This has been a model primary season. Every state got to feel it mattered. All the superdelegates will get to feel similarly important and outright indispensable. This will be their chance to make small talk to Bill Clinton and then go ahead and ignore him. The entire party in all 50 states will have been involved before we get the nominee. Wow, is this something or is this something? This is how the nomination process is supposed to play out. I am not bored.
Black Man, Woman
If you are a white male you can be mediocre like George Bush and still be president. But we have an amazing black man not running against some random white male, and an amazing woman not running against some random, mediocre white male, but against each other, and in such a tight race that their ending up on the same ticket is a foregone conclusion. Is this something or is this something?
The Progressive Way
Making progress on race and gender is not some kind an anti white male agenda. It is the progressive thing to do. I am male but I am for making progress on gender. So what does make me? It makes me a progressive, that's what. Sexism is not good for men either. It gnaws at your soul, saps energy overall.
Whimper
If Barack had won New Hampshire, he would have won with a bang, the race would have been over. If he had won New York or California on February 5, it would have been a victory with a bang. If he had won Ohio on March 4, it would have been woohoo. But the way this thing is playing out, it will go all the way to the convention, and he will barely sqeek by. That doesn't take away from the glamor though. Lincoln barely won. Kennedy barely won. I see greatness gleaming from Barack's impending narrow victory.
Race: Charged
Some people say, don't talk about race, that is a charged issue. Of course it is a charged issue. But I don't get the don't talk about it part.
I am like race, I am a charged individual. Talk about me.
Race Speech: A Victory
Barack scored a major victory with his race speech. The Wright wrong has been righted. Hillary's numbers are down again. There was talk he might want to give another speech on race. I wrote one last year.
In The News Pakistani Party’s Leader Chooses a Prime Minister New York Times Taiwan victor promises China ties BBC News Taslima episode shame for India NDTV.com Tibetan revolt has China's empire fraying at Times Online the roof of the world once again looks like a hostile place to most Chinese. ...... many Chinese do not believe that Tibet is secure and do not think things can go on as they are. ..... Fiercely resisting a Chinese campaign to force them into new towns, the nomads burst onto television screens around the world last week as they galloped into village after village at the head of protesting Tibetans. ...... “All the shops and businesses have been closed for three days,” said a Tibetan clerk, speaking by telephone from Litang on Friday. “It’s very tense.” ....... “Tibetans are being told they will be detained until the end of the Olympics; and once the Olympics are over court proceedings will begin,” a local source told Radio Free Asia. ...... “A Tibetan from Aba killed two Chinese people with a knife on Xiaotiandong Road,” said a taxi driver, repeating a rumour that spread like wildfire via the taxi radio link and text messages. ...... Local Chinese feared a terrorist attack. ..... China’s empire is fraying at the edges. ...... the city’s business people went to make money in Tibet but would never buy a home there. ..... “The central government’s policy towards Tibet has clearly failed” Wright to deliver 3 sermons at Wheeler Houston Chronicle Cuba Condemns Criticism of China The Associated Press All parties in Nepal must stop violence for polls: UN AFP Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim The Associated Press Did Bill Clinton Call Obama Unpatriotic? CBS News "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics." ..... a "deliberately pathetic misreading of what the president said." ....... "As a Hispanic-American, I was particularly touched by his words," Richardson said. "Senator Obama has started a discussion in this country that is long overdue and rejects the politics of pitting race against race." Obama's speech on race rings true for Britain, too Guardian Polls suggest Obama rebounding from pastor flapBaltimore Sun McCain Gains from Clinton-Obama FeudABC News Was Bill Clinton Questioning Obama's Patriotism? ABC News Patriotism spat tars latest round of Clinton-Obama battleAFP Obama Adviser Likens Bill Clinton Comments to Joseph McCarthyBloomberg The Obama Dividend Newsweek All presidents are blind dates. ..... even many conservatives agree with liberal editorial writers that Obama's approach was brilliant ..... using the bully pulpit to instruct and illuminate and rearrange our mental furniture ...... The election of President Barack Hussein Obama would blow the minds of people in the Middle East and other regions ......... Just look at Kenya, where one tribe involved in the recent unrest loves Obama (because his father was a member), and the other tribe has no use for him. ...... He told the crowd that kids couldn't keep on "drinking eight sodas a day," then went in Bulworth's direction. "I know some of y'all got that cold Popeye's [chicken] out for breakfast. I know," Obama said with a smile. He continued: "That's why y'all laughing. You can't do that. Children have to have proper nutrition. That affects also how they study, how they learn in school … It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you got the TV set on, you got the radio on, you don't check their homework, there is not a book in the house, you've got the videogame playing." Instead of being jeered, he was cheered wildly. ......... that they need to stop being homophobic and anti-Semitic. ..... Obama knows how to think big, elevate the debate and transport the public to a new place. An Easter Break question: Can Hillary Clinton win? Baltimore Sun do-over votes in Florida and Michigan appear next-to-impossible ..... whether Clinton could conceivably pull off a superdelegate-fueled victory even if she trails in pledged delegates and popular votes. ..... "Hillary’s path to the nomination is not 'narrow,'" he wrote this week. "It’s barricaded."
