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Monday, August 20, 2012

Newsweek Bolts

Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson, writing in the news magazine Newsweek, comes out against President Obama in this election.  The interesting thing isn't that Professor Furguson is opposed to President Obama's reelection, but that Newsweek not only published it, but put it on the cover.
Despite having been—full disclosure—an adviser to John McCain, I acknowledged his opponent’s remarkable qualities:  his soaring oratory, his cool, hard-to-ruffle temperament, and his near faultless campaign organization.

Yet the question confronting the country nearly four years later is not who was the better candidate four years ago.  It is whether the winner has delivered on his promises.  And the sad truth is that he has not.
I guess I would quibble that the question confronting us is who has the ideas to move us forward, but Professor Ferguson's point is on target.

Under the theory of six degrees of separation, Professor Ferguson is married to Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who wrote the script for the short documentary, Submission, that led to the murder of Theo van Gogh, in Amsterdam, Holland.  I am figuring my path is through my granddaughter's husband, who probably isn't that far separated from Theo van Gogh.  And, I have read the Professor's book, The War of the World.

Then there is his latest book, released in November of last year, blurbed here at Amazon.
In Civilization: The West and the Rest, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts that the Rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic.  These were the ‘killer applications’ that allowed the West to leap ahead of the Rest; opening global trade routes, exploiting new scientific knowledge, evolving representative government, more than doubling life expectancy, unleashing the industrial revolution, and hugely increasing human productivity.  Civilization shows exactly how a dozen Western empires came to control three-fifths of mankind and four-fifths of the world economy.

Yet now, Ferguson argues, the days of Western predominance are numbered because the Rest have finally downloaded the six killer apps the West once monopolized – while the West has literally lost faith in itself.

Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside the clashes of civilizations, Civilization recasts world history with verve and wit.  Boldly argued but also teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.
Is this not a clue to the Professor's thinking?

But, what about Newsweek's thinking?  I am shocked.

Regards  —  Cliff

2 comments:

Jack Mitchell said...

I'm not discouraged. I started following the Obama campaign, closely, in March of 2007. I know the "promises" very well. Unfortunately, the economy was run into a ditch in late 2008. I'd venture to say, certian promises were waylayed out of neccessity.

Stuff got done.


From The White House: Signed Legislation
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From PolitiFact.com: The Obameter Scorecard
Promise Kept 190 (37%)
Compromise 71 (14%)
Promise Broken 81 (16%)
Stalled 50 (10%)
In the Works 114 (22%)
Not yet rated 2 (0%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From Wikipedia: Major legislation
2009
January 29: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
February 4: Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
February 11: DTV Delay Act
February 17: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
March 30: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
April 21: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
May 20: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
May 20: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009
May 22: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009
June 22: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
August 6: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act
October 22: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act
October 28: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
October 30: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
November 6: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
2010
January 27: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act
March 4: Travel Promotion Act
March 18: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)
March 23: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
March 30: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
May 5: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
May 17: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act
July 1: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act
July 21: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
July 22: Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010
July 22: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
August 10: SPEECH Act
September 27: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010
December 13: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
December 17: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
December 22: Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
2011
January 2: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (H.R. 847)
January 4: Food Safety and Modernization Act, Pub.L. 111-353, H.R. 2751
August 2: Budget Control Act of 2011
October 21: United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
October 21: United States-Panama Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
October 21: United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
November 21: VOW to Hire Heroes Act
2012
April 5: Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act

Seems Wiki is struggling to keep up with 2012. Or, the Beltway GOPers are trying to win an election by shutting down the legislative process?

JoeS said...

I saw the professor on a Sunday morning show and would characterize him as a stuffy individual who would look down his nose at you. I found it interesting that he started with his hopes for the Obama administration, but in time he was disappointed. It wasn't until the host noted that he was a McCain supporter that it was clear he carried a bias into the discussion.

But him aside, there certainly have been some disappointments, as well as some hopes realized with the Obama administration. The primary disappointment is the conflict with Congress - each side is guilty. And I don't like his patchwork approach to tax policy - it is just making an unweildly system more complicated in order to please a certain constituency.

On the plus side, there is the demise of Osama bin Laden - a goal realized that some are now trying to turn inside-out. The Stimulus was successful as measured by the change in direction of many key parameters, such as GDP, stock market measures and jobless claims, in the immediate period following the Stimulus. Republicans now criticize it, but were happy to take the one-third of it in tax cuts, as well as the grants that were promoting jobs at the time. And healthcare is a major improvement, it just doesn't go far enough to make it a single-payer system.