A Little On Woodrow Wilson ...

Anyone who tuned in to Mike Carlton this morning would have been treated to excerpts of the ceremony held to award John Howard the red-white-and-blue, apple-pie, whoo-Momma, hand-over-yer-heart Woodrow Wilson award.

A compassionate and strong believer in family unity, John Howard has brought to Australia a dedication to traditional values and a strong commitment to national security. John Howard. An ordinary man, who was called onstage at extraordinary times.

O, for a muse of fire, my friends and droogs, or at least an MP3!

But who was Woodrow Wilson? As a friend and colleague points out, he was the father of modern diplomacy, arguing passionately for America's inclusion in the League of Nations. But Wikipedia also has this to say of Wilson:

"Wilson's attitude on racial issues is generally regarded as a stain on his reputation; many argue that he was instrumental in shaping the worst period of racism in American history. His administration instituted segregation in federal government for the first time since Abraham Lincoln began desegregation in 1863, and required photographs from job applicants to determine their race. Wilson also regarded those whom he termed "hyphenated Americans" (German-Americans, Irish-Americans, etc.) with suspicion: "Any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready."

Or, as Wilson put it himself in his "History of the American People":

`The white men were roused by an instinct of mere self preservation [after the Civil War] ... until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country'

The Woodrow Wilson Award. It couldn't have gone to a nicer bloke.