Posted by Dinah on November 8, 2006, at 20:14:54
In reply to and just to add, apoliticallyDinah, posted by zeugma on November 8, 2006, at 19:09:48
I was quite young when stagflation, interest rates in the high teens, a marginal tax rate of ninety percent, tensions between east and west, nuclear proliferation, and lingering aftereffects of an unpopular war had the country (and a young and inexperienced me) in despair. I gained a certain faith in the resiliency of the country and the people. My mother might fear that the election of this or that president will mean that the country is doomed, but I retain faith in checks and balances and the pull of the middle - or what is considered middle in the US anyway.
And added to that totally uncharacteristic optimism and faith is my totally characteristic cynicism. I find it relatively easy to be dispassionate about things that I have no real ability to change.
Iran-Contra... I'm not saying that there are no repercussions today from what happened then. But that was twenty years ago in another lifetime as far as world politics is concerned. The world was truly a different place then. It would be a sad world if there was no room for growth and learning from mistakes in the long space of twenty years. I'd be more interested in his contributions to the Iraq Study Group.
Bush the Elder put quite a deal of faith in him, didn't he? And he was certainly a man of caution and very impressed with the importance of consensus in foreign policy. I guess that came from his years in government service.
While I can't quite see Bush the Younger adopting his father's style, perhaps this might be a pull to the middle? Or at least a slight tug.
(I must say that I was quite entertained when I ran across the Kissinger quote on Rumsfeld.)
poster:Dinah
thread:701645
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20061009/msgs/701780.html