Celebrity now candidate, Al Franken talks with The Daily Journal

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough ... and doggone it, people like me." Stuart Smalley, Fictional character and book of same name by Al Franken

For those familiar with Al Franken’s celebrity, contemplating a conversation with him easily brings images of self-help guru “Stuart Smalley,” a character he created, and his spoofs on 12-step rehab programs.
Recollections of his “Saturday Night Live” commentary on the 1970s-80s “me decade” spring to mind. It’s hard to resist the temptation to slip into the buzz phrases of Smalley’s corny “Daily Affirmations.”
But it was a man, not a character, who showed up for the interview. It’s the integrated Alan Stuart Franken who seeks Minnesota’s DFL endorsement in the campaign for U.S. Senator.
Franken rode to Borderland in a dusty Ford Escape and said he napped most of the way from Bemidji to the Falls. Dressed casually, he sat at a Journal conference table with two young campaign assistants.
According to Franken, he’s been doing social and political satire since his high school days when he and cohort Tom Davis, both to become original writers for Saturday Night Live, did their earliest parodies on Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger.
While glimpses of Franken’s politics have always been evident in his writing, he said that celebrity can cut both ways when being scrutinized for the serious ability to represent Minnesotans.
But Franken is proud of his work. His view is that politics present issues narrowly; while his social caricatures have explored and illustrated them more dimensionally.
“We did some pretty important stuff on Saturday Night Live,” he said. Franken has received five Emmy awards for writing and producing prime time television; and is also a New York Times bestselling author. He was also the talk-show host for Air America Radio.
“Even when you look at Stuart (his fictional, dysfunctional character),” he offered, “At first blush, he looks like an idiot — but you can learn a lot from Stuart.”
Franken said his movies “Stuart Saves His Family” and “When a Man Loves a Woman” which deal with addiction, are used in rehab centers. Franken offered that he is a member of Al-Anon, the support group for those who are affected by another’s chemical dependency, but declined to explain what motivated his addiction themes. He did add teasingly: “Remember, I was part of Saturday Night Live for many years.”
Joking aside, Franken said it isn’t difficult to be taken seriously once people hear him speak. Critics have called his public speaking “generalized rants, peevish, unfocused, low-energy, too subtle and ironic.” One blogger wrote “If we are looking for a political satirist in the Senate, Garrison Keillor would be a better candidate.” But others say he shows “true sincerity when he speaks, and that he owns his thoughts.” Listeners of his Air America Radio broadcasts say Franken proved he knows political topics inside and out.
Franken said he likes fellow DFL contenders Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. But Franken feels that he’s the one who represents a prominent new political culture in the country.
“We need to capture the moment and build a political movement. I can do that. I’ve been doing this for a long, long time.” Franken added that he has more volunteers, raised more money, has more endorsements and so far, is pushing a tight margin with Ciresi.
Some worry that Franken’s outspoken countering of the far right as a writer and commentator will be muffled as a freshman senator from a not-heavily populated state who “can’t just say what’s on his mind.”
Republicans say Franken is more a New Yorker than a Minnesotan. Asked what makes him more Minnesotan than the place where he grew his celebrity, Franken told The Journal: “Well, when you go to New York, you either become a New Yorker — or more of what you are.”
The name Franken literally means “the French” in German, Franken explained, seemingly amused.
His father Joe never graduated from high school, he said. Franken was born in New York but the family moved to Minnesota when he was a preschooler. Joe opened a quilted fabric (as is used in coat linings) factory in Albert Lea which soon failed. He then became a printing salesman in St. Louis Park where Franken spent his childhood.
Franken said his middle class parents were smart and emphasized education to sons who were already “on the nerdy side.” Franken, 56, characterized himself and older brother Owen as “Sputnik” kids, living in times with tremendous emphasis on math and science. His brother earned a physics degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then became a photojournalist. Franken is a Harvard University graduate.
Brother Owen’s photography achievements are notable, having documented the 1968 Eugene McCarthy campaign as well as provided political and war covers for news magazines like “Time.” Owen took the legendary resignation photo of Richard Nixon giving his double victory signs on the White House lawn before boarding the helicopter.
Owen accompanied Franken on one of his seven USO tours. During a live 2006 conversation on Air America Radio, the two got emotional talking about the current war. Owen told his brother: “I really love you for what you’re doing.”
Franken has been married to wife Franni for 32 years. Their daughter Thomasin, a Harvard graduate, is a teacher in the Bronx in New York City and son Joe, an engineer, recently graduated from Princeton University. Both were raised in New York.
Franken was a strong campaigner and friend of Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone who was killed in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 elections. Some say it was that tragedy which evolved Franken’s 30-year political correspondency to a run for the DFL endorsement.
Six weeks before Wellstone died, at the University Club in St. Paul, Wellstone comforted Franken who was despairing over the despondency of his mother who had Alzheimer’s disease. Wellstone was undergoing the political fight of his life. “But Paul reminded me that touch can mean so much,” said Franken. “So I held my mother. That was Paul. He was a real human being.”
There were other topics that darkened Franken’s eyes with solemnity. Among those were working-class Americans and two men he believes have unequivocally failed them — Pres. George Bush and Sen. Norm Coleman.
Franken supports the following: developing universal health care, unions, pro-choice, gun control (not hunting controls or the right to bear arms, he explained), revamping income tax, protecting social security, same-sex marriage, environmental protection and cutting tax breaks for oil companies, and others.
Franken believes some of the greatest challenges and opportunities lay in creating new energy policies, green economy development and managing global warming. With this could come job creation, a better trade balance, a weaning of oil dependence and strengthened national security, said Franken. “It’s win, win, win.”
He says that increased broad band employment will help rural communities. He also believes that shrinking rural areas should not be under served, and that funding for schools and hospitals should come from general revenues, not just taxes.
The recent DFL debate at Rainy River Community College illustrated more distinction in styles, than agendas. Many who listened to the three democrats came away feeling that it was their consistencies — more than their contrasts — that prevailed.
Overall, Franken’s record shows that he is “good enough” and he obviously is “smart enough” — “and doggone it, a lot of people really seem to like him.”
What remains to be seen is if enough Minnesotans believe he has what it takes to represent them effectively in Washington.