NOTE: FOR MY NEXT FEW POSTS, I PLAN TO HIGHLIGHT DECISIONS THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS MADE IN WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED HIS "FIRST SEVERAL DAYS IN OFFICE" THAT MIGHT BODE WELL FOR HIS PRESIDENCY OVER THE LONG-TERM. THESE DECISIONS WILL BE NUMBERED, BUT ONLY TO HELP READERS DIFFERENTIATE THEM FROM ONE ANOTHER. THEY WILL NOT NECESSARILY APPEAR IN ORDER OF "IMPORTANCE" (WHICH IS SOMETHING ONLY TIME CAN SORT OUT, ANYWAY).
I am doing this because I am thus far rather impressed with several decisions and/or announcements the new president has made over the past week or so. Though the economic stimulus package--which is an ongoing, momentous undertaking--has yet to come into full focus, a number of other important policy and personnel decisions have been made that should be receiving more major media attention than they are at present. Here is one of them:
DECISION #1
Policy Area: Foreign Policy (Middle East Policy)
Decision/Announcement: George Mitchell as U.S. Middle East Envoy
Just as he did when he was the president-elect, President Obama seems intent on carrying on with the process of surrounding himself with solid, accomplished, broadly-popular people (both at home and abroad). The appointment of former-U.S. Senator George Mitchell (a Democrat from Maine) as the Obama Administration's peace envoy to the Middle East is a case in point.
Mr. Mitchell, who is now in his seventies, was President Clinton's point man in the Northern Ireland peace process, during which he played a key role with much success. (His work in these regards reflected well on the Clinton Administration.) He also took Major League Baseball to task for the black cloud of steroids hanging over it, and the result seems to be a more vigilant MLB testing program and tougher punishments for those who fail the tests.
Domestically, Mr. Mitchell is liked by political kin and respected by political adversaries. He is often seen as being impressively professorial without coming across as having his head stuck in the clouds that surround the Ivory-Towers of academia, which is to suggest that he is also seen as being a relatively down-to-earth, politically moderate elder-statesman.
Given his steady-handed foreign policy work, Mr. Mitchell also carries clout internationally. Though Middle East peace talks are always very, very tricky endeavors, he could help to bring a sense of at least a bit more stability to the proceedings at a juncture when a little more stability is so desperately needed. (As a tangential point, the fact that Mr. Mitchell's mother was a Lebanese immigrant might help him ingratiate himself to some of the principle players in the region, at least a little bit.)
And it's surely the case that his successful foreign policy work for President Bill Clinton will help him when it comes to working with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Preserving The "Inaugural Moment" For Posterity, While Simultaneously Recognizing That Close, Tough Presidential Scrutiny Must Now Begin
In order to preserve the "inaugural moment"--at least as far as it can be preserved--I have decided to re-post on this blog-site two comments I wrote and posted on the blog-sites of two friends in the hours directly following the moment when President-Elect Barack Obama became President Barack Obama. I do not do this in order to set "in stone" a template for my future mindset regarding the forty-fourth president of the United States, but rather to celebrate the speech he delivered Tuesday to an attentive world, as well as to suggest why his inauguration will benefit the United States in the long-run (and in a number of ways).
Please understand that I am not at all saying that various aspects of life both inside and outside of the United States are likely to change for the better today or next week, or even in a year's time. Instead, I am suggesting that several of the various "policy roads" down which the United States may be ready to embark look to be far more realistic and pragmatic than several of the ones down which the U.S. has traveled for the past eight years and, in some cases, for a longer period of time than that.
I guess what I'm saying is that I was a consistent supporter of Democratic-nominee Obama, and I hope to be an at least fairly consistent supporter of President Obama in the coming years. We'll have to wait in order to see if the latter happens but, for now at least, I remain optimistic on that front.
At any rate, these are the words I posted on "Centrisity" (http://centrisity.blogspot.com) on Inauguration Day:
"What I liked about President Obama's inaugural speech was the fact that his rhetoric inspired but did not soar. He is preparing us for the hard work ahead, and his words were modulated to put us in that frame of mind...at least once the next few days are over.
