Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Okay, I've not paid ANY attention to this blog in awhile. I've been doing a lot of articles for ZDNet, which is a nice megaphone that reaches a lot of people. However, ZDNet is a TECHNOLOGY news site, and I have lots of opinions that don't neatly fit into that particular domain.
So, it's time to start blogging again. I'm sure lots of people have posted this kind of message and said "yes, I will blog again," then never managed to get restarted. It's a bit like new year's resolutions.
So, first up: the battle for the Democratic party presidential nomination. Suffice to say, I'm overjoyed that Howard Dean is less likely to be the nominee. I like Kerry. He supports free trade (though Dean has made him mutter things about labor and environmental side agreements), he's environmentalist, and his foreign policy credentials are top notch. Presidents NEED to be good at foreign policy, because their specific domain of control is NOT domestic policy. That's Congress' bailiwick. The American Constitution grants presidents exclusive (or nearly so) control over foreign policy, on the theory that foreign policy needs a single face to show to other countries.
I don't trust Howard Dean's foreign policy credentials (well, besides the fact that he has none to speak of). Likewise, I don't take issue per se with with a stance against the war in Iraq, so long it's clear that the stance is the result of lots of careful consideration. Unfortunately, Dean's stance seems like the kid who discovered that loud screaming causes the parents to come running. Yeah, there are many people who are against the war in America, and his loud screaming caused them to come running. However, "bobbing for WMD" photo-ops and his refusal to admit that the issue of whether or not to invade Iraq has no obvjectively obvious solution bothers me.
There are a number of reasons why invading Iraq was a good idea (well, at least in my opinion), and I'll probably bring up more of them in the course of adding to this blog. I just don't get the impression that Dean ever thought of any of them.
If Kerry wins the nomination, I could easily see voting for him come November. In fact, I expect that has occurred to a number of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, which explains Kerry's strong showing.
So, it's time to start blogging again. I'm sure lots of people have posted this kind of message and said "yes, I will blog again," then never managed to get restarted. It's a bit like new year's resolutions.
So, first up: the battle for the Democratic party presidential nomination. Suffice to say, I'm overjoyed that Howard Dean is less likely to be the nominee. I like Kerry. He supports free trade (though Dean has made him mutter things about labor and environmental side agreements), he's environmentalist, and his foreign policy credentials are top notch. Presidents NEED to be good at foreign policy, because their specific domain of control is NOT domestic policy. That's Congress' bailiwick. The American Constitution grants presidents exclusive (or nearly so) control over foreign policy, on the theory that foreign policy needs a single face to show to other countries.
I don't trust Howard Dean's foreign policy credentials (well, besides the fact that he has none to speak of). Likewise, I don't take issue per se with with a stance against the war in Iraq, so long it's clear that the stance is the result of lots of careful consideration. Unfortunately, Dean's stance seems like the kid who discovered that loud screaming causes the parents to come running. Yeah, there are many people who are against the war in America, and his loud screaming caused them to come running. However, "bobbing for WMD" photo-ops and his refusal to admit that the issue of whether or not to invade Iraq has no obvjectively obvious solution bothers me.
There are a number of reasons why invading Iraq was a good idea (well, at least in my opinion), and I'll probably bring up more of them in the course of adding to this blog. I just don't get the impression that Dean ever thought of any of them.
If Kerry wins the nomination, I could easily see voting for him come November. In fact, I expect that has occurred to a number of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, which explains Kerry's strong showing.
