The World is Talking. Global Politics

Neo Filipino criticizes politicians, including the Philippine president, who visited the US despite the typhoon devastation and ferry tragedy which hit the country last week.

Tor finds it amusing that Thailand's Prime Minister managed to make an origami bird while the opposition accused him of being unfit to run the country in a parliamentary session. The Curious Incidents of a Girl has a different opinion.

Updates on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal can be read in these blogs: Khmer Rouge Trial Web Portal and ECCC Reparations

In a personal attack that will almost certainly backfire, retired Gen. Wesley Clark blasted Sen. John McCain’s military credentials on Face the Nation.

Said Clark: “I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”

Terry McAuliffe told CNN that former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will be discussing Clinton’s role in the campaign within the next two days. As we noted, it’s Obama’s last necessary step to unify the Democratic party.

Said McAuliffe: “I believe that in the next 24 to 48 hours they will talk and off we will go.”

“Many analysts have said that Clinton’s not-so-subtle absence from the
campaign is because he is angry and bitter about his wife losing the
nomination.”

With no news coming from either campaign’s selection committee, Politico looks at the longshot candidates to be running mates for either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama.

It’s impossible to know who is on the short list, but it’s not hard to guess when the picks will be announced.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll in Arizona shows Sen. John McCain struggling in his home state. While he still leads Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 40%, that’s down from a 20 point lead in April.

Key findings: “McCain leads by twenty-seven points among men but trails by six among
women. The Arizona Senator is supported by 81% of Republicans and
enjoys a twelve point lead among unaffiliated voters. Obama gets the
vote from 75% of Democrats.”

A new SurveyUSA poll in Virginia shows Sen. Barack Obama edging Sen. John McCain, 49% to 47%.

Just a month ago, Obama led McCain by 7 points in the state.

“We are not going to be back in the majority
in the Senate next year. The numbers make that impossible.”

– Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), in a CNN interview.

When I first started reading this in the Sunday edition of the Daily News (NY), I assumed it was written by Michael Goodwin–it had his ineffable touch of imperishable platitude lying pale-belly up on the page. But, no, it was the brainwork of Bob Kerrey, former Democratic senator, current president of the New School, and one of those bipartisan junkies who thinks the only way to solve America’s problems is to glue an Abe Lincoln beard on Sam Waterston and heed his craggy wisdom. He’s also one of those fetishists who thinks “changing the tone in Washington” is some vital necessity. The purpose of his tone-changing piece is to offer unsolicited advice to Barack Obama on how Obama should conduct himself with his opponent, John McCain–advice that Obama should handle with tongs and dispose of in a plastic baggy. I’ve always found this genre of opinion piece–the What So-and-So Needs to Do guidance statement–as impertinent and pointless as its cousins Here Is the Speech the Candidate Should Make about My Pet Topc and the Open Letter to the Famous Personage (”Dear Hillary, Sure you’re hurting now, but in a few weeks…”), that notoriously coy device. Why should Obama take campaign counsel from Kerrey, a former Hillary-supporter, especially when the counsel is as wet noodle as what Kerrey is peddling here? “I support and will do what I can to help Sen. Barack Obama become our next President,” before offering a tepid recipe for certain loserdom.

Kerrey’s message to the Democratic victor is that he should take the initiative and strike a preemptive note of cooperative assent with his opponent, emphasizing their shared goals instead of sharpening and highlighting their differences. “From this comes a modest proposal and an immodest wish: That Obama begin now to look for opportunities to say to McCain: ‘I agree with you on that.’”

Stuffing words into Obama’s mouth, Kerrey offers a rollcall of issues on which Obama can reach out and ally himself with McCain:

- Sen. McCain, I agree with you in one critical way on the global war on terror. Some Democrats - and Republicans like Ron Paul - minimize the danger posed by violent Islamic fundamentalists. I say we must relentlessly pursue those who have declared themselves to be existential enemies of the United States. I will need your help, and that of other Republicans, to accomplish that objective.

- Sen. McCain, I agree with you on immigration. We need a comprehensive solution to this problem. I will need your help to accomplish that objective.

- Sen. McCain, I agree with your demand that Congress change the way it organizes oversight of our intelligence and homeland security efforts. I will need your help to accomplish that objective.

- Sen. McCain, I appreciate your leadership on campaign finance reform, and my opting out of public financing isn’t meant to abandon the system. There is a lot more that needs to be done to clean up the influence of money in politics. I will need your help to accomplish that objective.

This is so wrong I barely know where to begin. First of all, it’s boring–if Obama wants to disillusion even more Democrats than he has recently, the best way to do it is by mouthing mush such as, “I agree with you about the need for a comprehensive solution to immigration–help me help you help me to help America.” And what is John McCain going to be doing while Obama is doing all this agreeing?–he isn’t going to face pressure from the Republican side to make similar overtures to Obama. The voters, watching Obama strike one note of harmony with McCain after another, are going to think, Hell, if McCain is right on so many issues, why not just vote for him to begin with? Why go for the echo when you can have the golden-oldie original? The time for Obama to be conciliatory and solicit McCain’s help in the Senate is after he’s beaten his ass in the general election, not before.

“Build a bridge, Barack Obama” is the title of Kerrey’s exercise in David Broder-ism, but the bridge Kerrey wants Obama to build would collapse like a giant set of matchsticks at the first crossing, sending everything dashing down as John McCain enjoys one of those heh-heh chuckles that have made him as such an endearing rascal on the American scene.