"This was a relatively restrained, thoughtful performance that suggests that this president has a mind that can work in calculated, gritty prose and not just poetry.
"Well done and congratulations, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President. Now, let's see where we go from here...."
--Hasslington
These are the words I posted on "Penigma" (http://penigma.blogspot.com) on Inauguration Day:
"What is naive is to suggest that carrying on in the manner we were (for as long as we did, under the last president) was a pragmatic method of creating future prosperity at home and future goodwill among our very, very necessary friends and allies abroad. It was, of course, something very different from pragmatism; it was the definition of the word 'naive.'
"What is most certainly not naive, however, is the fact that we just inaugurated two of the smartest guys in the room (so to speak) to lead us in uncertain times. Though there are bound to be disappointments, doing what we have just done has given us a better chance at future prosperity at home and good will abroad (which are increasingly interlinked, of course)."
--Hasslington
Please understand that I am not at all saying that various aspects of life both inside and outside of the United States are likely to change for the better today or next week, or even in a year's time. Instead, I am suggesting that several of the various "policy roads" down which the United States may be ready to embark look to be far more realistic and pragmatic than several of the ones down which the U.S. has traveled for the past eight years and, in some cases, for a longer period of time than that.
I guess what I'm saying is that I was a consistent supporter of Democratic-nominee Obama, and I hope to be an at least fairly consistent supporter of President Obama in the coming years. We'll have to wait in order to see if the latter happens but, for now at least, I remain optimistic on that front.
At any rate, these are the words I posted on "Centrisity" (http://centrisity.blogspot.com) on Inauguration Day:
"What I liked about President Obama's inaugural speech was the fact that his rhetoric inspired but did not soar. He is preparing us for the hard work ahead, and his words were modulated to put us in that frame of mind...at least once the next few days are over.
"This was a relatively restrained, thoughtful performance that suggests that this president has a mind that can work in calculated, gritty prose and not just poetry.
"Well done and congratulations, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President. Now, let's see where we go from here...."
--Hasslington
These are the words I posted on "Penigma" (http://penigma.blogspot.com) on Inauguration Day:
"What is naive is to suggest that carrying on in the manner we were (for as long as we did, under the last president) was a pragmatic method of creating future prosperity at home and future goodwill among our very, very necessary friends and allies abroad. It was, of course, something very different from pragmatism; it was the definition of the word 'naive.'
"What is most certainly not naive, however, is the fact that we just inaugurated two of the smartest guys in the room (so to speak) to lead us in uncertain times. Though there are bound to be disappointments, doing what we have just done has given us a better chance at future prosperity at home and good will abroad (which are increasingly interlinked, of course)."
--Hasslington
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Congratulations, President Obama And Vice President Biden
Dear President Obama and Vice President Biden,
Congratulations on becoming the president and vice president of the United States of America. As you are well aware, our country is at a vital turning point in its history (in both a domestic sense and an international sense), and though there are bound to be disappointments and failures during your tenure in office, you are both careful thinkers, which means that the challenges we face will be met by our leaders not just with grit and determination, but also with considerable levels of both insight and foresight. Because of this, though time and history will ultimately determine whether or not your years in office will be considered "successful," I am now and will continue to be proud that the citizens of my country elected the two of you to fill two of the most important jobs in the land--and in the world.
Yours sincerely,
Hasslington
Congratulations on becoming the president and vice president of the United States of America. As you are well aware, our country is at a vital turning point in its history (in both a domestic sense and an international sense), and though there are bound to be disappointments and failures during your tenure in office, you are both careful thinkers, which means that the challenges we face will be met by our leaders not just with grit and determination, but also with considerable levels of both insight and foresight. Because of this, though time and history will ultimately determine whether or not your years in office will be considered "successful," I am now and will continue to be proud that the citizens of my country elected the two of you to fill two of the most important jobs in the land--and in the world.
