HOW’S THE FUTURE LOOKING? Ask a science-fiction writer. I’m inclined to agree with this: “I think the next twenty years are an inflection point for human civilization.”
Archive for 2012
November 5, 2012
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Why The Ambassador Died. “The story raises deeper and far more troubling questions about how unprepared the administration was to deal with the new situation its intervention in Libya created. For months now, the security situation throughout Libya, in neighboring Mali, and in other countries has been deteriorating sharply. Bands of jihadis and their supporters are roaming almost at will. Under conditions like this, it was only a matter of time before American citizens or diplomats would be attacked or taken hostage. This latest news is just one more piece of evidence pointing to the unhappy reality that the administration intervention in Libya was something the White House did not fully understand and for whose consequences it did not prepare. Washington jumped into Libya without knowing what it was doing; as the situation unraveled it dithered and delayed. Perhaps the White House didn’t want anybody to notice just how big a mess it had made and hoped that if America didn’t do anything dramatic the mess would just quietly go away on its own; perhaps it took a long time for the penny to drop.”
Plus, the key bit: “Ambassador Stevens didn’t die because the White House had a bad night. He died because the White House has bungled North Africa.”
Whatever, it was a major debacle, which people are starting to notice despite the press’s best efforts to downplay it until the election.
OBAMA’S KATRINA: Hurricane Sandy Victims Beg For Help. Plus this: “Then, there’s NYC Mayor Micheal Bloomberg who endorsed President Obama last week in the name of climate change, referring questions about help for hurricane victims ‘to the press guy.'”
GET READY for the next war.
REPORT: A Disappointing Turnout For The Obama Rally In Madison, Wisconsin. “Meade is on the scene, where he talked to a police officer who said they’d planned for 30,000 but were estimating the crowd at 15,000. And Meade encountered a friend who said he’d heard reports that it would be a nightmare trying to park downtown, but he pulled into a parking garage and was the first car there.”
THERE’S THAT 13%: Slate Also Has Defectors. To whom it may concern, even with same turnout, 13% hands the election to Mitt. But this is no time to get cocky. GO OUT AND WORK. Then vote. And work to get out the vote when you’re NOT voting.
IN THE MAIL: From Stephen Hunter, The Third Bullet: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel.
I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD GIVE A LOT OF THESE CELEBRITIES LESS OF OUR MONEY AND ATTENTION: Meltdown: Obama-promoting model Chrissy Teigen curses out conservative followers.
Note to Chrissy: It’s one thing to be famous for having boobs, and another to be famous for being one.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Black Depression.
The October employment numbers deepened the gloom among African Americans and those (including the Via Meadia team) who believe that the United States as a whole cannot progress as it should unless African Americans are getting ahead too. As a report from Think Progress reminds us, in October, African American unemployment rose almost a full percentage point to 14.3 percent.
As we’ve noted in earlier posts, unemployment is only part of the story. America’s Black middle class is facing a crisis of historic proportions. African Americans were among the biggest losers in the housing bubble; well intentioned but ill advised policy changes intended to get more low income families and marginal households into home ownership kicked in just in time to lure African American families into the housing market at the peak of the bubble. The loss of wealth and savings has been nothing short of catastrophic; decades of progress in building net worth for middle class and lower middle class minority families have been wiped out since 2007.
So. How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya?
HECKUVA JOB, BLOOMIE: Mayor Bloomberg’s Response to Sandy Leaves Many New Yorkers Out in the Cold. “The mayor has brilliantly stage-managed his handling of the storm, but outside the city’s affluent precincts numerous angry residents feel abandoned by his administration as days have passed and help has remained distant.” Ray Kelly not looking so good either. Plus this:
In any event, we had only two FEMA sightings over the day while driving over much of the island—a phone number for them written in marker on the back of an OEM trailer at Midland, and eight people wearing FEMA Corps light blue jackets huddled outside a Hess Express, seeming oblivious to or disinterested in the huge line of cars on the road beside them.
Not very impressive. But hey, there’s an election on.
I DUNNO, THIS FRENCH “JOURNALISM” SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF AMERICAN OUTLETS:
During breakfast this morning, I listened to RTL, one of France’s major radio channels (my wife’s choice, not mine). There was a quick report on the impending U.S. presidential election.
“Yesterday, we followed Barack Obama’s campaign,” a young woman said. “Today we turn to Mitt Romney’s campaign.” All right. Except that “following Romney’s campaign” amounted, incredibly, to an interview with a certain Dr. Gordon, who explained that most Americans were grateful to President Obama for having introduced Obamacare. Especially those women who otherwise would have been deprived of any access to birth control. Some journalist at RTL then explained that Romney would abolish Obamacare. And the report was over.
MSNC and NPR for sure. . . .
VIDEO: Sandy Victims Beg For Help. While Obama campaigns.
WILL THE MSM LOSE YET AGAIN? Just remember that Reagan-Carter in 1980 was “too close to call” for the pollsters, Michael Ledeen writes.
FRANK J. FLEMING TAKES ON the crazy idea that the President is the “leader” of our country.
THE “BLACK” PRESIDENT: Hasn’t been very good at all for blacks. Jason Riley at the Wall Street Journal nails it:
The election of Barack Obama four years ago gave blacks bragging rights, but bragging rights can’t close the black-white achievement gap in education or increase black labor-force participation or reduce black incarceration rates. A civil-rights leadership that encourages blacks to look to politicians to solve these problems is doing a disservice to the people they claim to represent.
Asians, for their part, can point to an out-of-wedlock birthrate of just 16%, the lowest of any major group and a significant factor in Asian success. The black illegitimacy rate last year was 72%. Might it be that having a black man in the Oval Office is less important for black advancement than having one in the home?
The political scientists tell us that Mr. Obama will almost certainly need every black vote he can muster on Election Day. Less certain is whether blacks need him.
Oh, and the “great uniter” has turned into American history’s greatest divider on race relations. One step forward, two steps back.
BOB KRUMM: What If The Gallup Electorate Poll Is Right? Plus four other scenarios.
REMEMBER, PICKING BIDEN WAS OBAMA’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DECISION: Oops! Joe Biden forgets Barack Obama’s name as he continues his run of campaign gaffes with just one day until election. Praising how “President Clinton” handled the Chrysler bankruptcy. A heartbeat away. . . .
A LANDSLIDE WITHOUT COATTAILS? Paul Rahe of Ricochet doubles down on Mitt Romney’s chances for tomorrow, but in any case, his post raises a good question: Why didn’t Republican House or Senate candidates run under a “Contract with America”-style unifying umbrella? And could Romney have done more to have supported GOP House and Senate candidates, particularly given Harry Reid’s “I hope he fails”-style quote this past week.
JOHN FUND: Doug Wilder Sours On Obama. “What does the first African-American governor elected since Reconstruction think of the nation’s first African-American president? . . . Wilder sounds down and depressed about Obama’s record and prospects now. He thinks the president took his eye off the ball by not emphasizing job creation during the last four years.” Ya think?