Many of Thomas Friedman's recent op-ed pieces for the NYT have been silly or superficial, but today he hit a home run with Bush Disarms, Unilaterally: "At a time when the global economic playing field is being flattened - enabling young Indians and Chinese to collaborate and compete with Americans more than ever before... what we really need most today is a New New Deal to make more Americans employable in 21st-century jobs. We have a Treasury secretary from the railroad industry.... we have movie theaters in certain U.S. towns afraid to show science films because they are based on evolution and not creationism... Bush and the Republican Congress already slashed the 2005 budget of the National Science Foundation by $100 million... the National Innovation Initiative was virtually ignored by the White House."
And the punch line:
"It's as if we have an industrial-age presidency, catering to a pre-industrial ideological base, in a post-industrial era."
Exactly. But what do you expect if you elect a know-nothing, born-again, failed oilman? And by the way: this blog piece was brought to you by way of the Internet, created with DARPA tax dollars. And don't you forget it.
Posted by geoff2 at April 15, 2005 11:56 AMThanks for pointing out this article. The cynic in me says people pushing a New New Deal didn't give Bush enough money for his election campaigns, so it isn't a priority. You'll notice he just signed a bill that's a big win for the financial industry, and Social Security "personal" accounts would be a big win for that same industry. Guess what, the financial industry is a big Bush supporter.
Posted by: Dave in Austin, TX at April 21, 2005 10:31 AMThanks for pointing out this article. The cynic in me says people pushing a New New Deal didn't give Bush enough money for his election campaigns, so it isn't a priority. You'll notice he just signed a bill that's a big win for the financial industry, and Social Security "personal" accounts would be a big win for that same industry. Guess what, the financial industry is a big Bush supporter.
Posted by: Dave in Austin, TX at April 21, 2005 10:31 AM