Imagining A Federal, Multi-Party China Of State Funded Parties
China will not become a democracy like America. Tibet will not become another country. Taiwan will not seek or get full independence. But China can not remain as it is. China has to become a federal, multi-party democracy of state funded parties. The Chinese Communist Party could still rule for a decade or two uninterrupted if such a change were to be brought about. But the CCP is nowhere close to budging, not even an inch, on democracy. They don't feel a counter force.
Mainstream China itself will have to rise. Tibet and Taiwan alone can't do it.
Tibet In The 1950s Was Politically Feudal
The idea of an unelected spiritual leader also being the political leader has no place in this century. The Tibetan diaspora has to engineer a church and state separation. I am a Buddhist, I think the world of the Dalai Lama. But political leadership must be separate and elected.
The protests in Tibet lack political clarity. The oppression and discrimination are very real. And it is obvious the protesting crowds have been inspired by what happened in Burma in Fall 2007, and in Nepal in April 2006, January-February 2007, and February 2008. Street action is the best way to fight entrenched authoritarianism.
The efforts in Nepal succeeded because there was political clarity. That was lacking in Burma, and is lacking now in Tibet.
Chinese Action
China's economic growth for the past few decades has much to teach the rest of the Third World. Don't throw the baby with the bath water. The communist party's autocracy is not a reason to disrespect its amazing economic stewardship.
China: Bank To The Third World
China has been a banker to America. But why America? China instead should become a banker to the Third World. Kind of like micro credit, but between countries.
Wake Up CCP
The only way Taiwan will become just another province of China is if China becomes a multi-party democracy. Because China is not a democracy, it finds itself on the side of dictatorships in many parts of the world, be it Burma, or Darfur. That is no way to become a world power. China has worked hard to learn western technology. Mao's Marxism was imported from the west. The Chinese Communist Party should now work hard to learn western democracy. But it need not be a photocopy. It can be an improved version.
China can not realize its full potential as a one party state. But if the CCP is the reason why China becomes a federal, multi-party democracy of state funded parties, then the CCP gets to continue to be in power for decades. That would make things smooth. It would become a model democracy. In American democracy money has too much influence. China could be the new and improved version of democracy.
Human Rights
There is a document called the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. There is a reason it starts with the word universal. Religious freedom is a basic human right. In a federal, multi-party China, Tibet will be one of many states. The Dalai Lama may be the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and Buddhists all over the world, but he will not be a political leader. A regional Tibetan party may compete at the ballot box with the CCP for state power in a state parliament. That is the future we have to move towards.
In The News
Obama recaptures edge over Clinton USA Today 48% of Democratic voters favoring Obama and 45% Clinton. Media Asks "The Beginning of the End for Clinton?"NPR A "drumbeat" has started to sound in the media the past week with the speech on race by Sen. Barack Obama and with the announcement of Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama - "this could be the beginning of the end for Clinton." ...... Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning." ..... there will be no knockout blow, no head shot. Rather it will be a long, slow exit that causes pain to everyone involved First a Tense Talk With Clinton, Then Richardson Backs Obama New York Times despite two months of personal entreaties by her and her husband ...... described Mr. Clinton as more philosophical than angry about it. ..... rejecting the candidacy of a close friend ...... “There’s something special about this guy,” Mr. Richardson said of Mr. Obama. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s very good.” ...... Richardson stopped returning Mr. Clinton’s calls days ago ....... as of Friday, Mr. Richardson said, he had yet to pick up the phone to tell Mr. Clinton of his decision. ...... Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said ....... a positive campaign about hope and opportunity ...... Richardson is the 62nd superdelegate to endorse Mr. Obama since Feb. 5, compared with fewer than five who have moved into Mrs. Clinton’s column since then. After Years of Political Turmoil, Nepal Busily Prepares for Vote Washington Posta decade of insurgency that claimed an estimated 14,000 lives and left this nation the poorest in the world outside Africa ..... Its first attempt at democracy was in 1950, but for more than five decades, the king and parliament engaged in power plays that sapped the country. The political turmoil was punctuated in 2001 when the crown prince gunned down 10 members of the royal family, including the king, before shooting himself. ......... scattered violence continues ..... Armed groups calling for autonomy for Nepal's southern Terai region, on the Indian border, have threatened to stage attacks and disrupt the vote. ...... Maoists have been accused of several other attacks on candidates, and on Tuesday a Maoist group was accused of charging a police post after rival candidates fled inside for protection. For their part, the Maoists accused police in another district of threatening to open fire on locals if they did not vote for the Nepali Congress party. ......... Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress party has said he will succeed Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala .... the first act of the constituent assembly will be to abolish the monarchy
