Tuesday, November 25, 2008
2G2K Is Back! :: On Hillary, Again, And Foreign Policy
Ferentz was inspired to write--wickedly, I must add--about Obama's impending Hillary appointment. Loved these lines on the quickening such news stirs in the hearts of the Blitzerites and Hardballers:

Like his predecessor Bill Clinton from whose staff Obama has poached many of his top advisers, and John F. Kennedy, the young American prince to whom he's often compared, Barack Obama has developed an uncanny knack for moving the needle.

Hilary Clinton, she of 18 million votes is no slouch herself when it comes to getting people to tune in, which means that her appointment guarantees us at least four years of soundbites from Freud impersonators dissecting her relationship with Obama.


Unfortunately I have to disagree with my brother's main point.

Ferentz would have loved to see Hillary appointed Secretary of Education, if only as a way to bring high-profile recognition to the office and the work. It's true that recent Education secretaries have been stunningly low-pro, even in the face of NCLB. Ferentz believes that's an indication of how low-priority the work is, and is worried about that.

Agreed, deeply.

But he also asserts this:

In my estimation, the whole restoring America's image abroad narrative has been blown slightly out of proportion. George W. Bush was an awful President who made a number of horrendous decisions, but outside of Iraq and Afghanistan most Americans have been largely unaffected by the Bush's regimes decisions abroad, and it will therefore be difficult for us to really assess how much the world's image of America has changed.


Well. No. How about the results of: Allowing turbulence in Africa and Asia to become ethnic cleansing? Botching the peace process in Palestine and Israel? Pretending climate change doesn't exist?

Sadly there's lots more where that came from. All corners of the globe have been scorched in this fire.

Bush's free-market unilateralism has indeed been disastrous. It even undergirds the global economic crisis that has finally come home like the chickens, as Malcolm might have said. It's not merely an aesthetic thing of whether they like us or not. We've really fucked it up.

I think Ferentz hints at the larger ideological question now being played out beneath the surface. The nation has serious war fatigue--and, coupled with the economic crisis, it is leading to a strong vibe of "let's handle our own right now".

There was a moment, I thought, a few years back when progressives were trying to make the case that the wars abroad were creating the chaos at home. I think we made the case very well--and Obama reflected this in his own campaign, morphing easily from the anti-war candidate to the steady-hand-on-the-economy candidate. McCain had no desire to link the two issues, and so the progressive line carried the day overwhelmingly.

Now though isn't the time to forget how interconnected domestic and global issues are. It's not an either/or, it's a both/and, and that's the difficulty of the moment that we're facing.

posted by Zentronix @ 7:58 AM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 12/8/08, 4:53 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Nothing to do with your post here, but I read your book and enjoy your blog, me want more posts!

 
At 12/8/08, 5:14 PM, Blogger Zentronix said...

Ha! Fair enough, I shouldna left ya... OK, new post coming explaining all.

 

Post a Comment

 

Previous posts
The Impact of The Hip-Hop Vote
UCLA Education In Action Keynote Speech
A Great Day In Baseball History
Happy Xmas : The War Is (Almost) Over...?
Your Boy Got An Award!
It's A New Day
Your Election Day Questions Answered
This One's For My Yellow Folks :: Kelly Tsai On Th...
What Time It Is :: Wendell Pierce With The Last Word
Q+A :: David Banner On What Tuesday Means


select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks" #content#

Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
 

Email list

Add me to the Can't Stop Won't Stop email list, an irregular update of what's new in our world:

Submit