Roger Cohen's "A White Woman From Kansas": Obama's Mother Idealized

As the U.S. economy continues to tank, Roger Cohen, writing from London, lauds a new biography of Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "A White Woman From Kansas" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/opinion/03iht-edcohen03.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss). Cohen writes:

"Now, thanks to Janny Scott’s remarkable 'A Singular Woman,' absence has become presence. Stanley Ann Dunham, the parent who raised Obama, emerges from romanticized vagueness into contours as original as her name.

. . . .

To an equally unusual degree, because Dunham loved him fiercely, [Obama] had the emotional grounding to survive such self-definition."

Obama's mother "raised" him? She "loved him fiercely"? In fact, she abandoned him twice in furtherance of her studies and career, first when he was 10, and a second time when he was 14. Sorry, Roger, I don't care if I was offered the CEO slot at a top ten Fortune 500 company, I would never abandon any of my children.

Obama "had the emotional grounding to survive such self-definition"? Sorry again, but I cry for the young man, who was scarred for life by the perambulations of a father and mother in search of narcissistic self-fulfillment, and pray that he has been able to build, together with Michelle, a more secure, nurturing environment for his two daughters.

Cohen concludes, "I found myself liking Dunham". Anyone familiar with this blog knows why I am not surprised.

Turkey: Violence and Death at Election Rally in Hopa

With Turkey's 17th general election scheduled for June 12, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan traveled on Tuesday to Hopa, a town on Turkey's northeastern border with Georgia, to attend a rally, but instead encountered rioting that resulted in the death of a retired school teacher. As reported by Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=protests-death-mar-erdogans-election-rally-2011-05-31):

"Lokumcu, a retired teacher, died in the hospital due to a heart attack, reportedly after collapsing during a police crackdown in the city. Lokumcu’s friends said he was kicked by a police officer while already on the ground due to the gas bombs used by the police.

Nine people were wounded and six others were overcome by pepper gas sprayed by the police, Hopa State Hospital authorities told the Hürriyet Daily News over the phone.

. . . .

Protests and clashes between the police and the protesters continued for the whole day, although they were not covered by television channels.

. . . .

The protests in Hopa started before Erdoğan’s arrival in the coastal town. A group of demonstrators hung a huge banner, reading 'Erdoğan, get out of Hopa,' on a building overseeing the square where the prime minister would hold his rally. Another building in the square bore a huge banner for the main opposition CHP."

This is not the first instance of violence surrounding the upcoming Turkish elections. In April, one person was shot dead in southeast Turkey after a dozen Kurdish politicians were barred from participating in the general election.

Meanwhile, preparations continue in Turkey for a second flotilla expected to challenge the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza later this month. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seeking to galvanize Turkey's Islamic vote, stated last month (http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=221581&R=R1):

"It should be known that Turkey will give the necessary response to any repeated act of provocation by Israel on the high seas."

Remarkable how Davutoglu can engage in such hypocrisy, given Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority. Davutoglu also ignores the fact that in Turkey, life expectancy is 72.23 years and infant mortality is 24.84 per 1,000 births, whereas in Gaza, life expectancy is 73.68 years and infant mortality is 17.71 per 1,000 births. In addition, Turkey's literacy rate is 88.7%, while in Gaza it is 91.9%.

How do you say in Turkish, "Charity begins at home"? Better still, how do you translate, "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones"?

Thomas Friedman, "The Bin Laden Decade": What Tom Forgets to Say

Today, in his New York Times op-ed entitled "The Bin Laden Decade" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/opinion/01friedman.html?hp), Thomas Friedman, who is now said to be advising Obama (see: http://www.tnr.com/article/tel-aviv-journal/88563/obama-middle-east-zakaria-friedman-israel), claims that Osama bin Laden "did a number" on the Arab states, America and Israel,

"all of whom have deeper holes than ever to dig out of thanks to the Bin Laden decade, 2001 to 2011, and all of whom have less political authority than ever to make the hard decisions needed to get out of the holes."

