He hasn't written it in the editorial pages of the New York Times, where he leads a staff of 17 who debate and decide the paper's opinions, but Andrew M. Rosenthal told a crowd at Temple B'nai Abraham on Wednesday night that he is in favor of abolishing the United States' Senate.
He was joking. Possibly.
"If anyone can name anything the Senate has done since the SALT Treaty, let me know," he said.
Around 150 people, most with silver hair, turned out to hear instead of read Rosenthal's views about the issues our time. Rosenthal, the Times editorial page editor since 2007, gave a talk that was freewheeling, cantankerous, threaded with anecdotes, humorous and ominous.
Early on he called the tenor of U.S. politics, "as nasty and as volatile as anything I remember," and added, "It's getting increasingly hard to do any governing."
Though his speech was titled, "From Tea Party to Tehran," Rosenthal's most scalding opinions poured out when discussing the former. He called the Tea Party the newest version of divisive politics in America, a trend that he said he watched modern Republicans germinate during the time he covered Michael Dukakis' presidential bid in the late 1980s.
"The Tea Party is the latest manifestation of this us verses they creed in politics," he said. "I don't see this as a real party, I see it as a wing of the Republican Party."
He said his opinion of the Tea Party was crystallized when he read a banner flown at one of their rallies that said, "Keep Government Out Of My Medicare."
"It makes no sense," he said. "It's like Sarah Palin on her worst day."
He spared little vitriol in discussing Republican politicians, from Sen. John McCain for torpedoing a presidential nomination for Secretary of the Army because the man had once worked for the New York Times Company, to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who he savaged for raising transit fares and cutting school funding.
"The last time I was up here I said I was worried that Republicans would try and block almost everything President Obama wants to do," he said. "It turns out they want to block absolutely everything he wants to do."
Rosenthal, a self-proclaimed Democrat, also criticized President Barack Obama for his cool response to the gulf oil spill, not pushing for tougher financial regulation legislation and not leading a federal effort to deal with illegal immigration.
"I was afraid for a minute when Obama got elected that for once I would have a president I agreed with and then what would I write about?" he said. "That didn't turn out to be a problem."
He did, however, recount being one of a few journalists to share a 90-minute lunch with Obama at the White House last November.
"I was pretty star struck, I have to say," he said. "I've met Bono and I've met Bruce Springsteen. This guy was definitely cooler."
Rosenthal is friends with Temple B'nai's rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin, and speaks periodically at the synagogue's Adult Learning Program.
Kulwin, who lives near Rosenthal in Montclair, NJ, described his friend as, "informative, provocative and a little scary."
Roger Schneider, 55, a salesman from Livingston asked Rosenthal if he felt Obama had an overly adversarial relationship with Israel. Rosenthal said that he felt it was more important for the two countries to figure out a way to deal with Iran, rather than focus their energies on peace talks with Palestine.
Ted Cohn, 71, a retired attorney who lives in Livingston asked Rosenthal what, considering the dire state of politics, the environment and wars raging around the world, he could tell his grandchildren that might be hopeful.
Rosenthal suggested that Cohn advise his grandchildren to find people who inspire them and do work that helps people.
Others asked Rosenthal for his predictions on November's congressional elections.
"I'm a terrible predictor of elections," Rosenthal said. "I thought Al Gore would win. Wait a minute, he did win."
He predicted that Democrats could lose their majority in the Senate but will likely keep their majority in the House of Representatives.
After he finished, Rosenthal confessed that speaking to a crowd is more challenging than writing editorials for the paper.
"It's always harder to look at your audience than to write for them," he said.
