Thomas Friedman: "George Bush's Third Term"

[seafan]

Article in NYTimes Select.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/opinion/23friedman.html&OQ=nQ3DTopQ252fOpinionQ252fEditorialsQ2520andQ2520OpQ252dEdQ252fOpQ252dEdQ252fColumnistsQ252fThomasQ2520LQ2520Friedman&OP=7d0a94bbQ2FQ2Av!fQ2ADEKVVDQ2AuMMkQ2AWWQ2AuUQ2AVAejeVjQ2AuUQ26Ke!hQ22njFgDQ22P

--snip

"We are entering the era of hard choices for the United States - an era
in which we can't always count on three Asian countries writing us
checks to compensate for our failure to prepare for a hurricane or
properly conduct a war," said David Rothkopf, author of "Running the
World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the
Architects of American Power."

"If President Bush doesn't rise to this challenge, our children and
grandchildren will look at the burden he has placed on their shoulders
and see this moment as the hinge between the American Century and the
Chinese Century. George W. Bush may well be seen as the president who,
by refusing to address these urgent questions when they needed to be
addressed, invited America's decline."

Truly, I hope Mr. Bush rises to the challenge. We do not have three
years to waste. To do that, though, Mr. Bush would need to become a
very different third-term president, with a much more centrist agenda
and style. If he does, he still has time to be a bridge to the future.
If he doesn't, the resources he will have squandered and the size of
the problems he will have ignored will put him in the running for one
of our worst presidents ever.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.politics.economics/browse_thread/thread/bbb4b458481de78e/9df376ced1266189?lnk=st&q=george+bush's+third+term+friedman&rnum=1#9df376ced1266189


This a stunning piece from Friedman. The only thing I take issue with in it, is his claim that "a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible..". The time for this claim was when the weapons inspectors were continuing to find no WMD's.

It makes me numb to comprehend what a small group of vicious ideologues occupying our government have done to hurt so many people, and with untold ramifications far into the future.

[DemInDistress]

1. May george w bush "DROP DEAD" today and at the funeral

may dick cheny have a massive heart attack and also "DROP DEAD".These
2 major back stabbing cut throat oilmen from texas deserve all the misery and hardship that can befall anyone in life. Hell is where they belong along. I pray misfortune comes into their lives and the lives of their entire families.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!!!

[Fridays Child]

2. Friedman always shits on every good thing he writes by defending his...

...defenseless pro-war position.

[autorank]

3. Tom Friedman is a disgrace; He's the NYT Op Ed equivalent of Judy Miller.

Just watch him on tv for about five minutes.

Fatuous,

supercilious,

pedantic,

naive;

Theses and other pejoratives come screaming out.

He's an ass, he helped create the problem.

He supported the Iraq War!!!

What a nit wit.

But, of course, he'd be published in the times.

[Hand]

4. Here's another place where Friedman's wrong:

He says, "Truly, I hope Mr. Bush rises to the challenge."

He won't; he never has, even under far better circumstances.

I've heard a good comment on "rising to" a challenge or occasion: "We don't rise to the occasion--we drop to the level of our training and experience."

Thinking that Chimpy et al can "rise to the challenge" as Rosy Scenario Friedman "truly" hopes is a futile pipe dream. It assumes that they have previously untapped resources of creativity, imagination, skillfulness, charisma, etc. that can be brought to bear in this crisis.

They don't. They were tapped out long ago, and Friedman's a damn fool if he believes in what he "truly" hopes.

[autorank]

5. Friedman is headed for the 9th Circle of Hell for his complicity...

...in this crime. He'll be in line of course. The actors in the deception will be first, then the enablers: NYT & faux reporters; WashPost and faux reporters; the tv folk; Republican Party; Democrats who went along (to go along). They're all headed where the sign at the door says: "Abandon hope, all who enter here!"

[Einstein99]

6. Right on!

I am getting so tired of all these "wise old men" who make the talk show circuit talking about what George W. Bush needs to do to turn things around: bring in some fresh blood, move to the center, set a new course. All of these things are great, but they ignore the obvious: George W. Bush is NOT CAPABLE of doing any of these things. It's just not in his "genetic make-up," as Bill Press put it yesterday on The Situation Room. So, does this mean that we are witnessing the decline of the American Empire? Quite possibly.

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. The Moustache of Understanding..

...is waiting for a bubble to un-pop.

Ain't gonna happen.

We're riding this one aaaaalllll the way down.

[IndianaGreen]

8. I had my fill of the "American Century"!

I want this empire dead and the Republic back!

[benddem]

9. Bush is going to

make ANOTHER major speech on Iraq this week. Should we have a poll on how many times he will say 9/11 war on terra, saddam hussein bad,
or if it will just be the same damn speech he's repeated over and over.
Oh wait that's the one I want polled.

[BlueManDude]

10. When will the Friedman's of the world realize there'll be no "centrism"

from these fruitcakes?

[FtWayneBlue]

11. "third term pres" ???????????

[seafan]

12. Friedman tilted whichever way the wind blew. He's doing the same thing

now. Right now I'm not optimistic for the return of authentic investigative journalism any time soon.

Tom, your words are nice now, but we won't forget how you banged the war drums for your hero. Credibility is not your strong suit.