> May 4, 2008
>
> Op-Ed Columnist
>
> Who Will Tell the People?
>
> By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
>
> Traveling the country these past five months while writing a book, I've
had
> my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My
own
> totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one
> overwhelming hunger in our country today it's this: People want to do
> nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in
> America.
>
> They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan,
with
> so little to show for it. They sense something deeper - that we're just
not
> that strong anymore. We're borrowing money to shore up our banks from
> city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us
that
> Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it
because
> we have no leverage - as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad
and
> our economy is pinned to Middle East oil.
>
> Our president's latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and
beg
> King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess
there
> was some justice in that. When you, the president, after 9/11, tell the
> country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction
to
> oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount
> gasoline.
>
> We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three
decades,
> the Asian values of our parents' generation - work hard, study, save,
> invest, live within your means - have given way to subprime values: "You
can
> have the American dream - a house - with no money down and no payments
for
> two years."
>
> That's why Donald Rumsfeld's infamous defense of why he did not
originally
> send more troops to Iraq is the mantra of our times: "You go to war with
the
> army you have." Hey, you march into the future with the country you have
-
> not the one that you need, not the one you want, not the best you could
> have.
>
> A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York's Kennedy Airport to
> Singapore. In J.F.K.'s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to
sit.
> Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore's ultramodern airport, with
> free Internet portals and children's play zones throughout. We felt, as
we
> have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons.
If
> all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station
today
> with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear
we
> were the ones who lost World War II.
>
> How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money
> from Singapore? Maybe it's because Singapore is investing billions of
> dollars, from its own savings, into infrastructure and scientific
research
> to attract the world's best talent - including Americans.
>
> And us? Harvard's president, Drew Faust, just told a Senate hearing that
> cutbacks in government research funds were resulting in "downsized labs,
> layoffs of post docs, slipping morale and more conservative science that
> shies away from the big research questions." Today, she added, "China,
> India, Singapore ... have adopted biomedical research and the building
of
> biotechnology clusters as national goals. Suddenly, those who train in
> America have significant options elsewhere."
>
> Much nonsense has been written about how Hillary Clinton is "toughening
up"
> Barack Obama so he'll be tough enough to withstand Republican attacks.
> Sorry, we don't need a president who is tough enough to withstand the
lies
> of his opponents. We need a president who is tough enough to tell the
truth
> to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red
Phone
> at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I'm voting for the one who can
talk
> straight to the American people on national TV - at 8 p.m. - from the
White
> House East Room.
>
> Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living
on
> borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for
> greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.
>
> I don't know if Barack Obama can lead that, but the notion that the
idealism
> he has inspired in so many young people doesn't matter is dead wrong.
"Of
> course, hope alone is not enough," says Tim Shriver, chairman of Special
> Olympics, "but it's not trivial. It's not trivial to inspire people to
want
> to get up and do something with someone else."
>
> It is especially not trivial now, because millions of Americans are
dying to
> be enlisted - enlisted to fix education, enlisted to research renewable
> energy, enlisted to repair our infrastructure, enlisted to help others.
Look
> at the kids lining up to join Teach for America. They want our country
to
> matter again. They want it to be about building wealth and dignity - big
> profits and big purposes. When we just do one, we are less than the sum
of
> our parts. When we do both, said Shriver, "no one can touch us."
I just got into my 50's and have known for a couple decades now America is
a
long ways from being the greatest country...no matter how many times
Dumbya
and the GO'Pukes lie that we are...I think the only thing we are number
one
at anymore is the number of people we have incrcerated.
----
At the RNC incest is priority-one because that's how the GOP got started,
yes, all the way back to THEE Virgin Birth ;)
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com
**
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