Friday, November 28, 2008
Change I Could Believe In
Here’s a quick thought that the tragedy in Mumbai motivated:
Barack Obama’s election to replace George W. Bush as President provides a golden opportunity for the U.S. to correct one of the most dangerous debilitating mistakes of the Bush era. In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush inexplicably refused to name our enemy, and instead attributed our problems to a tactic. The grossly misnamed “war on terrorism” obscured what should have been evident for all to see: We are at war with Radical Islam. Or perhaps, it would be fairer to say that Radical Islam is at war with us, because no matter what the Islamists do, we stubbornly refuse to identify them as our true enemy.
As I write these words, it is not yet clear PRECISELY who the Deccan Mujahadeen is. While some reports suggest that it might have some sort of Al Qaeda connection, it appears likely that the Mumbai attacks were not “true” Al Qaeda operations a la the Cole bombing or 9/11. It is nevertheless already clear, however, PRETTY MUCH who the Deccan Mujahaheen is: yet another violent Radical Islamist group.
Will Obama choose to use his new bully pulpit to speak the truth that Bush dared not utter? Or more precisely, the truth that Bush let leak a few teams before retreating behind the saccharine GWOT terminology? Will Obama retire the GWOT, and confront, instead, the true enemy? Will President Obama lead the West in a direction that might prevail--a direction that starts by actually identifying the enemy?
If so, that would be a change I could truly believe in.
Just one more thing to watch as we learn who we have elected…
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Friday, November 07, 2008
May the Faithful Prove Prescient
Last night, standing amidst a small group of friends, including some to whom my host had just introduced me, holding a glass of champagne, one of the assembled suggested a toast.
“What should we toast?” asked another.
“How about Barack Obama?” said a third. Numerous eyes turned towards me—perhaps not the only McCain voter in the room, but likely the most vocal one (I do live in San Francisco, after all).
I shrugged and raised my glass:
“To President-elect Obama. May the faith that so many have placed in him prove fully warranted.”
All agreed that the toast was proper regardless of affiliation or preference.
It was more than simply a face-saving attempt on my part. It was—and is—heartfelt. We are finishing eight years that I characterize as having had incompetent governance and irresponsible opposition. It is time that we do better on all fronts. The country has chosen Obama as the person to lead us there, and I hope that he does.
Yet my reference to “faith” was a careful, deliberate choice. Though most Obama supporters spoke of hope, what I heard from them was more aligned with faith. Obama supporters—strong Obama supporters—have assured me that when the dust settles and he actually moves into office, he will: govern as a Clintonian centrist; galvanize a truly “progressive” agenda; end affirmative action and racial preferences and setasides; and elevate the status and standing of black leaders and leadership. At least some of these supporters will soon find themselves sorely disappointed. It is, as a friend noted, a testament to Obama’s genius that he could convince all of these believers that he is, at heart, one of them. I could not join them for the simple reason that I could not share their faith. My read on our President-elect remains that though he is certainly “the kind of guy with whom I hang out,” his policy instincts are protectionist, accommodationist, and redistributionist. Still, I concede that my lack of faith is based on little more than the faith of his supporters; his record is thin enough for many to see him as many things.
All of which leads to the next, and critical question: What cues might we—or more honestly, I—receive over the next couple of months? What might our President-elect do over the next few months to convert me into a believer? What steps might he take to move the Democratic Party back to where it was—or at least, where I believed it had been—for the many years in which I was an enthusiastic supporter? I have been pondering that question, and I’m beginning to devise answers.
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Monday, October 20, 2008
An Independent’s Endorsement: Vote for McCain
So…following a fairly long hiatus in which I declined (or perhaps merely failed) to blog about some pretty interesting happenings, a chorus of friends have requested that I say something before the election—particularly given that, unlike most of them, I am supporting John McCain. While I don’t know that this entry means that I’m “coming out of retirement,” so to speak, it will at least record my thinking as the nation heads into a rather consequential election.
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Monday, June 16, 2008
I hope I’m Wrong
As I survey the political terrain, I see us heading for a Democratic rout. I suspect that Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States, and that he will arrive in office with the full backing of a compliant, comfortable Democratic majority in Congress.
For the first time in my political life, the thought of such an outcome fills me with dread. I believe that the prospects for both the country and the world under such American governance are bleak. I believe that Obama has the potential to usher in some very negative trends—trends that may take a generation or more to reverse (if they ever become reversible). In short, I believe that he is capable of delivering upon his campaign promise of “change.” Regrettably, change for the mere sake of change is not what the world needs.
Here’s why:
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
So Now I’m a Republican
I guess. Sort of.
It’s been a few years since the Democratic Party abandoned its historic commitment to the growth of human rights and liberalism abroad.
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Monday, April 30, 2007
Copyright v. Freedom
I’ve been a bit delinquent in my blogging lately (it does tend to come in phases), but I have encountered a number of items worthy of an entry. A week-and-a-half ago, for example, the Institute for International Education (IIE) invited me to meet with a delegation visiting from China. I met four Chinese “scholars,” though it was not clear to me that they were all scholars. Two were from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau; they said little or nothing. Wang Yefei, the deputy director of the Copyright Bureau, did most of the talking (actually, I did, but among the four of them, he was responsible for the lion’s share of the dialog). Zhao Hongshi, also from the Copyright Bureau and somewhat Mr. Yefei’s junior, also asked several questions. (The whole thing took place in simultaneous translation; none of the visitors spoke English).
The topic of our conversation was copyright enforcement—which was, apparently, the theme of their entire trip.
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Monday, March 19, 2007
Viacom v. Google: A Puzzlement
A couple of people have asked me about the Viacom/Google battle. It seems (surprise!) that some of the people who post videos on YouTube (a Google subsidiary) post clips from Viacom broadcasts. That gives Google potential vicarious third-party exposure for contributory or induced infringement. At least, that’s what Viacom thinks. Google, I’m certain, has numerous legal arguments to counter Viacom’s claim, with fair use playing a central role in the overall scheme of its argument. Viacom, however, feels that it has a good enough case to have sued Google for a cool billion dollars.
So various folks have asked me why I haven’t posted anything about this case yet. After all, it sounds like it should be right up my alley. The answer is that it is right up my alley. In fact, its soooooooooo up my alley that I’ve already said everything substantive that I have to say about it. I wrote about this case roughly five years before it was filed, omitting only the proper nouns (see Digital Phoenix). To recap:
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Monday, March 12, 2007
Recalibration and Realignment?
I’ve been noodling over a political quandary for a while now. I left the Democratic Party because, in my opinion, it has drifted very far into dangerous leftist territory. Conventional wisdom in the MSM, on the other hand, has spun the story in precisely the opposite direction. The conventional story seems to be that the recent injection of pro-life, anti-gun-control advocates has moved the Party to the center. Why has my perception been so different?
I found the answer in last week’s Weekly Standard, in an article about Rudy Giuliani and social conservatives. So here’s a conjecture that helps me make sense of many seeming anomalies:
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