Yours sincerely,
Hasslington
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Regarding The End Of The George W. Bush Era, And The Beginning Of The Barack Obama Era
This past week, my friend Penigma wrote an interesting piece regarding the legacy of George W. Bush titled "To Sleep, Perchance To Re-Write History," which was posted on his blog-site (http://penigma.blogspot.com/). I'm not going to provide a snippet from it, but I do encourage any interested Hasslington readers to visit his site and read it in its entirety. Whether you agree or disagree with his viewpoint, it's thought provoking, and it prompted me to write this post, which can be read with or without first reading Penigma's thoughts.
At any rate, here are my reflections as we await the inauguration of a new U.S. president:
Given all of the references to Abraham Lincoln being bandied about in the U.S. media prior to Barack Obama's inauguration as the forty-forth U.S. president, and given that now is an appropriate time to start the process of reflecting on the George W. Bush years in their entirety (though we won't be done reflecting on them for many years to come, I'm sure), what I'd like to share in this post is the quote from President Lincoln that springs to my mind in the wake of the Bush Administration's dubious record regarding waterboarding, torture, the Iraq War-of-Choice, and so forth. Mr. Lincoln said the following:
"The monstrous injustice of slavery...deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites."
The United States of America is both a good and great nation, in a number of senses. Yet what President George W. Bush has demonstrated in surfeit is our great "hard power," to the exclusion of many of the other things that make us great, and what he has failed to demonstrate is a reading of the world that takes into account not just good and evil, but also realism, ambiguity, the necessity for constructive international public relations when possible, the pragmatic nature of a number of forms of "soft power," mutual understanding, and the acknowledgment that for the U.S. to continue to exert what President Lincoln would call its "just influence" in the world, its leaders need to recognize and recalibrate how the U.S. displays much of its power.
I approve of a strong American military, but I also approve of leaders who use it cautiously and, if possible, with much fore-planning. There are times when I do indeed approve of asserting certain moral absolutes, but only when those who assert them behave in ways that display those absolutes with consistency, and when they acknowledge that there are indeed instances when we must recognize the existence of moral ambiguities and apply multi-layered approaches to the complex developments that spring from those ambiguities. And I do like people who go with their general "gut" instincts, but only when they offset those instincts with a close study of why those instincts are telling them certain things, and whether or not what everything their "gut" is saying is correct.
I guess what I'm saying is this: with alterations in its wording, I feel as though one can plausibly apply the above quotation from President Abraham Lincoln to the legacy of President George W. Bush. In order to do this, one would have to remove "slavery" and insert "torture," or perhaps "cultural myopia," or perhaps "indifference to the concerns of one's friends and allies," or...the list goes on. But the point is that the above quotation is, to my mind, largely applicable to Mr. Bush's presidency, and this is obviously not a positive thing.
I am not suggesting that everything President Bush has done has been disastrous, because that would represent disingenuous hyperbole. I'm also not suggesting that soon-to-be-President Obama will succeed at everything he attempts to do, because reality dictates that he is bound to have setbacks and failures. What I am saying, however, is that on November 4, 2008, my country reversed its trend of the previous two presidential elections when it elected a careful thinker to the presidency. Because of this, whatever the outcome of his years in the White House might be, the fact that Barack Obama will be my president is something of which I am proud.
At any rate, here are my reflections as we await the inauguration of a new U.S. president:
Given all of the references to Abraham Lincoln being bandied about in the U.S. media prior to Barack Obama's inauguration as the forty-forth U.S. president, and given that now is an appropriate time to start the process of reflecting on the George W. Bush years in their entirety (though we won't be done reflecting on them for many years to come, I'm sure), what I'd like to share in this post is the quote from President Lincoln that springs to my mind in the wake of the Bush Administration's dubious record regarding waterboarding, torture, the Iraq War-of-Choice, and so forth. Mr. Lincoln said the following:
"The monstrous injustice of slavery...deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world--enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites."