Political Memo Clinton Treats Obama Pastor With Extreme Caution New York Times Former rival endorses 'extraordinary' Obama Independent Richardson Throws Support to Obama Washington Post Obama Aide: Bill Clinton Like McCarthy The Associated Press Gallup: Obama has narrowed Clinton's lead to 2 pointsUSA Today Over the past two days, Clinton's advantage has narrowed from 7 points to 5 points and now to 2. ...... the race is back to a near tie. It is possible that Obama's aggressive efforts to diffuse the Wright story, including a major speech ... have been effective. Obama outpaces Clinton again at fundraisingBizjournals.com in January, Obama raised $242,745 in the Pittsburgh region, compared with Clinton's $146,055 Tibetans appeal for world's help, but they're resigned to getting ... International Herald Tribune with the world counting on the emerging superpower to keep the global economy ticking as the United States appears headed into a recession. ....... Nancy Pelosi, lent her voice, calling China's crackdown "a challenge to the conscience of the world." ...... Pelosi was the first major foreign official to meet the Dalai Lama since the start of the unrest. She visited him in Dharmsala ...... a planned meeting between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Dalai Lama. ..... last year China temporarily barred U.S. warships from docking in Hong Kong after U.S. President George W. Bush presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor. After repeated clashes with China, Taiwanese voters look for a quiet spell advocates wedding Taiwan's high-tech expertise with China's white-hot economic boom to restore the island of 23 million people to its former place as one of Asia's four economic tigers, together with Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. ...... 57-year-old Ma, who has a doctorate in law from Harvard .... a democracy that often descends into brawling on the floor of Parliament. Dalai Lama gives Pelosi a warm welcome in India Wall Street's slump becomes Main Street's problem
From Wall St. to Main St., an economic slump deepens The broadening of the economic slowdown, the plunge in home prices and near-paralysis in the financial system are fueling worries that what most economists now see as an inevitable recessioncould end up being especially painful. ...... the downturn will last longer and inflict more bite on workers and businesses than the last two recessions, which gripped the U.S. economy in 2001 and for eight months straddling 1990 and 1991. ..... rising incomes in China, India and elsewhere spell growing demand for meat. ...... economists say, as the impact of lowered interest rates kicks in later this year, encouraging businesses to expand and hire. Tax rebate checks to be mailed out by the government this spring may lubricate spending as well. ..... the economy will shrink only modestly during the first half of 2008, then resume expanding as more money washes through the system. ....... Households have borrowed against the increased value of their property to buy cars, send their children to college and add home theater systems.
Obama Has Clear Money Advantage The Associated Press Clinton lived hand to mouth during the rush of presidential primaries while Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama outspent her and put money in the bank. ...... Obama raised at a clip of nearly $2 million a day in February, an open spigot of money that left him with $30 million in the bank for March. ..... even though he outspent Clinton 2-to-1 heading into the March 4 contests in Texas and Ohio, he lost both those primaries ...... On Friday, a month before the primary in Pennsylvania, Obama launched three ads in the state, two of them brand new. One is a 60-second commercial that is mostly biographical; the other two are 30-second spots that portray Obama as a politician who fights special interests and who works in a bipartisan way. ....... the general election money can only be used in the fall. Whoever loses the nomination would have to return that money to the donors. Clinton has been the most aggressive at raising general election money, with nearly $22 million in the bank. Obama has $8 million set aside for the fall.
Nicolas Sarkozy hopes to gain a little ‘va va voom’ from the Queen Times Online Controversial pastor coming to Wheeler Avenue Baptist Houston Chronicle China Shows Photos of Tibetan Protesters New York Times the toll from anti-Chinese riots in Tibet had risen to 19 dead and 623 injured. It said 18 civilians and a police officer had been confirmed dead in the unrest. The news agency said 241 police officers and 382 civilians had been injured in Lhasa. ...... began in Lhasa and have spread to many smaller towns on the Tibetan Plateau ..... 99 people have been killed in the government crackdown Op-Ed: After the End of the Affair David A. Paterson, who said Tuesday that his own extramarital affairs ended several years ago ...... In the parlance of American couples recovering from adultery, “D-Day” is the day you discover your spouse has been cheating on you. And as with the birth of Jesus, time is reset from there. ...... “The reactions of the betrayed spouse resemble the post-traumatic stress symptoms of the victims of traumatic events.” ..... “9/11 always reminds me of how it felt — one floor collapsing into another,” said a woman in her 40s who lives near Seattle. Another woman, writing in an Internet chat room, compared her husband’s affair to the Asian tsunami of 2004, which killed a quarter of a million people. ..... X.O.W. is the “ex-other woman,” O.N.S. is a “one-night stand” ...... A “cake man” is a husband who wants to have his wife and his mistress, too. ..... Wives from sub-Saharan Africa, a part of the world with the highest levels of male infidelity, told me how they went running down the street after their husbands, begging them to sleep at home. ........ If your spouse cheats, you’ve been living a lie. Americans describing their D-Day experiences say that they weren’t just shocked, jealous and profoundly upset, but that their whole view of the world had collapsed. “It robs you of your past,” one husband said. “What is real? What is fake?” ....... We’re the only country that peddles the idea that “It’s not the sex, it’s the lying.” (In France, it’s not the lying, it’s the sex.) America is also the only place I found that has a one-strike rule on fidelity: if someone cheats, the marriage is kaput. ....... he had had “a number of women” (and his wife had cheated, too). ...... Mrs. Spitzer discovered her husband’s apparent penchant for call girls only the night before he announced his “private matter” to the press. ....... marriage-industrial complex ..... A woman in Tennessee told me that she had gained 60 pounds since her husband found out she had been sleeping with a co-worker, in part because the couple now spends most of their free time on the couch rehashing the affair. “Neither of us cries as much as we used to, because of the antidepressants,” her husband said. What About Gehry’s Vision for Brooklyn? eight million square feet of residential and commercial development on an eight-acre site extending east from Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, one of the borough’s most congested intersections ..... the nearby Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower — a classic stone phallus ..... Brooklyn’s vibrant answer to Times Square, minus the saccharine Disney décor. ...... the core of his concept, the charged relationship between the enclosed arena and the street Barack Obama's race speech an online video hit AFP Online searches for "Obama speech" rocketed 7,627 percent the day after the US presidential candidate took on the sensitive issue of race in a March 18 oratory, according to a Yahoo Buzz service that tracks what's hot online. ..... record-shattering honesty .... queries for 'I have a dream speech' and 'Martin Luther King Free at Last speech' both spiked the day after Obama spoke .... laid bare racial tensions in US culture that politicians usually avoid discussing..... Stewart made sport of "Obama talking to Americans about race as though they were adults." Obama race speech garners good reviewsBoston Globe Kenya: Obama Euphoria Now Hits Music Scene With a Bang AllAfrica.com the kind of attention he has attracted in the entertainment scene remains unmatched ..... The heat generated worldwide has attracted many celebrities across the world. Musicians, through their songs, are endorsing their favourite candidate. ..... Obama has more celebrity muscle going by the number of A-List entertainers rallying behind him ...... William, of the Black Eyed Peas did a pro-Obama song Yes We Can and its videos have generated more than five million hits on YouTube....... In Kenya, Cocoa Tea's Obama song has continued to rank top in a local radio station as "Beat of the Week" and is said to have one of the largest endorsements. ..... Revellers in Kenyan dancehalls usually go into a frenzy and dance with abandon, as soon as Obama's song rends the air. ...... Perhaps when he comes back to Kenya, he will look for me," says Nyadundo. Richardson says Clinton phone call got 'heated' MSNBC the conversation he had with Hillary ..... "It was tough to make the call, but I did. It got a little heated. It got a little tense. But it was understood, and I'm proud of my decision." .... He stressed that his decision to endorse Obama came a week before, but it was reinforced by the speech Obama gave on race last Tuesday. He cited his own racial background as a Hispanic to underscore why the speech was so significant. ....... I believe that Senator Obama is going to be the nomnee. ..... "I can tell you that there are very few people in American public life that have the breadth and depth of experience that Bill Richardson has," Obama said, adding that he would play a role in the campaign and hinting that he would have a role in a future Obama administration. New Mexico Governor Richardson Endorses Obama Voice of America Richardson endorses ObamaLos Angeles Times Richardson, Endorsing Obama, Looks for Generational ChangeWashington Post The line forms here for Rudy Giuliani campaign refund checks Los Angeles Times Some Tibetan Exiles Reject ‘Middle Way’ New York Times High Court admits Bihar plea against Lalu acquittal Hindu The Obama effectCanada.com Clinton Says Her Passport File BreachedThe Associated Press "an outrageous breach of security and privacy." ..... basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age, Social Security number and place of birth ..... the information could allow Obama's critics to dig deeper into his private life Obama, Clinton, McCain Passport Files Breached (Update1) Bloomberg State Department Employees Fired For Snooping Obama PassportU.S. News & World Report Clinton extends poll lead over ObamaIrish Times A top Nepali blogger recalls late King Mahendra NepalNews Kathmandu-based intelligentsia and expatriates say they anxiously await for Maila Baje’s postings every week.
Hillary Clinton's campaign uses pastor scandal to undermine Barack ... Telegraph.co.uk to argue that her Democratic rival would be dangerously vulnerable in a general election against John McCain. ..... Obama became the undisputed Democratic front-runner after his string of 11primary victories in February ...... a 13-point swing towards the former First Lady in under a fortnight. .... Geraldine Ferraro .... she was outraged to have been cited in the same breath as Mr Wright ..... "To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable"
If you took high school biology, old man James Watson was your pastor, face it.
Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than ... Nobel Winner's Theories Raise Uproar in Berkeley Geneticist's ...Nobel laureate James Watson, whose co-discovery of DNA revolutionized the field of genetics ..... suggested there was a biochemical link between exposure to sunlight and sexual urges. ``That's why you have Latin lovers,'' Watson said. ``You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.'' ...... Watson showed a slide of sad-faced model Kate Moss to support his contention that thin people are unhappy and therefore more ambitious. ..... ``Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them,'' Watson said. ........ `He took a lot of what I consider sexist and racist stereotypes and claimed a biochemical basis without presenting any data.'' ....... Watson once suggested Japan should be bombed for dragging its feet on supporting the Human Genome Project. ...... listening to Watson at the podium was ``more embarrassing than having a creation scientist up there.'' ..... ``I found it really offensive,'' said Sarah Tegen ...... Watson showed slides of women in bikinis and contrasted them to veiled Muslim women, to suggest that controlling exposure to sun may suppress sexual desire and vice versa. ...... people who live in northern climates drink more alcohol to compensate for the unhappiness they suffer because of sunlight deprivation. .... ``To be a woman in science is difficult enough as it is without one of your own demeaning women'' ....... Now-deceased Stanford University professor William Shockley, who shared a Nobel for inventing the transistor, was ostracized during his lifetime for calling certain races genetically inferior, and for suggesting that people with IQs under 100 be paid bonuses if they agreed to be sterilized. Controversial Nobel winner resigns - CNN.com Watson Rediscovers 1940s Attitudes Towards Race | Wired Science ...First he said that “all the testing” has proven that people descended from Africa aren’t as smart as white people. Then, because apparently the testing comment wasn’t enough, he used some anecdotal evidence from his friends. He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”. James Watson Retires After Racial Remarks - New York Timesoverall, people of African descent are not as intelligent as people of European descent.
In The News
In Tibetan Areas, Parallel Worlds Now Collide New York Times The big factory, said a man sitting next to him, benefits only members of the Han Chinese majority. .... “Tibetans get the low-income and the hard-labor jobs,” the man said. The Han, he said, “are all paid as technicians, even though some of them really don’t know anything.” ...... they occupy separate worlds. Relations between the two groups are typically marked by stark disdain or distrust, by stereotyping and prejudice and, among Tibetans, by deep feelings of subjugation, repression and fear. ...... privilege and power are overwhelmingly the preserve of the Han, while Tibetans live largely confined to segregated urban ghettos and poor villages in their own ancestral lands. ...... Tibetans whom they described as lazy and ungrateful ..... “We believe in working hard and making money to support one’s family, but they might think we’re greedy and have no faith.” ...... Han Chinese said they had no Tibetan friends and confessed that they tended to avoid interaction with Tibetans as much as possible ...... professed near-universal devotion to the Dalai Lama ..... “All Tibetans are the same: 100 percent of us adore the Dalai Lama” Editorial: Mr. Obama’s Profile in Courage Obama had to address race and religion, the two most toxic subjects in politics ...... Wright Jr., who denounced the United States as endemically racist, murderous and corrupt. ...... an honesty seldom heard in public life. ...... continues today in racial segregation, the school achievement gap and discrimination in everything from banking services to law enforcement. ...... the often-unspoken reality that people on both sides of the color line are angry. ...... both sides must acknowledge that the other’s grievances are not imaginary. ..... “Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan coalition” ..... he raised the discussion to a higher plane. The Professor as Open Book It is not uncommon for professors’ Web pages to include lists of the books they would take to a deserted island, links to their favorite songs from bygone eras, blog posts about their children, entries “written” by their dogs and vacation photographs. ...... a professor’s job today is not just to impart knowledge, but to be an entertainer. ...... by divulging family history and hobbies, they hope to appear more accessible to students. ...... “It’s better when your professor’s human” .... there are students today who think professors are not doing their jobs unless they convey information in zany, interactive ways. ..... “It bespeaks a certain kind of desire that all of us have for that moment of fame” ....... this increased transparency Political Memo: Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination Without new votes in Florida and Michigan, it will be that much more difficult for Mrs. Clinton to achieve a majority in the total popular vote in the primary season, narrow Mr. Obama’s lead among pledged delegates or build a new wave of momentum. ..... Obama had turned the furor to his advantage with his speech on race.
Senator Obama’s remarks follow as prepared for delivery.
Remarks for Senator Barack Obama The Cost of War University of Charleston Charleston, West Virginia Thursday, March 20, 2008
Five years ago, the war in Iraq began. And on this fifth anniversary, we honor the brave men and women who are serving this nation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. We pay tribute to the sacrifices of their families back home. And a grateful nation mourns the loss of our fallen heroes.
