Last week, as I listened to a live Internet feed of President Barack Obama speaking at Wright Middle School in Madison, I couldn't help but feel a swelling sense of pride.
"I am so impressed with the work that's been done here at Wright," the president said, prefacing his prepared remarks. "And to the faculty and the staff, but most importantly, the students, who I had a chance to meet with earlier today, they are just some outstanding young people. So if there are any parents of students in the house you should be proud - and give them all a big round of applause."
The pres also prompted big rounds of applause for Gov. Jim Doyle ("a great friend, a great supporter") and Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, whose name Obama, not for the first time, mispronounced.
The whole visit was a big round of applause for Madison. In the week since, I've been trying to put that in perspective.
Yes, we were picked because our community and schools provide a positive backdrop for a president eager to lead in new directions. But we were also picked for political reasons. Because Madison would give Obama a warm reception. Because Wright has a diverse student population. Because using a school in, say, Washington, D.C., struck the president's handlers as a bad idea.
The same sort of analysis could apply to most of the praise that comes our way. It's subjective, calculated, even at times, as the lawyers say, arbitrary and capricious.
Madison gets lauded so often that the Greater Madison Convention; Visitors Bureau has compiled a How do they love us? Let us count just a sampling of the ways. Madison is "One of the 30 Best Towns in America" (Outside, August 2007), the "Nation's Smartest City" (bizjournals, April 2008), the "Top Medium-Sized Metro in the Arts" (Creative Class Group, May 2007), and the "Most Romantic U.S. City" (USAWeekend.com, February 2006). We made the list of "Most Unique American Cities; Towns" (Newsmax Magazine, April 2009). We're among the "Top 10 Places to Buy a Home" (ABC News, August 2009). The Madison area is the nation's second "Best Place to Educate Your Child" (Children's Health, September 2009). In what might come as a shock to anyone who's seen Madison drivers' perpetual disregard of pedestrians in crosswalks, Madison is the nation's "#1 Walking City" (Prevention, April 2007) and a bicycle paradise (ha!). It was just named the "8th Healthiest Place for Women" (Self Magazine, October 2009), and it has the "Best Teeth in America!" (Men's Health, April 2008). Madison is the "#2 Best Place to Find a Job" (Money Magazine, April 2009), "One of 10 Best Markets for Women in Business" (bizjournals, August 2007), and "One of the World's Top Startup Hubs (Fast Company, July 2007). We're the "#1 Best Midwest Food Town" (Midwest Living Magazine, April 2009). The Dane County Farmers' Market is "Best in the Nation" (EatingWell, August 2007). The Madison Gay Hockey Association is the "top gay sports group" (Outsports.com, April 2009). We're even "One of 9 Cities Where Dogs Rule" (Dog Fancy, October 2007). Few of the people bestowing these awards actually live here, and most have ulterior motives for highlighting distant other places as beacons of excellence. In honoring us, they are using us, like Obama did with the students. There's nothing wrong with a little hometown pride, and Madison has much to commend it. But pride can be dangerous, breeding complacency and worse. Madison is already a community that risks serious injury given how often and vigorously it pats itself on the back. Our smug sense of superiority regularly insulates us from moral sensibility, especially regarding miscarriages of justice. Where, for instance, is the outrage over the wrongful conviction of Audrey Edmunds and the refusal of the authorities to admit their mistake? Why does apparently no one care that the conviction of Ralph Armstrong got tossed due to prosecutorial misconduct? Bad things don't happen here despite our belief that they couldn't; they happen because of it. Our presumed virtue is actually a vice. The most important thing Obama said during his Madison visit came before his main address, in a meeting with a small group of students that the White House thoughtfully transcribed. "So we're working really hard to try to reform the schools," the president said, "but ultimately what matters most is how badly you want a good education. If you think that somehow somebody is just going to - you can tilt your head and somebody is going to pour education in your ear, that's just not how it works. The only way that you end up being in a position to achieve is if you want it, if inside you want it." Compliments are nice, advantages are worth celebrating, for people as well as communities. But what matters in the end is what we do to deserve them. Bill Lueders (blueders@isthmus.com) is news editor of Isthmus.
