Damon Linker of the New Republic has an interesting, intelligent response to the National Review article I linked to recently in defense of American exceptionalism. I particularly liked this remark about President Bush: Lots of conservatives turned on George W. Bush by the end of his presidency. But here we see that if Bush didn’t [...]
In January I wrote that both China and the United States view themselves as exceptional nations, ones that resist comparison to other countries across a broad spectrum of issues. Members of the U.S Republican Party, I wrote, believe in the superiority of the American system regardless of any metric that proves otherwise. Five weeks later [...]
Who writes the textbooks we use in our schools? Who pays for them? From which point of view do they argue? How do our schools choose these textbooks? Do alternatives exist? To the last question, I can definitively answer yes. Not long after I arrived in college, a friend lent me a copy of the [...]
I’ve really been enjoying the spectacle of thousands of American conservative cranks descending onto our nation’s capital to vent their hatred of Barack Obama. Now, if you take the protestors at their word you may come away convinced that they were a united band of citizens concerned about runaway public spending. But this isn’t true. [...]
One by one, President Obama’s potential Republican rivals are being dispatched like video game villains. To wit: Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, delivered such a feeble rebuttal to Obama’s quasi-State of the Union speech that he has since shrunk back into anonymity. Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, hiked the Appalachian Trail Jon Huntsman, governor [...]
I’ve been tracking this “tea party” movement back in the US with a combination of bafflement and mild amusement. As has The Washington Post, who actually attended the DC party: Without the spectacle of a 1773-style tea-bag dump in the square, the handmade signs became the focus of the event. Though ostensibly an anti-tax protest, [...]
Now that I’ve gotten my endorsement out of the way, it’s time for some rather, er, conventional predictions. Check back this time tomorrow to see how accurate they are. 1. Obama will win all of the Kerry states plus Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and in a surprise, North Carolina (by a whisker) 2. [...]
We liberal Americans of Kunming are getting mighty excited about the election, given that everyone and his mother expects Barack Obama to win. A good friend of mine, John, wasn’t so sure. He’s in his 60s and has lived abroad much of the last 40 years after growing up in Georgia and North Carolina. To [...]
A friend of mine recently told me that, if the US presidential election were decided amongst American expats in Kunming, Obama would win by about a 10 to 1 margin. I thought about it for a minute, and then disagreed. “You’re forgetting the people on the other side of town,” I said. Unlike cities like [...]
Yikes…an e-mail from my sister reminded me that I’ve been silent in this space for a bit longer than usual. Apologies! Work has been busy and I’ve been occupied by other things, but keeping fresh content on this site remains a priority to stay tuned. Before I write about my trip (I’ve got a bit [...]