Friedman - 'Who Will Tell The People?'
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/op...4friedman.htmlOp-Ed Columnist
Who Will Tell the People?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 4, 2008
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.”
Oh boo hoo. Living in the world's richest, most powerful country is simply not good enough for Mr. Friedman? I shudder to think how the hyperbole would fly if he lived in a small, normal country on the periphery of world affairs, such as Hungary or Chile.
Well now there's an interesting way of looking at jaw dropping debt, brain drain, neglected infrastructure, and all of the other long term problems we face. Of course things could be worse...but they could certainly be better.Originally Posted by Rictor
A wise professor of mine once told me
For A country like Spain to drop from 8th to 9th place isn't a big noticeable deal
but for A country like the US to go from 1st to 2nd is a huge deal
Its the price of being a superpower
But not with the richest people and the best living quality. That's the message. That must be the goal.
A rich state with poor people --> China.
I hope the giants awakes after the Bush adventure.
America has lost its way, and its as simple as that.
And 99% of other countries never had "a way". What I'm saying is that not being a hyper-mega-ultra-power does not suddenly make a country worthless. But America has this myth where it is exceptional and somehow better than everyone else. So when that is no longer the case anymore, we get this sort of intellectual whining about how America is now down with the rabble and faces the same problems as everyone else.
Every other country in the world, with maybe a dozen exceptions, would give their left nut to be in America's place.
Isn't this the same guy that was telling us all the importance of fighting Islamic terrorism, just a few years ago? Looks he sways which ever way the wind blows.
I'm sorry, but these are for the most part, left wing media created crisis. I have no doubt it will all disappear from the radar the day after the dems are elected. With the exception of debt, which is a problem.
What "way" is that?
Other countries are worse off so shrug those shoulders, sit back, say **** it, and feel free to aim low?
Last edited by JKD; 05-12-2008 at 12:21 PM.
He's only allowed to write about one subject?
Should have know that darn Left Wing Media™ was behind all this. You could be right about the brain drain, I've only seen a handful of articles about it over recent years and am by no means an expert, but a lot of our infrastructure isn't exactly shiny new and in tip-top shape.I'm sorry, but these are for the most part, left wing media created crisis. I have no doubt it will all disappear from the radar the day after the dems are elected. With the exception of debt, which is a problem.
Yes, but he seems to be taking both sides.
You say that as if 95% of the media isn't left wing. When most of the people in the media vote democrat, its not hard to imagine they shape the news to suit them. Lately, study after study has shown this to be true. I think its just getting to hard to hide, especially with all the outright Obama love. Statements like, "They want our country to matter again", is nothing more than fear mongering drivel to make people think a democrat is our salvation.Should have know that darn Left Wing Media™ was behind all this.
He's pro-terrorism now?
It's an opinion editorial, dude. Not a news article.You say that as if 95% of the media isn't left wing. When most of the people in the media vote democrat, its not hard to imagine they shape the news to suit them. Lately, study after study has shown this to be true. I think its just getting to hard to hide, especially with all the outright Obama love. Statements like, "They want our country to matter again", is nothing more than fear mongering drivel to make people think a democrat is our salvation.
Stop being so obtuse. Hes basically saying we need Obama, so we can nation build in America. Implying that we shouldn't be doing it in Iraq/Afghanistan. Thats a 180 from where he was 2 years ago.
Now you back track and say, "isn't he allowed to change his mind"?
I don't necessarily agree with him on that but I'd be skeptical of anyone who's completely locked into one position and inflexible regardless of new information, changing situations, or just having had more time to reflect.
I'm not even sure it's a ringing endorsement for Obama over either Hillary or McCain, rather a proposal that wishful ideology. if it can acted on, isn't out of place. Friedman is fleshing out what 65-80 perscent of Americans told the Gallup organization; they're unhappy with the direction the country is taking. They can't all be Democrats or Moral Majority Republicans.
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