Friedman blames the Arabs for failing over the past decade to address economic development, population growth and education. Friedman blames George W. Bush for a tax cut, Medicare prescription drug entitlement and two wars, all of which the U.S. could not afford. Friedman blames Israel for expanding West Bank settlements and destroying Israel as a Jewish democracy.

However, Friedman conveniently forgets that Obama has been President of the United States during the past two and a half years.

Observing that "Washington basically gave the Arab dictators a free pass to tighten their vise grip on their people," Friedman fails to remember that in his June 4, 2009 speech in Cairo, Obama excused the Arab states from implementing democratic reforms:

"I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other."

It skips Friedman's mind that Obama has failed to extricate the U.S. from a costly, pointless war in Afghanistan, and has even deepened U.S. involvement.

While blaming Israel for expanding West Bank settlements, Friedman fails to observe that in 2005, Israel undertook a unilateral evacuation of Gaza, which was followed by a hailstorm of missiles and rockets from Gaza directed at southern Israeli communities.

Friedman forgets that during that same bin Laden decade, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert offered Abbas an independent Palestinian state based upon the 1967 lines with land swaps, but this proposal was categorically rejected by Abbas. Does Netanyahu want to hold onto the West Bank with its 2.4 million Palestinians, as suggested by Friedman? No way, but like most Israelis, he is also unwilling to permit the return of Palestinian suicide bombings (also characteristic of the "bin Laden decade") or rocket fire from the West Bank into Tel Aviv, Haifa, Netanya and Jerusalem. Remember that Israel is only nine miles wide at its waist.

Friedman concludes:

"For all these reasons, I find myself asking the same question in Cairo, Washington and Jerusalem: 'Who will tell the people?'"

I suppose Friedman thinks that he is the chosen one. Thanks, but no thanks, Tom.

Civil War in Syria: Beginning of the End for Assad

Today for the first time, rebels in Syria fired back at the Syrian army when it attempted to enter Homs. After more than two months of peaceful protests in which more than 1,000 civilians have been murdered by Assad's security forces with the assistance of Hezbollah and Iran, the struggle has taken a new turn. As I have stated in the past, Assad will ultimately be forced to flee Syria.

Meanwhile, Obama and Hillary remain by and large silent in the face of this human tragedy. I understand that Obama is still sulking from his encounter with Netanyahu in Washington, and for this reason pointedly refused to intervene on Israel's behalf at last week's G8 summit, where Canada, but not the U.S., objected to a statement linking peace with the Palestinians to the 1967 lines.

In Damascus, where Hamas has its headquarters, Khaled Mashaal is preparing to move the terrorist organization's political wing to Qatar. Qatar, however, is refusing to host its military wing.

Hezbollah, which is armed by Syria and Iran, is also growing alarmed. Without Assad's patronage, Hezbollah's supremacy over Lebanon is threatened.

This coming Friday promises a bloodbath in Syria. Assad for his part is seeking to distract public opinion by again sending Palestinians to crash the Israeli border with Lebanon and Syria on the June 6, 1967 anniversary of the Six Day War (in Arabic, Yawm an-Naksa or "day of the setback").

Turkey, which is holding elections on June 12, is largely ignoring events in neighboring Syria, and its political leadership, busy seeking votes, is focusing on a new flotilla to be sent to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza in the third week of June.

Scrutinizing events in Syria and fearful for his own neck, Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has inked a unity pact with Hamas and now is in talks with Islamic Jihad.

Stay tuned.

David Brooks, "It’s Not About You"

David Brooks latest New York Times op-ed, "It’s Not About You" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html?hp), begins:

"Nearly every sensible middle-aged person would give away all their money to be able to go back to age 22 and begin adulthood anew."

Speak for yourself, David. Or perhaps, as many would claim, I am not "sensible".

Brooks's op-ed concludes:

"The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself."

Although I agree that the West is consumed by narcissism, this generalization strikes me as trite. The purpose in life for some may be to seek purpose or to "lose oneself" in the pursuit of some noble or greater cause; however, others, less privileged, are consumed by the struggle for physical and economic survival. For me, life's purpose has changed with the years and will continue to undergo modification, granting diversity, satisfaction and also gnawing self-doubt.

