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O Globo, Brazil
Obama and McCain: The Incredible Shrinking Candidates
"After the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt went down in history
as the president who managed to combine long-term vision with short-term political
expediency. Obama and McCain are confronting exactly the same challenge. … For
now, both seem small in confronting this cataclysm."
By William Waack
Translated By Brandi
Miller
September 22, 2008
Brazil - O Globo
- Original Article (Portuguese)
There's
nothing that Obama or McCain can do except wait with hands tied for their time
to assume office. It's possible that the next four years are being decided now,
in conversations between the Treasury Secretary (who is seeking extraordinary
powers for himself and his successor) and Congress - eloquent proof of this is
the resistance of Democrats to the package now being offered by Bush.
Even
if the details of this government salvation end up being approved by consensus
(and the markets, at this moment [Monday], showed that they didn’t believe it
would be), it is impossible to run away from the essential point: the next
American president will have to save a lot and spend little (forget the promise
of tax cuts that were even made - even by Obama himself).
At
this stage in the election campaign, neither of the two seem willing to admit that he'll be obliged to demand sacrifices from the people - and after a very hard
period - will have to ask for even more sacrifices. For more than a decade, Americans
have become used to living beyond their means, and up to now have been financed
by the entire world. The disorder that the crisis is creating is such that the
next president will probably have no reply to the question on everyone's lips: Are
you taking over the government of a country in inexorable decline, or
conversely, does this crisis presage another round of technological innovation (energy,
for example) and the absorption of brains from around the world?
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
ELECTION FUN: COLBERT REPORT WEEK RECAP, 9/15
It's
important to note here that China and others at no time have seemed interested
in “sinking” a rival. The difference between this and the Great Depression of
the last century, at least in the minds of the major players, is that the
notion of a defeat for one being a victory for another doesn't exist. In other
words, it's a globalized economy - in which the role of
nation states remain important, simply because the reordering of the
international financial system depends on governments.
In
the short term, the costs that the American government will have to absorb to put
together a rescue package will very likely accelerate the departure of U.S.
troops from Iraq. It will not depend on the willingness of McCain or Obama, (who
incidentally have displayed few differences about the facts, even before the
financial catastrophe of September 2008). But it will be up to them to display
the kind of political leadership that has been so rare historically.
[The International Herald Tribune, France]
The
classic example of this comes from their own country.
After
the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt went down in history as the president
who managed to combine long-term vision with short-term political expediency. Obama
and McCain are confronting exactly the same challenge: to understand the scope
and depth of the crisis, separate what counts in the long term and face an
arduous period of severe difficulties.
For
now, both seem small in confronting this cataclysm.
CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE
VERSION
[Posted by
WORLDMEETS.US September 22, 11:12pm]
