Mike Pouraryan
Obama Moving to the Center
There have been some recent controversy (to say it mildly) about Obama moving to the center. There was a story in the Financial Times today. I have also seen some comments in the blogs as well. My comeback to that is simply this: so what? Politics is about the art of the possible. Politics is about figuring out what works. Politics is about solutions. We have to totally change the paradigm of looking at the problem we are faced with. Otherwise, we will get more of the same. The challenge for all Americans is to decide.
By the way, Al Jazeera just showed the President of the United States arriving in Japan for the final G-8 summit. They have quite a bit on their plate. I agree with a commentary in yesterday's financial times in that the G-8 may have outlived its' usefulness and should be replaced by G-20 of leading regional players in the world so that "hopefully" there is a more coordinated response to world problems. So far, the leaders of the world have been overtaken by events.
By the way, Al Jazeera just showed the President of the United States arriving in Japan for the final G-8 summit. They have quite a bit on their plate. I agree with a commentary in yesterday's financial times in that the G-8 may have outlived its' usefulness and should be replaced by G-20 of leading regional players in the world so that "hopefully" there is a more coordinated response to world problems. So far, the leaders of the world have been overtaken by events.
My God, I hate to throw your words back at you but what you've done is given an otherwise noble calling -- and the practice of a good political LEADER attests to this -- a mere image of some shabby retail outfit. Just serve up a bunch of products on any old shelf to serve the lowest common denominator.
That's only what dictators and low-rent pols whose ideas of "leadership" extend only to the "bread and circus" mentality of the most decrepit Roman emperors who sought only to buy time to save their skins.
If you take politics as seriously as I hope you say you do, you might want to chuck your present political vocabulary and stick to good old fashioned words and grasp this fact: Politics is a noble service and art of serving human beings -- not mere grasping for expedient solutions and trendy "paradigms" to fit only the needs to day. Real serious politician LEADERS look at time in decades and centuries; not just election cycles and single years.