Democrat, heal thyself

Today, instead of adding to the sea of self-serving commentary, on this subject I defer to an excellent piece from the NY Observer which I recommend you read.

Here is the link: http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage3.asp
The piece comes to me from a friend in Paris who is a former US Ambassador and a Dems Abroad supporter. We both agree that it is the best, most introspective piece on the election we have seen so far.

Rumania

Someone, tell Elie Wiesel it's safe to go back now. Only sixty years later, President Ion Iliescu now admits that somewhere between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed in Rumania during the Holocaust, and accepts the responsibility "in the name of the Rumanian State". Many more Rumanians were killed in Hungary and in Transylvania.

Only last year, a Rumanian minister said that there had been no Holocaust on Rumanian soil. After the war, there was still so much antisemitism in that country that Rumanian Jews who had survived, didn't dare return home.

"Strong Man" Antonescu, who personally led a large portion of the mass murders, is still a hero to a lot of Rumanians.

(How do you make Rumanian goulash? First, steal a chicken...
--Old Bulgarian joke)

Coming Soon, Palestinian Elections

The constitution provides that the President, Rawhi Fattouh, be in charge for sixty days, until the elections. After that, the new leader takes charge. He will probably not be the new leader; he is too easy-going to win anything. Nor will Farouk Kaddoumi, the number two in El Fatah. Kaddoumi, you fans will remember, strongly opposed the Oslo Accords.

The two front-runners, Mahmoud Abbas and Ahmoud Qorei, are considered moderates. Both are in their late sixties. Of the two, Abbas, number two man in the PLO, is considered to be the more pragmatic. Qorei, a banker and financier, is also no friend of the militants. There are two others in the running, but probably less likely to win. There is, therefore hope.

This would be a great time for President Bush to stand up and tell those people, Palestinians and Israeli's alike, to "Negotiate now".

Yasser Arafat

He was the incarnation of the hopes of the Palestinian people. He made their cause famous, respectable and coherent. He leaves a power vacuum in his wake. He was an historical figure of great importance. Europe understands that; evidently, the Bushies do not. Still, I will not miss him.

As dynamic and grand as he was early in his career, he seemed to me--and to a lot of Moslim observers--to have shrunk to become no more than an old man locked in a personal vendetta with his arch-enemy, Ariel Sharon. What we saw of late was the spectacle of two old-timers, each hating the other, each willing to do anything in order to spite the other. The Palestinians deserved better. The Jews deserved better. The cause of peace required better. It was time that at least one of them withdrew from the conflict.

I hope his place will be filled by a leader who can work effectively for peace and resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It's the only way any progress will be made. And it's the only way Israel can survive as a nation.

Today, November 11, 2004, I offer a view of an American Military Cemetary near Duxford, England and remember that, in war, many young men and women--in this case, aircrew members--die.  

Bert, in his office, contemplating his next post. 

Ralph or Teresa?

Who cost Kerry more votes? I think it's a no-brainer. Teresa did. Personally, I liked her. She exuded a certain ivy-league detachment. But she did not help her husband get elected.

A public appearance during a Presidential campaign is a job interview. At a job interview, you have to make the person who is going to hire you feel that you are enthusiastic about the job, that you respect the work you are seeking. If you spend the interview staring off into space and talking to friends on your cellphone, you are not going to get the job anywhere.

For better or worse, Americans expect the President's lady to be up for performing a ceremonial role in the government. Teresa, baby, looked like she would rather have been eating eclairs.

Arlen Specter

Already it starts. Arlen Specter, who has voted for every one of Bush's appointees, is not conservative enough for the new government. Normally, he would, by reason of seniority, be the next Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He might still get it but he has to bow really low to the religious right in order to redeem himself.

He has been under fire from the fringe that takes credit for the big win last Tuesday and which now controls the party; he ventured to suggest that perhaps a vowed opponent of Roe V. Wade might have some problem getting confirmed as a Supreme. Merely, a factual observation, but the Sensitive Right brooks no dissent.

Some of the remaining more moderate Republicans are trying to save him. Trouble is brewing in River City.

I take this as a sign that the infighting within the GOP has begun. Success will dull their edge, widen there narrow focus and I expect them to begin to have the same internal scraps and rhubarbs that the Dems are always accused of having. The second law of thermodynamics will be applied impartially. Yipppeeee!!!

The Religious War

What started in Iraq and Afghanistan to avenge 9/11, is now in Holland. Last week, Theo van Gogh, whose words cost him his life; yesterday, a bomb was planted in a Moslim elementary school in Eindhoven. The Dutch were not attacking anyone, but the whole world is slowly being drawn in.

Meanwhile, today, we are blowing up Falluja and whoever is left in it. The fighting is fierce. Shades of Vietnam! It has become necessary to destroy the ville in order to save it.

Samarra was also hit, by the insurgents. I know a lad who is a medic in a Special Forces group that should be in Samarra right now. He may be busy. I pray he and his comrades keep well and survive this disaster.

You cannot look at the newsreel clips of the fighting without wondering where this horror will ever end. No wonder Bush held back the assault--and kept Rummy and Co. off the horizon--until after the election.



We have sown the wind; we are reaping the whirlwind.