Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Rahul, Laloo And Nitish: Having Them All

If it is a choice between Modi and Rahul, I'd opt for Rahul. Modi did not field a single Muslim candidate in Gujrat, that is a major disqualifier in my book. If Modi is the BJP mascot and if Nitish is neither leaving the NDA nor is supporting Modi, that is a weak NDA that will lose. So I think you are looking at a scenario whereby Nitish keeps the NDA intact in Bihar and continues as Chief Minister, but Laloo does much better in Bihar for the national polls and goes on to become Railway Minister again. That would be awesome for Bihar. I like the idea. Nitish perhaps should continue as Chief Minister, which is what he seems to want to do.

New Yorkers can vote for a Republican Mayor and vote overwhelmingly Democratic for the state and national offices. I think Biharis should vote for Nitish and the NDA at the state level, and Laloo for the national level, or at least give him enough seats to matter at the center, something like 15 or 20.

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Senator Bobby Jindal

Bill Clinton
Cover of Bill Clinton
Bobby 2016, Until Then Adios
Bobby Is Going To Run And Win In 2016
Is Hillary Running?
The Madonna Of Global Politics
2016 Talk

Bobby is better off not running in 2016. He will know in 2015 if Hillary will run. If she will - I think she will - then he is better off not running until 2024. In the mean time he could be a Senator and help bring the GOP into the center. Like Bill Clinton did with the DLC during the Reagan-Bush years.

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2016 Talk


Is Hillary Running?
The Madonna Of Global Politics

Susan Rice should stay on as UN Ambassador to the very end of Obama's second term. She was unfairly treated this time around. 

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Republicans Being Ridiculous On Benghazi Attack

George W. Bush
Cover of George W. Bush
George W. Bush on being told a plane had just hit the World Trade Center kept on reading stories to little children. He thought it was an accident, a bad accident, but an accident still. 9/11 was a thousand times more "offensive" - if that is the word - than the attack in Benghazi. And W got it wrong at the outset. The 9/11 attack was so unexpected, so out of the box. And I don't blame George W - never did - for not getting it right right away. To engage in such a blame game would be disrespectful of the tragedy.

In hindsight we know what the Benghazi attack was. It happened on 9/11. The Al Qaeda feels poetic about that date. America killed Bin Laden, so the Al Qaeda killed an American ambassador. I read up on the guy after the death. He was a dream ambassador. He was steeped in the local culture with passion long before he was picked for the job. Libya was lucky to have him. And he got killed. Of course people did not get it right right away. You start with disbelief. You even engage in a little bit of denial. But then you get it right, and you draw a plan of action. The president said the perpetrators will be brought to justice. And I think he means it, he meant it on Bin Laden.

Hillary Clinton has been an excellent Secretary of State. In an era when soft power means for more than military power Hillary has managed to draw on all sorts of levers of soft power to do an effective job as America's face to the world. Now for the Republicans to conclude her time in office with a humiliating hearing on Benghazi I find obnoxious. It is "offensive" - Barack Obama's word to Romney during the second debate. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for playing political football with an apparent tragedy. It is a disservice in that it takes away from the fight against the Al Qaeda. This meets my definition of a witch hunt. And if they are not ashamed they should own up to the fact that 9/11 happened on their watch.

Is Hillary Running?


A month after falling ill, Clinton returns to work
on Capitol Hill, where Clinton is expected to face bruising questioning from Republicans about security lapses at a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. The deaths of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in a militant attack there in September represent the largest blot on Clinton’s record as secretary, and Republicans have insisted that she testify in person about what went wrong ..... Top deputies gave Clinton the helmet and a jersey with the number 112, representing the number of countries she has visited during her tenure. .... “She loved it. She thought it was cool,” Nuland said, referring to the gift. “But then, being Hillary Clinton, she wanted to get right to business.”
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