Barack Obama

I finally got around to listening to Barack Obama's speech on race in the United States. This was a great speech and truly articulated the complexities of America's "original sin" of slavery and why its ramifications will be felt (in my opinion) for at least another 100 years.

A great speech, indeed. But in the end just a speech.

Mario Cuomo gave great speeches; Jesse Jackson gave an unforgettable speech to the 1984 Democratic Convention which I watched live, mesmerized by his oratory.
Ronald Reagan gave fantastic speeches, and look at the hoodwinking he pulled over on the country.

Reagan taught me to distrust speechmakers. I can enjoy their performances, much as I enjoy watching Sean Penn act, but I will not base my decision to vote on the quality of someones speechmaking.

Barack Obama says that experience is not as important as judgment. I think he showed an unforgiveable lack of judgment by not disassociating himself from his radical pastor as soon as those offensive statements were made. Going even further, I think this shows a failure not just of judgment, but of character as well; an even more important flaw.

Tibet

There have been anti-Chinese demonstrations throughout Tibet this week. Now we hear that Chinese troops are pouring into the are, undoubtedly to provide the means for a violent suppression of the protesters.

I have a lot of admiration for the current modernization going on in China. The government is trying to balance the need for greater personal and economic freedom with the fear of the kind of post-Soviet chaos that occurred in Russia. The majority of Chinese are living far better lives than their parents could have imagined. Political freedoms are limited, but moving in the right direction (although very slowly).

It is hard to reconcile this with the heavy handed treatment that China is using towards Tibet. They seem to be motivated by a real fear of the influence of the Dalai Lama, who they label as "a devil". I think that they are afraid to consider the idea of limited autonomy, and they are waiting for the Dalai Lama to die.

Could it be a coincidence that this round of protests is occurring as the country really starts to ramp up for the opening of the Olympic Games? The Tibetan exile community is quite sophisticated in managing its image and tactics: they have a lot of support amongst influential people in the West.

This presents a real problem for China with regards to the Olympics. If they let the protests continue it will keep Tibet on the forefront of the news, a distinct embarassment to the government. On the other hand if they use military force to crush the protests, they run the risk of a boycott of the Olympics.

I am not sure that the Chinese government has a subtle enough understanding of world opinion to do the right thing in this case. I fear that paranoia will win out over caution, and Tibet is in for some rough treatment in the near future.

Gasoline

Gasoline prices will spike up to close to $4.00 per gallon within a few months, it was reported today. It really is painful for the economy and hits lower income working class drivers the hardest.

This reminds me of the mid 70's when the economy seemed to take one punch after the other and spiralled downwards into stagflation. Remember Gerald Ford's WIN buttons and Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech?

Hopefully this generation will be able to learn what others before have: the good times don't always last so have fun while you can but have a plan for what to do when things go bad...

SNOW

Here in Cleveland we got a ridiculous amount of snow this weekend.

Close to 2 feet fallen, with massive drifts everywhere. So much that the airport closed completely for a day. I know 2 people who were out of town and got stranded, but one was in Mexico, and the other was in San Francisco, so things could have been worse (they could have been in Buffalo).

I took my daughter sledding last week before the snow started, on the remains of last Tuesday's ice storm. We flew down the hill together, and she loved it. We might go tonight on the new snow.

Of course we will hear the chorus of morons shouing "What global warming, look at all of this snow!". Seems like a knee jerk response that someone has to make in any group of 4 or more people.

Go Hillary!

Hillary Clinton was the big winner in Tuesday's primaries.

I am really glad she is still in the race; I would hate to see Barack Obama ordained as the nominee. I hope that if democrats can take the next few months to evaluate these 2 fine candidates outside of the context of the primary horse race they will realize that she is the better person for the job.

I also hope that the Obama nation people can see the big picture enough to realize that even if Barack is not the nominee, it is much more important to elect a Democrat than it is to sit back and sulk during the November election, allowing yet another Republican administration.

I am a big Hillary backer, but if Obama gets the nomination, then I will close ranks and support him 110%. Let's hope the Obama supporters can do the same if the situation is reversed.

Ohio Primary

Tomorrow is the Ohio primary and I plan to vote for Hillary Clinton. I never got on the Obama band wagon. As cool as it would be to have a non-white president (I hestitate to call him Black, as he has one white and one black parent), I think Hillary is the better person for the job, regardless of perceptions of "electability"

My vote is based on a couple of considerations:
1. I have waited for 10 years to cast a vote for Hillary, and this may be my only chance, given that Obama may lock it up tomorrow.
2. Hillary is the person that the Republicans hate the most, which makes me want to vote for her the most.
3. When I ask myself who would do the best job if another 9-11 happened, or who would take reviving the economy most seriously, or who would make the strongest effort to restore the honor and dignity of our country in the world commnunity, I only get one answer, and that person is Hillary Clinton.

Go Hillary!