I understand that the first serviceman killed in Iraq was a native West Virginian, Marine 1st Lieutenant Shane Childers, who died five years ago tomorrow. And so on this anniversary, my thoughts and prayers go out to Lieutenant Childers’ family, and to all who’ve lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The costs of war are greatest for the troops and those who love them, but we know that war has other costs as well. Yesterday, I addressed some of these other costs in a speech on the strategic consequences of the Iraq war. I spoke about how this war has diverted us from fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and from addressing the other challenges of the 21st Century: violent extremism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.
And today, I want to talk about another cost of this war – the toll it has taken on our economy. Because at a time when we’re on the brink of recession – when neighborhoods have For Sale signs outside every home, and working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs – ordinary Americans are paying a price for this war.
When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war.
When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.
When a National Guard unit is over in Iraq and can’t help out during a hurricane in Louisiana or with floods here in West Virginia, our communities are paying a price for this war.
And the price our families and communities are paying reflects the price America is paying. The most conservative estimates say that Iraq has now cost more than half a trillion dollars, more than any other war in our history besides World War II. Some say the true cost is even higher and that by the time it’s over, this could be a $3 trillion war.
But what no one disputes is that the cost of this war is far higher than what we were told it would be. We were told this war would cost $50 to $60 billion, and that reconstruction would pay for itself out of Iraqi oil profits. We were told higher estimates were nothing but “baloney.” Like so much else about this war, we were not told the truth.
What no one disputes is that the costs of this war have been compounded by its careless and incompetent execution – from the billions that have vanished in Iraq to the billions more in no-bid contracts for reckless contractors like Halliburton.
What no one disputes is that five years into this war, soldiers up at Fort Drum are having to wait more than a month to get their first mental health screening – even though we know that incidences of PTSD skyrocket between the second, third, and fourth tours of duty. We have a sacred trust to our troops and our veterans, and we have to live up to it.
What no one disputes is that President Bush has done what no other President has ever done, and given tax cuts to the rich in a time of war. John McCain once opposed these tax cuts – he rightly called them unfair and fiscally irresponsible. But now he has done an about face and wants to make them permanent, just like he wants a permanent occupation in Iraq. No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush-term.
That’s an outcome America can’t afford. Because of the Bush-McCain policies, our debt has ballooned. This is creating problems in our fragile economy. And that kind of debt also places an unfair burden on our children and grandchildren, who will have to repay it.
It also means we’re having to pay for this war with loans from China. Having China as our banker isn’t good for our economy, it isn’t good for our global leadership, and it isn’t good for our national security. History teaches us that for a nation to remain a preeminent military power, it must remain a preeminent economic power. That is why it is so important to manage the costs of war wisely.
This is a lesson that the first President Bush understood. The conduct of the Gulf War cost America less than $20 billion – what we pay in two months in Iraq today. That’s because that war was prosecuted on solid grounds, and in a responsible way, and with the support of allies, who paid most of the costs. None of this has been the case in the way George W. Bush and John McCain have waged the current Iraq war.
Now, at that debate in Texas several weeks ago, Senator Clinton attacked John McCain for supporting the policies that have led to our enormous war costs. But her point would have been more compelling had she not joined Senator McCain in making the tragically ill-considered decision to vote for the Iraq war in the first place.
The truth is, this is all part of the reason I opposed this war from the start. It’s why I said back in 2002 that it could lead to an occupation not just of undetermined length or undetermined consequences, but of undetermined costs. It’s why I’ve said this war should have never been authorized and never been waged.
Now, let me be clear: when I am President, I will spare no expense to ensure that our troops have the equipment and support they need. There is no higher obligation for a Commander-in-Chief. But we also have to understand that the more than $10 billion we’re spending each month in Iraq is money we could be investing here at home. Just think about what battles we could be fighting instead of fighting this misguided war.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and who are plotting against us in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We could be securing our homeland and stopping the world’s most dangerous weapons from falling into terrorist hands.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting for the people of West Virginia. For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students.
We could be fighting to put the American dream within reach for every American – by giving tax breaks to working families, offering relief to struggling homeowners, reversing President Bush’s cuts to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and protecting Social Security today, tomorrow, and forever. That’s what we could be doing instead of fighting this war.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to make universal health care a reality in this country. We could be fighting for the young woman who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford medicine for a sister who’s ill. For what we spend in several months in Iraq, we could be providing them with the quality, affordable health care that every American deserves.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to give every American a quality education. We could be fighting for the young men and women all across this country who dream big dreams but aren’t getting the kind of education they need to reach for those dreams. For a fraction of what we’re spending each year in Iraq, we could be giving our teachers more pay and more support, rebuilding our crumbling schools, and offering a tax credit to put a college degree within reach for anyone who wants one.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to rebuild our roads and bridges. I’ve proposed a fund that would do just that and generate nearly two million new jobs – many in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by our housing crisis. And it would cost just six percent of what we spend each year in Iraq.
Instead of fighting this war, we could be freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil, and saving this planet for our children. We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs. And we could be doing it all for the cost of less than a year and a half in Iraq.
