(More from our Chief Political Correspondent, Arthur in Marin County. "Transplant Tourism in China?" Book me up. I'm going to need a new liver before this all over. Jesus H. Christ.)
I saw Edwards about three months back. Good, but not as concise and focussed as he appears in this appearance in New Hampshire. He has his rhythm down pat, he doesn't wait to bask in applause, he just powers on through and lets the audience run to keep up. Dennis Kuchinich could learn a thing or two, but instead he keeps stopping and smiling like a goofus every time he gets off a good line.
Edwards continues to be a long-shot, but that said, he has hung in there, during the period of time when others were getting all the press and adulation. Now that they are fading, Edwards seems to have his groove (and another $100 of my assets) and is making a serious run at it. Win or lose, I always saw Edwards as someone who addresses important issues and works about twice as hard as his opponents. A hard worker is what we need. It is going to take a lot of work to clean the stink out of the White House, a legal mind to work with a reconfigured Justice Department to clean up how government operates, and of the group of candidates I have the most confidence in Edwards as the one best suited for that work.
I like Barack Obama. I think he would make an excellent and visionary Vice President. In eight years I think he could be an inspirational and healing President. In the meantime I continue to believe that his efforts as a roving Ambassador of a renewed American democracy could help cut in half the time it will take our country to recapture our stature in the world.
If we do not recapture our stature in the world, China is going to have us for lunch. No joke. The world gravitates toward power, ours is bleeding into the gutter of Iraq. The other kind of power the world respects is economic power. The dollar used to be in parity with the Euro, now it taks $1.47 to buy 1 Euro, $2.08 to buy a British Pound. That means people think our currency sucks, a suspicion further supported by countries noticing that their dollar holdings have lot 1/3 of their value Since Bush (SB). China's economy is exploding, driving in good measure by sales of discounted goods to the United States. Looked at any tools for sale recently? And where they are made? Entire industries are being shipped to China where they can find labor for $1 an hour. Or less. China has the largest Gulag in the world. The fathers of two of my friends each were Chinese political prisoners for just over twenty years. And it is a renewable resource in China, since political crimes are handled outside the normal justice system in China. Make someone in power unhappy and you just disappear. Or die. Or first one, then the other. Some prisoners in China are essentially "archived" so that they can be killed according to a schedule suited to that of an organ recipient. Yup, if you are willing to pay for it, you too could go on a "transplant tourism" trip to China and get a freshly- harvested kidney!
And that sort of sums up our competition for world influence. But you know what? Most countries don't give a damn. All they care about is snuggling up to power.
Is President Bush critical of China? How could he be? His hands are dirty, too. The Chinese have just done it far longer and to a far greater degree than Bush and his tiny and inefficient terror-prisons ever dreamed of. The Chinese Gulag may be 12 Million. And boy is THAT a source of cheap labor!
No, I think the next President is going to need "vision", but also a realistic belief that the world is often a not-so-nice place. Where just wishing for things to get better is not going to work.
I saw Edwards about three months back. Good, but not as concise and focussed as he appears in this appearance in New Hampshire. He has his rhythm down pat, he doesn't wait to bask in applause, he just powers on through and lets the audience run to keep up. Dennis Kuchinich could learn a thing or two, but instead he keeps stopping and smiling like a goofus every time he gets off a good line.
Edwards continues to be a long-shot, but that said, he has hung in there, during the period of time when others were getting all the press and adulation. Now that they are fading, Edwards seems to have his groove (and another $100 of my assets) and is making a serious run at it. Win or lose, I always saw Edwards as someone who addresses important issues and works about twice as hard as his opponents. A hard worker is what we need. It is going to take a lot of work to clean the stink out of the White House, a legal mind to work with a reconfigured Justice Department to clean up how government operates, and of the group of candidates I have the most confidence in Edwards as the one best suited for that work.
I like Barack Obama. I think he would make an excellent and visionary Vice President. In eight years I think he could be an inspirational and healing President. In the meantime I continue to believe that his efforts as a roving Ambassador of a renewed American democracy could help cut in half the time it will take our country to recapture our stature in the world.
If we do not recapture our stature in the world, China is going to have us for lunch. No joke. The world gravitates toward power, ours is bleeding into the gutter of Iraq. The other kind of power the world respects is economic power. The dollar used to be in parity with the Euro, now it taks $1.47 to buy 1 Euro, $2.08 to buy a British Pound. That means people think our currency sucks, a suspicion further supported by countries noticing that their dollar holdings have lot 1/3 of their value Since Bush (SB). China's economy is exploding, driving in good measure by sales of discounted goods to the United States. Looked at any tools for sale recently? And where they are made? Entire industries are being shipped to China where they can find labor for $1 an hour. Or less. China has the largest Gulag in the world. The fathers of two of my friends each were Chinese political prisoners for just over twenty years. And it is a renewable resource in China, since political crimes are handled outside the normal justice system in China. Make someone in power unhappy and you just disappear. Or die. Or first one, then the other. Some prisoners in China are essentially "archived" so that they can be killed according to a schedule suited to that of an organ recipient. Yup, if you are willing to pay for it, you too could go on a "transplant tourism" trip to China and get a freshly- harvested kidney!
And that sort of sums up our competition for world influence. But you know what? Most countries don't give a damn. All they care about is snuggling up to power.
Is President Bush critical of China? How could he be? His hands are dirty, too. The Chinese have just done it far longer and to a far greater degree than Bush and his tiny and inefficient terror-prisons ever dreamed of. The Chinese Gulag may be 12 Million. And boy is THAT a source of cheap labor!
No, I think the next President is going to need "vision", but also a realistic belief that the world is often a not-so-nice place. Where just wishing for things to get better is not going to work.
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POSTSCRIPT ON HUCKABEE: Fortunately, the sort of nutty Bible-hugging that Huckabee seems prone to is a lot more likely to play well in Arkansas than elsewhere in the country. My growing impression of Huckabee is that he has some decent instincts and ideas, but he also has the common sense of your average chicken. When he melts down on the campaign trail it is going to be a doozy.
Oddly enough, Rush Limbaugh can't stand him. To the best of my knowledge that is the first time that particular Rush and I have agreed on ANYTHING. Miracles can still happen.
Arthur
Arthur
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