It's no surprise that the WTO talks are increasingly being pulled off the rails by China and India, who continue to grow as the voting publics of the West ignore them. Global economic growth is good for everybody - as long as it results in the growth of democracies. This is anything but assured. Ted Koppel makes this point abundantly clear in his series on China that democracy does not equal capitalism. And where is the attention of the candidates?
In John McCain's case, it's quite pointedly on China's human rights record. If you've read my other blog entries, you may have noticed I'm sometimes interested in Chinese and Tibetan affairs. I didn't know until today when I did a "McCain China" news search that on Friday he met with the Dalai Lama.
This is major news, yet it was largely overlooked by the national press. I try not to jump on media bandwagons, especially stories about stories as in this case, but I can't help myself here. Gerald Baker at the London Times wrote a little parody summarizing the media frenzy; I would think it was funnier if I weren't afraid some of Obama's people might miss that it's parody.
While Obama was busy looking good on camera overseas, McCain was drawing attention the growth of a superpower government that has showed little interest in the rights of its own people,
let alone those of its trading partners. Twenty years from now I hope we can look back knowing we made the right choice. IF IT'S GOOD FOR JOHN MCCAIN, IT'S GOOD FOR AMERICA, IT'S GOOD FOR THE CHINESE PEOPLE, AND BAD FOR THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT.
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2 comments:
I saw McCain's meeting with the Dalai Lama on NBC, so I would say that there was national coverage. I don't know that I'd take that meeting as a sign that he's the only one interested in seeing China become more observant of human rights. I haven't read his positions enough to say that he has a good strategy on how to deal with China.
Well, all the soft ball interviews from the major networks designed to boost Obama's spirits are going to be a setback for him. Whenever he gets questioned, the stuttering, stammering, and confused responses start. Just like in the primaries, with Hillary, Obama gets frazzled when people actually challenge him. Even when he had to answer pretty easy questions at Saddleback, he was unable to give direct, definitive answers. I'm still wondering how he will be able to rectify the fact that his capital gains tax figures keep changing, and how he can rectify his deliniations of tax braks (0-$150,000 $150,000-$250,000 and $250,000+) don't agree with his claim of lowering taxes for 95% of Americans. This figure includes those who don't pay taxes, doesn't line up with his brackets, and don't specify households or individuals. I go into further detail about Obama's "all over the place" wealthredistribution plan during a slow economy on my blog... http://wayfarerthinking.blogspot.com
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