These are the investments we could be making, all within the parameters of a more responsible and disciplined budget. This is the future we could be building. And that is why I will bring this war to an end when I’m President of the United States of America.
But we also know that even after this war comes to an end, the costs of this war will not. We’ll have to keep our sacred trust with our veterans and fully fund the VA. We’ll have to look after our wounded warriors – whether they’re suffering from wounds seen or unseen. That must include the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – not just PTSD, but Traumatic Brain Injury. We’ll have to give veterans the health care and disability benefits they deserve, the support they need, and the respect they’ve earned. This is an obligation I have fought to uphold on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee by joining Jay Rockefeller to expand educational opportunities for our veterans. It’s an obligation I will uphold as President, and it’s an obligation that will endure long after this war is over.
And our obligation to rebuild our military will endure as well. This war has stretched our military to its limits, wearing down troops and equipment as a result of tour after tour after tour of duty. The Army has said it will need $13 billion a year just to replace and repair all the equipment that’s been broken or lost. So in the coming years we won’t just have to restore our military to its peak level of readiness, and we won’t just have to make sure our National Guard is back to being fully prepared to handle a domestic crisis, we’ll also have to ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to confront the new threats of the 21 century and that our military can meet any challenge around the world. And that is a responsibility I intend to meet as Commander-in-Chief.
So we know what this war has cost us – in blood and in treasure. But in the words of Robert Kennedy, “past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation.” And yet, John McCain refuses to learn from the failures of the Bush years. Instead of offering an exit strategy for Iraq, he’s offering us a 100-year occupation. Instead of offering an economic plan that works for working Americans, he’s supporting tax cuts for the wealthiest among us who don’t need them and aren’t asking for them. Senator McCain is embracing the failed policies of the past, but America is ready to embrace the future.
When I am your nominee, the American people will have a real choice in November – between change and more of the same, between giving the Bush policies another four years, or bringing them to an end. And that is the choice the American people deserve.
Somewhere in Baghdad today, a soldier is stepping into his Humvee and heading out on a patrol. That soldier knows the cost of war. He’s been bearing it for five years. It’s the cost of being kept awake at night by the whistle of falling mortars. It’s the cost of a heart that aches for a loved one back home, and a family that’s counting the days until the next R&R. It’s the cost of losing a friend, who asked for nothing but to serve his country.
How much longer are we going to ask our troops to bear the cost of this war?
How much longer are we going to ask our families and our communities to bear the cost of this war?
When are we going to stop mortgaging our children’s future for Washington’s mistake?
This election is our chance to reclaim our future – to end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for good jobs and universal health care. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for a world-class education and retirement security. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for opportunity, and equality, and prosperity here at home.
Those are the battles we need to fight. That is the leadership I want to offer. And that is the future we can build together when I’m President of the United States. Thank you.
In The News
Worsening polls reveal Obama's pastor problem AFP Obama suffered in the polls Thursday after a much-acclaimed speech on race that, pundits said, had failed to defuse voters' anger over rage-filled sermons by his former pastor. .... white working-class voters and independents especially alienated. ...... Just before the Wright videos emerged last week, Obama's rating was 52 percent. .... the row was grist for her aides' lobbying of superdelegates. ..... "Mrs. Clinton's advisers said they had spent recent days making the case to wavering superdelegates that Mr. Obama's association with Mr. Wright would doom their party in the general election"
Obama Tries to Shift Focus Away From Race New York Times Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month ..... the costs of this war have been compounded by its careless and incompetent execution ..... Obama’s campaign has kept track of the reaction to the speech in Philadelphia to help decide whether he will need to address the subject again ..... Pennsylvanians are rushing in record numbers to sign up as Democrats so they can vote in the primary ..... Mrs. Clinton waged a low-key campaign on Thursday in Terre Haute and Anderson, Ind., two once-affluent industrial cities that are now struggling economically. ...... Clinton said that women were usually the “designated worriers” in any family, and said she filled that role in her own family. ..... said Dan Parker, the Indiana Democratic chairman. “Race? We don’t really want to talk about that.”
It first hit me as a feeling, unarticulated, but immediate. It took me weeks to articulate the feeling to myself. But I started reacting to it immediately. I started looking for the person who put me through the coat check. Who did it? Some time in January I blamed Berger: Berger masterminded the mandatory coat check. Then I decided, Berger could not have done it alone. Maybe Pollak was part of it as well. At the Texas debate watch in Caputo's presence I started thinking maybe it was not the two guys. It is always Caputo who calls the shots. At Tonic for the Texas Ohio returns watch, I saw the same white guy security guard. So it was Caputo. I tried to be understanding, all that data on violence on women, the data on violent crime in this city itself.
It took me full three months and a mystery woman (Satyagraha, Day 1) to realize a mandatory coat check is a routine, boring thing bars do for events where many people show up. I clearly misunderstood. And by a wide, wide margin.
If I had not misunderstood I would have reacted differently to Elizabeth at the Holiday party, at the December Baby party, the Planned Parenthood event, also when I showed up for the Texas debate watch.