The United States of America is both a good and great nation, in a number of senses. Yet what President George W. Bush has demonstrated in surfeit is our great "hard power," to the exclusion of many of the other things that make us great, and what he has failed to demonstrate is a reading of the world that takes into account not just good and evil, but also realism, ambiguity, the necessity for constructive international public relations when possible, the pragmatic nature of a number of forms of "soft power," mutual understanding, and the acknowledgment that for the U.S. to continue to exert what President Lincoln would call its "just influence" in the world, its leaders need to recognize and recalibrate how the U.S. displays much of its power.
I approve of a strong American military, but I also approve of leaders who use it cautiously and, if possible, with much fore-planning. There are times when I do indeed approve of asserting certain moral absolutes, but only when those who assert them behave in ways that display those absolutes with consistency, and when they acknowledge that there are indeed instances when we must recognize the existence of moral ambiguities and apply multi-layered approaches to the complex developments that spring from those ambiguities. And I do like people who go with their general "gut" instincts, but only when they offset those instincts with a close study of why those instincts are telling them certain things, and whether or not what everything their "gut" is saying is correct.
I guess what I'm saying is this: with alterations in its wording, I feel as though one can plausibly apply the above quotation from President Abraham Lincoln to the legacy of President George W. Bush. In order to do this, one would have to remove "slavery" and insert "torture," or perhaps "cultural myopia," or perhaps "indifference to the concerns of one's friends and allies," or...the list goes on. But the point is that the above quotation is, to my mind, largely applicable to Mr. Bush's presidency, and this is obviously not a positive thing.
I am not suggesting that everything President Bush has done has been disastrous, because that would represent disingenuous hyperbole. I'm also not suggesting that soon-to-be-President Obama will succeed at everything he attempts to do, because reality dictates that he is bound to have setbacks and failures. What I am saying, however, is that on November 4, 2008, my country reversed its trend of the previous two presidential elections when it elected a careful thinker to the presidency. Because of this, whatever the outcome of his years in the White House might be, the fact that Barack Obama will be my president is something of which I am proud.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
With This Post, I May Have Jinxed The Steelers And Cardinals
I suppose I should further embarrass myself with more silly NFL playoff picks. (It is, after all, the weekend.) So here they are:
AFC: BALTIMORE RAVENS AT PITTSBURGH STEELERS
The Baltimore Ravens travel to Pittsburgh tomorrow in order to play the Steelers. Baltimore is something like 5-1 in playoff road games, which is eye-poppingly superb. But Pittsburgh is something like 6-1 in their last seven playoff games, which is just as impressive, and which just might nullify Baltimore's trend. (I may be a bit off with those statistics, but my point is that these teams have impressive numbers heading into this game.) I don't forsee a lot of touchdowns, so it may end up to be a battle of the kickers, amongst other things.
Hasslington's prediction: Pittsburgh 16, Baltimore 13.
NFC: PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT ARIZONA CARDINALS
I have picked the opponents of both of these teams to win and advance for the past two weeks running, and I've obviously been wrong in each and every case. Now I've got to pick one of these two teams to beat the other. Conventional wisdom says that Philly will win, despite the location of the game. So far this post-season, when I've picked against conventional wisdom, I've been wrong. Yet when I've gone along with conventional wisdom, I've also (usually) been wrong. So I haven't got a clue this time. Here's my guess....
Hasslington's prediction: Arizona 17, Philadelphia 14.
AFC: BALTIMORE RAVENS AT PITTSBURGH STEELERS
The Baltimore Ravens travel to Pittsburgh tomorrow in order to play the Steelers. Baltimore is something like 5-1 in playoff road games, which is eye-poppingly superb. But Pittsburgh is something like 6-1 in their last seven playoff games, which is just as impressive, and which just might nullify Baltimore's trend. (I may be a bit off with those statistics, but my point is that these teams have impressive numbers heading into this game.) I don't forsee a lot of touchdowns, so it may end up to be a battle of the kickers, amongst other things.
Hasslington's prediction: Pittsburgh 16, Baltimore 13.
