As the 2008 US presidential election ramps up, it seems that the biggest looming question -- perhaps even bigger than Iraq -- is the question of how to preserve America's economic dynamism in the face of intense competition from the BRICs and others. Will the US economy and society be able to adapt successfully to …
Tag: US politics
Bush, Sr. meets Abe
Former US President George H.W. Bush visited Japan on Saturday and met with Prime Minister Abe Shinzo (and, incidentally, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Tokyo for meetings with Abe).I can't help but laugh at the symbolism of Abe meeting with George H.W. Bush, with whom I compared Abe in this post. Abe …
The paranoid fantasies of Lou Dobbs
This morning before work I caught Lou Dobbs on CNN International while flipping through the news channels. In the span of the few minutes I watched, he reported on grassroots efforts to fight illegal immigration quashed by the US corporations and the government, US cooperation on policing with "totalitarian" Red China, "the march of the …
Final roundup on the Democratic victory
In the past day several writers have produced worthwhile post-mortems on the elections that have echoed my concerns about the Democratic victory.First, at the New Republic website (free registration required), John Judis -- who must be happy now that he can return to his "emerging Democratic majority" trope -- provides a sober review of the …
Japan watches and waits
As the Election Day dust settles in Washington, foreign governments are watching closely to see what will change.Japan is no exception. Arguably, for Japan and Asia as a whole (with the potential exception of congressional retaliation aimed at China), the impact will mainly be felt in its impact on how the Bush administration conducts foreign …
An end to openness?
Obviously the biggest stories of the day -- pretty much all around the world -- are the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.I gave my take on the former yesterday, in this post, but I want to call attention to comments on the election over at …
The importance of Henry Paulson
So the Democrats reclaim the House. And the Senate remains within reach, with results from two races pending.There's not much I can say about this that isn't being said elsewhere, but what I will say is that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may now be the most important man in the Bush administration, if not in …
Pre-election doubt
I said that I would try to limit my discussion of American politics, but I read a few pieces today upon which I couldn't resist commenting.First, in the FT Alan Beattie writes about American attitudes towards globalization, noting that despite the common perception that Americans are much more tolerant than Europeans of the "negative" consequences …
Tobias S. Harris 