Friday, December 11, 2015

Eliot Spitzer, Barack Obama

Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hillary Rod...
Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There was a time when Eliot Spitzer was the next President Of The United States and Barack Obama was this good looking Senator you saw on TV who showed no signs of even trying to pass any major bill, but Spitzer was cutting butter with his knife in a major executive position. Obama had announced not only was he not running for president in 2008, he was not even interested in being Vice President. When you have been in DC one month, what else could you say?

Bobby Jindal 2024
Preet Bharara, Eliot Spitzer Parallels

Jewish people are different. I had not met too many before I got to New York City. But the outsize influence was obvious: there was data. 12 million people have imprints that 200 million people don't. A billion have not. That outsize influence is because they have packed so much knowledge per cubic millimeter of brain matter. Generation after generation. As in, others could do this too. Stop throwing stones and sit down and read.

In some micro interactions it struck me as to the level of emotional intelligence. And it was so obvious it was not individual. Part of it was the cubic millimeter thing. Part of it also is the history of persecution. When Hitler kills six million of your kind, that gives you a heightened sense of reality. For example, I had a Beware The Ides Of March moment a few weeks before my cliff fall in 2008, but I did not pay attention. I only saw it in retrospect. It was a Jewish guy. I have had several such micro interactions.

There is this super gifted politician in India. Bihar was the superpower when India was world. I have Bihari heritage. And there is this Jewish-like knowledge heritage Biharis have. Buddha, who gave the world its first republic purely on knowledge power, was Bihari. If they could only get their house in order, they could lead India again, because the future is not in coal, or even solar, it is in knowledge. Nitish Kumar. In terms of political gifts, Nitish Kumar and Eliot Spitzer are alike. You see a butter-knife thing. Bill Gates is a fan. What Nitish has done for Bihar's poor, Bill can only imagine.

Nitish was in alliance with Modi's party for a decade and a half. He walked away a year before Modi ran for PM. Many people think Nitish made the mistake of his lifetime. I am not so sure.

It can be said Eliot Spitzer said, fuck it, the black folks have been wronged too much by this country. And it is possible he combusted. It was a conscious political decision. Like Nitish walked away from Modi.

I identify with Jews on many levels.

When Punjab started combusting as a state in India, it was the leading state measured by per capita income. Both Bobby Jindal and Preet Bharara, I think also Nicky Haley, have Punjabi heritage. It is not rocket science that the most successful group felt acute disrespect. As in, if the disrespect is happening, you are going to feel it. There is no brushing it aside. Why can't people digest headgear? Why do you struggle with turbans and naqabs? The violent part was tragic, beyond tragic. Sikhs are like Jews, small in number but large in impact.


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