A Day that Will Live in Infamy
I'm not going to sugar coat it at all...
the democratic party lost...and we lost big time. we were practically decapitated in this election. there is no real defining leader in the party...Gephardt is retired, Kerry is smashed, Edwards is at a dead end, Daschel got shot down, and Hillary and Kennedy don't have the broad support to bring together the party. Obama is a senate term or two away from being a real leader rather than just a rallying figure and pop icon. We're down 42-57 in the Senate...quite a bit more in the House. Not quite enough for them to turn over any filibuster or pass whatever amendments they wanted...but on contraversial issues they have more than enough of a margin of victory.
why did we lose? a great strategy by the republican party...divide and conquer: since they can't win on the economy, iraq, education, or healthcare...they seek to divide the poor and downtrodden with questions of "values and morals" in the south "morals" (whatever that means) topped The Economy and National Security as the most important issue to people leaving the polls. How is gay marrige more important to a laid off steelworker who's job was outsourced to indonesia and was forced to train his replacement? How is abortion more important to a single mother than the fact that her child and her don't have healthcare?
But unfortunatly the democratic party is not the only victim here...the other is the traditional republican party. The party of fiscal conservativism and international restraint is now a party dominated by a radical interventionist foreign policy and a disregard for the ballooning defecit and the long term interests of american buisness.
What is even worse is that the American era is now over. With the re-election of the president the europeans now hate the american people...not just their government. The trans-atlantic alliance is dying and with it America's hegemony. From now on the Europeans will see that they have more in common with each other than with america...this can only lead to a stronger EU and one opposed to US interets. Together the EU will outnumber us 450 Million to 250 Million. Leaders campaigning on anti-american platforms have been doing better in europe and this will only continue...combine that with a stronger EU and within a decade we will have an EU if not hostile to the US then at least skeptical of the existance of common interests. Throw in the expanding Chinese power and economic might and the fact that they will have a larger GDP than the USA somewhere between 2025 and 2035 and we have come the full circle of Pax Americana. A multipolar world with three competing notions of world order...tragically one in which we will be the weakest.
Would electing John Kerry have fixed this depressing future and the split between the Trans-Atlantic Alliance? Probably not...but perhaps a split congress and president might have reined each other in.
Live from Washington DC...the scene of the crime...This is Spencer French reporting
Goodnight and God Bless America (We're going to need it)
(If you want to know where i got this stuff and more go buy "End of the American Era" by my International Relations Professor and Former Clinton Administration National Security Council Member Dr. Charles Kupchan)
the democratic party lost...and we lost big time. we were practically decapitated in this election. there is no real defining leader in the party...Gephardt is retired, Kerry is smashed, Edwards is at a dead end, Daschel got shot down, and Hillary and Kennedy don't have the broad support to bring together the party. Obama is a senate term or two away from being a real leader rather than just a rallying figure and pop icon. We're down 42-57 in the Senate...quite a bit more in the House. Not quite enough for them to turn over any filibuster or pass whatever amendments they wanted...but on contraversial issues they have more than enough of a margin of victory.
why did we lose? a great strategy by the republican party...divide and conquer: since they can't win on the economy, iraq, education, or healthcare...they seek to divide the poor and downtrodden with questions of "values and morals" in the south "morals" (whatever that means) topped The Economy and National Security as the most important issue to people leaving the polls. How is gay marrige more important to a laid off steelworker who's job was outsourced to indonesia and was forced to train his replacement? How is abortion more important to a single mother than the fact that her child and her don't have healthcare?
But unfortunatly the democratic party is not the only victim here...the other is the traditional republican party. The party of fiscal conservativism and international restraint is now a party dominated by a radical interventionist foreign policy and a disregard for the ballooning defecit and the long term interests of american buisness.
What is even worse is that the American era is now over. With the re-election of the president the europeans now hate the american people...not just their government. The trans-atlantic alliance is dying and with it America's hegemony. From now on the Europeans will see that they have more in common with each other than with america...this can only lead to a stronger EU and one opposed to US interets. Together the EU will outnumber us 450 Million to 250 Million. Leaders campaigning on anti-american platforms have been doing better in europe and this will only continue...combine that with a stronger EU and within a decade we will have an EU if not hostile to the US then at least skeptical of the existance of common interests. Throw in the expanding Chinese power and economic might and the fact that they will have a larger GDP than the USA somewhere between 2025 and 2035 and we have come the full circle of Pax Americana. A multipolar world with three competing notions of world order...tragically one in which we will be the weakest.
Would electing John Kerry have fixed this depressing future and the split between the Trans-Atlantic Alliance? Probably not...but perhaps a split congress and president might have reined each other in.
Live from Washington DC...the scene of the crime...This is Spencer French reporting
Goodnight and God Bless America (We're going to need it)
(If you want to know where i got this stuff and more go buy "End of the American Era" by my International Relations Professor and Former Clinton Administration National Security Council Member Dr. Charles Kupchan)