NFC: PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT ARIZONA CARDINALS
I have picked the opponents of both of these teams to win and advance for the past two weeks running, and I've obviously been wrong in each and every case. Now I've got to pick one of these two teams to beat the other. Conventional wisdom says that Philly will win, despite the location of the game. So far this post-season, when I've picked against conventional wisdom, I've been wrong. Yet when I've gone along with conventional wisdom, I've also (usually) been wrong. So I haven't got a clue this time. Here's my guess....
Hasslington's prediction: Arizona 17, Philadelphia 14.
Friday, January 16, 2009
"Miracle" On The Hudson? Okay, Fine. But More Than That, It Was A Life-Saving Vindication Of Modern "Renaissance" People
I have no problem with nearly every member of the major U.S. media outlets echoing New York's major politicians by calling yesterday's emergency water-landing of the New York to North Carolina jet--which resulted in no deaths--a "miracle." After all, such a title sounds nice, and I'm sure those who survived that very dangerous scenario most likely think that such a term is completely appropriate when used to describe the outcome.
Yet I struggle with the "miracle" designation for one reason--it obscures what seems to me to be the most important aspect of the pilot's superb accomplishment, which is that he is not only an expert on planes, but also an expert in the fields of crisis management (above and beyond that which is necessary to become a licensed pilot) and gliders (above and beyond that which is necessary to become a licensed pilot).
Not surprisingly, passengers and crew from the flight report that the pilot, whose name is Mr. Chesley Sullenberger, was as calm and focused as possible during and after the incident. And it should be pointed out that he didn't fly the plane into a crash landing in the Hudson River so much as he glided it to a surprisingly smooth landing there.
Modern Renaissance people, who follow one area of interest into a tangential area of interest--and in turn follow that into another tangential area of interest, and so on--are often thought of as outside the mainstream, and sometimes marginalized by others for the number of their various interests, as well as for their intensity regarding those interests. (Many so-called "mainstream" people study up on what they do for a living, and are interested in very little of detail beyond that.) Yet Mr. Sullenberger is clearly a modern Renaissance man, and because of this he performed a staggeringly important service on the Hudson River that few others could provide, at least not as well as he did.
Might we call this emergency landing a "miracle"? Okay, fine. But to me it is every bit as much--and probably far more--a story of life-saving personal and professional accomplishment from someone who clearly follows his interests far more extensively than most other folks ever do.
Hmmm....
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Hasslington's Republican To Watch Over The Next Several Years: U.S. Senator John Thune
(In my previous post, which can be found directly below this one, I wrote about an American Democratic politician who I think may play an increasingly large national and international role over the next several years. Today, I am writing about an American Republican politician who may play a similarly increasingly large national and international role over the next several years....)
It genuinely surprises me that U.S. Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has been virtually ignored in both the press and the blog-o-sphere over the last year or so, particularly given the fact that he was quite well-positioned to become Senator John McCain's running mate during the 2008 presidential campaign season. As it turned out, however, when potential McCain running mates were scrutinized, a lot more folks focused on people such as former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and ultimately Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who was eventually selected to be Senator McCain's running mate). I focused on Governor Palin in particular, and I went so far as to suggest that Senator McCain would indeed select her to be his running mate.
Though I was right about Governor Palin, I also focused on the possibility that Senator Thune might be selected for the aforementioned role (at one point, I put him just behind Governor Palin as the #2 possibility to be selected), mostly because of how his relative youth (at present, he is forty-eight years old, and he looks youger than that) and relative conservative values (social and fiscal) would have contrasted well with Senator McCain's "maverick," bi-partisan trademark. (Senator McCain's "maverick" status has since been muddied, though probably not beyond recovery, in the wake of his wobbly and clench-fistedly conservative presidential campaign.) That Senator Thune is from the Midwest might also have contrasted well with, and complimented, Senator McCain's status as a senator from the Southwest.