Paul Krugman's "Against Learned Helplessness": A New W.P.A. Program?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Against Learned Helplessness" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/opinion/30krugman.html?ref=opinion), Paul Krugman deplores the high level of unemployment with which the United States and Europe are saddled. Dr. Krugman tells us what he believes is the source of the problem and offers several solutions:

"The core of our economic problem is, instead, the debt — mainly mortgage debt — that households ran up during the bubble years of the last decade. Now that the bubble has burst, that debt is acting as a persistent drag on the economy, preventing any real recovery in employment. And once you realize that the overhang of private debt is the problem, you realize that there are a number of things that could be done about it.

For example, we could have W.P.A.-type programs putting the unemployed to work doing useful things like repairing roads — which would also, by raising incomes, make it easier for households to pay down debt. We could have a serious program of mortgage modification, reducing the debts of troubled homeowners. We could try to get inflation back up to the 4 percent rate that prevailed during Ronald Reagan’s second term, which would help to reduce the real burden of debt."

The "core" of the U.S. economic problem is debt? I disagree. Debt is only one of various maladies contributing to unemployment. And I certainly don't think that ringing up more debt in order to send unemployed computer programmers, or anyone else for that matter, to repair potholes is going to remedy the ailment.

Dr. Krugman fails to mention high energy costs, which are literally slowing the American economy to a snail's pace and destroying the U.S. balance of trade. What can be done to bring energy costs down? Plenty.

The U.S. is blessed with bountiful quantities of oil shale that can eliminate dependence upon foreign oil. Yes, in situ extraction can pollute ground water, but there are also solutions to this danger. An entire industry, requiring both high and low tech workers, can be spawned on American shores. (More on oil shale - I am personally acquainted with the subject - in a subsequent blog entry.)

Dr. Krugman also doesn't mention tariffs. Over past decades, U.S. manufacturing has been destroyed by cheap imports from China and Pakistan. Although Beijing and Islamabad won't be pleased, perhaps it's time to even the playing field by increasing tariffs or offering tax incentives to U.S. manufacturers in order to improve their competitiveness.

Finally, Dr. Krugman doesn't mention technological innovation. Technological innovation is a double-edged sword, which creates and destroys jobs. But without technological leadership, the U.S. economy is destined to be eclipsed, and such supremacy must be ensured, thereby also ensuring productive job growth.

A new W.P.A. program, sending overweight middle-aged persons to repair roads? It might cure obesity, but it won't make a dent in unemployment.

Thomas Friedman, "Pay Attention": Egypt Passes from Arab Spring to Middle East Ice Age

Thomas Friedman has me confused. Having long sung paeans to nascent Egyptian democracy and the Arab Spring, Friedman today warns in his New York Times op-ed, "Pay Attention" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29friedmanOpEd.html?ref=opinion), that timely Egyptian elections will bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power, which in turn

"could inject restrictions on women, alcohol, dress, and the relations between mosque and state."

Tom quotes a "reform party leader" as saying:

“We as secular forces prefer to have some time to consolidate our parties. We must thank the army for the role it played. But it was our revolution, not a coup d’état. ... If there are fair elections, the Muslim Brotherhood will only get 20 percent.”

Let me get this straight: September elections will not be "fair" because they will come too soon and bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power?

Tom goes on to say:

"[I]t is important that senior U.S. officials engage quietly with the generals and encourage them to take heed of the many Egyptian voices that are raising legitimate concerns about a premature runoff."

In other words, Obama should plead with the Egyptian general staff to delay the vote?

What makes Friedman think that if the so-called "liberal" parties are given time to organize that they will be able to garner a larger number of representatives in the new Egyptian parliament? Perhaps he should pay attention to the statistics released by the Pew Research Center in December 2010 (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/):

"At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt . . . say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion."

Could it be that the "Arab Spring" is already behind us and that we are soon to witness a Middle East ice age? One thing is clear: Friedman has been mugged by reality.