Nobody Is A Nobody, Norman

Don't curse the darkness. Light a candle

by Alan Bisbort

Source: Hartford Advocate, July 24, 2003.

Norman Sommer of Aventura, Florida, just wants his country back. Sommer is no revolutionary, but if you can judge a man by his enemies, he is a veritable Thomas Paine in the Ass to the powers that be. The 76-year-old retired salesman has, in the past, managed to provoke Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey to call out the FBI to harass him, and has prompted Our Holiest of Holy Hypocrites Henry Hyde to threaten a separate federal investigation.

What is it about Norman Sommer that has these righteous windbags so upset?

Norman is a well-informed citizen who is passionate about the U.S. Constitution and American democracy. A self-proclaimed "political junkie" and "an unapologetic liberal and a member of the Greatest Generation," Norman doesn't sit on his ass and "curse the darkness." Instead he "lights candles."

His latest "candle" is a project he calls "Plan of Action to Take Back Our Country." It is an eccentric and quixotic three-page, single-spaced document that he has fashioned from many disparate sources -- most notably, Eric Alterman's book, What Liberal Media? -- and he has spent a considerable sum copying and mailing out his "Plan" to the media. That's money he does not have, because this "former member of the great middle class" now lives with his wife on a poverty-level income in a Miami-area condo. Nonetheless, he feels strongly enough about his cause that he sent out 1,050 copies. He also sent copies of his favorite Jewish joke.

Norman uses the joke to illustrate a point about the myth of personal powerlessness. The joke is about a rabbi who beseeches God with a prayer that begins, "God, I'm a nobody." The cantor, observing the rabbi in prayer, adopts the same exhortation, opening every prayer with "God, I'm a nobody." The cleaning guy, watching the rabbi and the cantor, repeats this refrain in his prayer. The cantor taps the rabbi on the shoulder and whispers, "Hey, will you look who wants to be a nobody now."

The only people to respond to Norman's latest mailing were Pete Seeger, Janet Reno, Noam Chomsky -- and yours truly. Seeger sent Norman some money, Reno sent her thanks, but Chomsky's response was the most appreciated. Chomsky wrote: "Nobody is a nobody, Norman."

Norman's "Plan" addresses what he sees as the real revolution taking place in America: It is a right-wing revolution of the "Neo-McCarthyite" kind. Norman is old enough to shudder at the memory of Sen. Joe McCarthy -- now being resuscitated by Ann "Thrax" Coulter in her new book -- and his witch hunt for "Commies" in the 1950s

"I'm speaking out for posterity's sake," Norman says. "I feel so strongly that Sinclair Lewis's book It Can't Happen Here is coming true. It isn't a case of Republican or Democrat. It is a case of evening the playing field. Just like in It Can't Happen Here , people are apathetic, fearful or defeatist. They don't think anything they do can bring about change. But I always tell them the joke about the rabbi."

Indeed, Norman proved how one "nobody" could level the national playing field five years ago. This was at the height of the Clinton impeachment hearings. Norman explains: "I've played tennis for 60 years, and still play. One of my tennis partners down here is a retiree named Fred. We played doubles one day and one of the other guys mentions he's from Chicago where he ran a furniture business. Fred mentions that he's from Chicago, too. The other guy starts bragging about how Henry Hyde used to be one of his regular clients. And Fred, livid, says, 'That son of a bitch had a seven-year affair with my wife and destroyed my family.' That was 1992. On Jan. 21, 1998, the Monica Lewinsky affair broke. I told my wife: 'They are going to impeach this guy.'"

With Fred's blessing, Norman spent seven months and contacted 57 media outlets before David Talbot, at Salon.com, agreed to talk to him about Hyde's affair. Salon ran the story, which kicked off a series of events that drove the impeachment into the gutter, where it belonged. Sidney Blumenthal was blamed for leaking the Hyde story, and he was dragged before Ken Starr's kangaroo court for questioning (as he explains in his recent memoir, The Clinton Wars ). But it was all Norman's doing.

"In a way, it was the law of unintended consequences," says Norman. "It slowed the push for impeachment long enough to get Newt sniffed out, then Livingstone had to resign after being 'outed' by Hustler , who got the idea from Salon. Hyde was a sure bet for Speaker of the House, but not after the Salon story."

Norman still dislikes Hyde, calls him "the biggest fourflusher [read: phony] who ever lived. Talk about hypocrisy. Here's this guy who destroyed my friend's marriage and split up his family and he was going to be judge and jury of another man who had a sex peccadillo and lied about it."

Even worse: "Hyde is still a sacred cow. He refused to let his House committee, investigating the Iraq war, to go public. During the Clinton proceedings, Hyde said, 'Lying must have consequences.' And now he is obstructing justice and the truth. This son of a bitch won't let the American public know why we're over in Iraq."

All of this is laid out in Norman's "Plan". If you want a copy, contact him at 20355 NE 34th Court, #821, Aventura, FL 33180; or (305) 935-4434. Don't curse the darkness. Light a candle.

© 1995-2004 New Mass Media
reprinted from The Hartford Advocate