Queen of Trumps bridge to me collects a lot of wonderful things into one place. It's of course, extremely compelling. It demands concentration and it demands partnership. The good news about Bridge is also the bad news about Bridge. You need a partner and how to handle that partner and how to work with that partner. I mean, that's a little bit of a life's lesson, if you will. And so many of us at various stages in our lives at every stage, I guess, have to learn how to play well with other children.

Bob Levey (22:22):

And to the extent that we do that in Bridge, we succeed. And anybody who says that Bridge is all about being brilliant yourself or being a great player yourself does not understand bridge, you need to be able to have a great partner. And I am lucky that I've had many. Now, the reason I really love Bridge Two is that it demands so much of your gray matter and journals of medicine are full of this this, that the more you play bridge as you go later into life, the less likely it's that you'll develop dementia because you're exercising your brain.

Larry (23:07):

And you are a semi-professional folk singer as illustrated from s Annie.

Bob Levey (23:14):

Well, yeah, <laugh>, here's what that meant. I, I got to college in the early 1960s, and this was at a time when Bob Dylan was surging to popularity. And I remember thinking that if, if Bob Dylan is a millionaire with a voice as bad as his, I could be a zillionaire with a voice as good as mine. And so I learned to play the guitar, and I wrote a bunch of songs, and I got to college, and I found that one place, you know, that that bar on the corner with the bare brick wall, and they had open mic night, and you'd sit on a stool and go, bbl, bl bl. And I thought several things would happen there. One that my professional career as a singer would be launched, two, that every girl in the joint would pay a lot of attention to me. Three, that I'd get free beer and food. And all I ever got was free beer and food. And that's what I mean by being a semi-professional folk singer. I should have been paid and I never was.

Larry (24:21):

And recently a novelist.

Bob Levey (24:24):

Yes, recently a novelist. I have recently published a novel that's been very well received. I'm glad to say it's a novel called Larry Felder Candidate. And the plot is pretty simple, famous Washington newspaper columnist, abandons journalism to run for Congress in the suburbs of Washington. And all kinds of stuff happens to my guy Larry Felder. Love happens and corruption happens, and the unexpected happens. And well, I won't give it away. I'll just say that the good guys do win in the end. But before you ask I am not Larry, and Larry is not me. I would never abandon journalism. I would never run for Congress or anything else. This book is fiction.

Larry (25:18):

Oh, you're reading my notes. So I have semi autobiographical here. <Laugh>?

Bob Levey (25:22):

No, no. Oh, maybe semi. But I'll, I'll give you semi, but not literally. This is not this is not about me. Exactly.

Larry (25:31):

And where can people get the book?

Bob Levey (25:34):

The book can be ordered on my website, which is bob levy publishing.com. Bob levy publishing.com. And as the saying goes, just follow the prompts and the rest is easy.

Larry (25:49):

Anything we missed? Anything you'd like to talk about?

Bob Levey (25:52):

Well, I would like to develop a little bit the point you were making a couple of minutes ago about what senior citizens can do in this day and age. I think this is a tremendous opportunity for all of us whose hair color has changed in my case over 40 years. But in the cases of some of us more recently, our experience is the best thing we bring in the door every single day. And all of us, I think later in life should be, could be, and, and I hope will be teachers. We should be there for the generation of our children and our grandchildren. And if we have something to teach them, and I think we have a lot to teach them, we should do that. We should not curl up in our little balls. We should not say The only people who really understand us are people our age.

Bob Levey (26:47):

We have that responsibility to look back. Now, I will give you this. There is enormous tension in the workplace about this question. I've written about this many times. Let's say your age begins with a seven and you want to keep working, and you're still pretty darn good at the job you always had. Should you get out of the way for somebody whose age begins with a three? Just because that person's age begins with a three. There's a ton of tension around this, and I think a lot of it is centered around money because more and more people in their seventies and even older need to work because they don't have enough money, say for retirement. And they are clinging and hanging on. And there's some resentment now among younger people, one and grandpa, get out of the way and give me my shot. I think here we can we can be good citizens and good colleagues and find ways to begin to work part-time and not all or nothing. And that's part of the discussion now.

Larry (27:58):

Interesting. I don't know what else to say. I think we've, we've pretty much covered it. I'm, I'm concerned about friends of mine who seem to obsess over this election. I'm worried about their mental health. I mean, it is to that extreme. Some of the obsession I've heard about the election.

Bob Levey (28:25):

I am worried about it too. I don't deny for a second that there are mental health issues here among every generation. A lot of people are wandering around in a fog of grief here, but I don't think that serves anybody, including, especially the people who were wandering around in a fog of grief. Think about the lyrics to Annie, everybody. It really is true, and we can make it true by by getting out of bed every morning.

Larry (28:55):

Bob, thanks so much for coming on. This has been a joy, a pleasure, informative. What else can I say?

Bob Levey (29:03):

Well, and I appreciate the opportunity, and thanks to you and thanks to everybody in your audience.

Larry (29:09):

Thank you.

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