Senator Thune is well-spoken in televised interviews, during which he tends to be not only oddly convincing in his smoothly-delivered arguments to those (like me) who might otherwise disagree with a number of his conservative stances, but also strangely compelling due to what appears to be his genuinely quiet, calm manner. Might these be some of the reasons why South Dakotans selected him over incumbent Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004, which was the first time in a long, long time that such a powerful member of the U.S. senate lost a re-election bid? (Conservative leaders and commentators still celebrate Senator Thune's rather remarkable win.) And might these be some of the reasons why murmurs are finally starting to gather in rather quiet corners of the internet regarding the possibility that he might run for president in 2012 or 2016?
Up to this point, Senator Thune has managed to come across as both a genuine conservative and a genuinely decent fellow most all of the time, though this may have something to do with the fact that, though he serves on a number of important senate committees (such as the Armed Services Committee), his work has been conducted in a rather under-the-radar manner so far; his profile might simply not be high enough to challenge the accepted notion that he is a well-liked and genuinely pragmatic guy. (He simply fits the role of "young, clean-cut conservative," which has thus far seemed to serve him well with his colleagues and the few elements of the press who have paid attention to him.) When his profile rises, as it is bound to do, it will be interesting to see if he can, and if he will, sustain this image.
Senator Thune may run for the U.S. presidency in 2012. Yet given his age, he could also easily wait to run for president until the 2016 election cycle if it looks as though President Obama will cruise to re-election in 2012. One way or the other, he may very well find himself on a Republican presidential ticket in either 2012 or 2016. He may even be at the top of one of those tickets.
It genuinely surprises me that U.S. Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has been virtually ignored in both the press and the blog-o-sphere over the last year or so, particularly given the fact that he was quite well-positioned to become Senator John McCain's running mate during the 2008 presidential campaign season. As it turned out, however, when potential McCain running mates were scrutinized, a lot more folks focused on people such as former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and ultimately Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who was eventually selected to be Senator McCain's running mate). I focused on Governor Palin in particular, and I went so far as to suggest that Senator McCain would indeed select her to be his running mate.
Though I was right about Governor Palin, I also focused on the possibility that Senator Thune might be selected for the aforementioned role (at one point, I put him just behind Governor Palin as the #2 possibility to be selected), mostly because of how his relative youth (at present, he is forty-eight years old, and he looks youger than that) and relative conservative values (social and fiscal) would have contrasted well with Senator McCain's "maverick," bi-partisan trademark. (Senator McCain's "maverick" status has since been muddied, though probably not beyond recovery, in the wake of his wobbly and clench-fistedly conservative presidential campaign.) That Senator Thune is from the Midwest might also have contrasted well with, and complimented, Senator McCain's status as a senator from the Southwest.
Senator Thune is well-spoken in televised interviews, during which he tends to be not only oddly convincing in his smoothly-delivered arguments to those (like me) who might otherwise disagree with a number of his conservative stances, but also strangely compelling due to what appears to be his genuinely quiet, calm manner. Might these be some of the reasons why South Dakotans selected him over incumbent Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004, which was the first time in a long, long time that such a powerful member of the U.S. senate lost a re-election bid? (Conservative leaders and commentators still celebrate Senator Thune's rather remarkable win.) And might these be some of the reasons why murmurs are finally starting to gather in rather quiet corners of the internet regarding the possibility that he might run for president in 2012 or 2016?
Up to this point, Senator Thune has managed to come across as both a genuine conservative and a genuinely decent fellow most all of the time, though this may have something to do with the fact that, though he serves on a number of important senate committees (such as the Armed Services Committee), his work has been conducted in a rather under-the-radar manner so far; his profile might simply not be high enough to challenge the accepted notion that he is a well-liked and genuinely pragmatic guy. (He simply fits the role of "young, clean-cut conservative," which has thus far seemed to serve him well with his colleagues and the few elements of the press who have paid attention to him.) When his profile rises, as it is bound to do, it will be interesting to see if he can, and if he will, sustain this image.
Senator Thune may run for the U.S. presidency in 2012. Yet given his age, he could also easily wait to run for president until the 2016 election cycle if it looks as though President Obama will cruise to re-election in 2012. One way or the other, he may very well find himself on a Republican presidential ticket in either 2012 or 2016. He may even be at the top of one of those tickets.
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