There are two facts. One, I clearly misunderstood. Two, why did I misunderstand. Both facts are important. You don't get to dismiss the second.
The civil war in Nepal started after I left Nepal in 1996 and lasted a full decade. I did not have anything to do with it, I have not been there physically. But I have been there every day. My mind has been there. A part of me has been living in that war zone every day. My entire time in New York City, I have played a very active role in trying to bring that war to an end. All that violence is going to occupy a part of your mind. It does not feel normal at all. You are not at peace. Once in a while you will get spasms of unease.
Only a few months back my Harvard grad brother-in-law, married to my youngest sister - they live in the city - lost his father to a vicious murder back in Nepal. The police think at least five people must have been involved. I have not seen my family go through a more intense emotional turmoil. My mother was bed ridden for days.
I would not feel safe going to Nepal right now.
My reaction to Benazir's death was intense, personal, emotional. Faraway events impact me: they are not far away to my mind. I was 23 when I landed in America. (Nobody Quite Like Benazir)
The day 9/11 happened, I was in a small town in Kentucky. The locals called the cops on me. That was not the last such experience.
When in Nepal, I was politicking right out of high school. I was politicking at the national level. I got to know this guy called Mirza, barely. More like we knew of each other, met in person a few times. But he was extremely good friends with some people who I was very good friends with. He was a MP. He was also Dawood's top guy in Nepal. Dawood ran - runs - Mumbai's underworld from Dubai and Karachi. His Hindu rival Chhota Rajan ran his business from Bangkok. A year into America I learned Mirza had been mowed down. They pushed 42 bullets into his body. They could not afford the news he was "still alive" so they did a thorough job. I was never mafia, but I got to know this guy. He was quite a celebrated politician, gave great speeches at mass meetings.
In Texas some cowboys emptied their guns into my truck. It felt like being under machine gun fire. The closest bullets hit perhaps 15 feet from me.
In Kentucky I got detained once for 35 hours over something this or that email. They let me out at midnight. It was in another town.
Towards the end of my Class 10 year in Kathmandu, some classmates from a rival dorm came to beat some of us up at the city buspark when we were on our way home for the most important vacation of the year, us out of Kathmandu boys. In how the school authorities reacted to that incident, I woke to the social gravity of prejudice and racism for the first time in my life. It was 1989. It was a slow waking up that took years, gave me major career hits. The number two guy in class went on to Harvard to Goldman. I was number one before that bus park incident.
I once got into a major road accident in upstate New York: ice in early spring, early morning. I counted. The difference between life and death is three seconds: 1001, 1002, 1003. I did not get a scratch, but when you get lucky like that, you don't try your luck a second time.
I once drove overnight through a hurricane, I followed it up the east coast. The rainfall was horizontal.
I am a Third World guy. I think about deaths on a daily basis, deaths to stupid violence, petty disease. My tech startup is not a guy saying okay, bye bye to politics, let's go make some money to buy fancy cars. Internet access is the voting right for this century. The Internet is what will bridge the wide gulf between the first and third worlds. This is the Internet Century. I don't have the option to say bye bye politics. But I also have the compulsion to do other things.
Weak Social Muscles: What Do I Mean
A few weeks back, I was at an Obama event at the Irish Rogue. I was there for four hours. The first two hours, I had a hard time connecting. I would go for 30 seconds with someone, maybe a minute, then I necessarily had to walk away, go be by myself. After two hours I left and went outside. Then came back.
Two more hours and I was finally into small talk, small banter, small jokes. But by then most people had already left.
I know I have it, it is in there, but intense 2.0 work for Nepal, Obama, and my startup has left me with weak social muscles.
Lesson: a rich social, emotional life is necessary to a rich 2.0 life. There is no 2.0 without 5.0.
I am bigger on personal space than anyone I ever met. It is like, there is India and its communal culture and arranged marriages. There is America and its individualism. I am beyond America. And that has implications. I feel like every white guy who has tried to hook me up with the Queen has cost me a few months of my life.
But the mystery woman has proven me wrong. I can't do it on my own. A relationship is not just something between two individuals. It perhaps takes a village, or a few close friends. Just don't start with white guys! They have been part of the pain in Kathmandu and Kentucky. I get a little irrational.
Love, Work
They say to be happy in life you have to find two things: love and work.
When Hillary showed up on the scene in 1992, it was news that she did not stay home to bake cookies. Career women don't have a long history.
But that was 1992. Today it is 2008. The question I am asking is this. Would it be possible to imagine two high voltage careers and one happy relationship? Has never been done before.
The way it could work is if (1) there were an intense soulmate recognition, (2) there were numerous channels of communication open, (3) there would be zero tolerance for the slightest hint of racism or sexism in the relationship, (4) a detached, pragmatic separation between the personal and the social, political on race and gender, (5) and a total celebration of work: work is worship.
