May One Live in Interesting Times......

The Democratic Primary continues to be interesting, to say the least. Barrack Obama has momentum. He has just sweeped the Potomac Primaries. Vernon Jordan said it is tough to run against a "movement". My problem is that if the Democratic Primary continues, it will pose a challenge in the general election. McCain is one tough guy to run against. There is no way one can run against him on National Security. However, his one vunerability is Iraq. Juan Cole's reporting today on the violence in Iraq is one indication of this. In addition, when Robert Gates talked about a pause in the US troop draw means to me that the Adminstration is seeing something the rest of us already know. The fact is that this strategy has been a temporary solution to a long simmering problem which will continue to haunt us until we have a President who is courageous enough to say that "enough is enough". The struggle goes on.

Going across the Pacific Ocean to Australia: Kevin Rudd, The Australian Prime Minister, just issued a long-promised apology to the natives of his country for how they have been treated. It takes courage and leadership. There is nothing wrong with saying that a mistake has been made. The key thing is to figure out how to insure that one does not learn from it again.