Month: August 2008

The Russian Media On Georgia

Some encouraging signs of free inquiry. I haven’t written on this for a bit, as the domestic campaign has taken off. I still don’t support including Georgia in NATO; and believe handling Russia requires more than pretending that the Soviet Union still exists. But there’s little doubt, it seems to me, that Putin has just sent a chilling signal about the resurgence of Russia and its revived ambitions in its near abroad. And it underlines the point that until the global economy finds a different form of energy, the petro-powers are going to be able to dictate a lot of things in the next couple of decades.

Biden: Mom’s Boyfriend

A reader writes:

Silver’s analysis looks sharp to me – and in ways that help Biden.  He’s only repeating the opinion that he could rope in eastern PA.  More importantly, he’s spot-on about seniors, most especially senior women.  For years, we’ve referred to him as Mom’s Boyfriend Biden.  Contrary to some, she loves to listen to him talk – the humor but, most imporantly, he knows what he’s talking about.  I’d even say, for all of Biden’s infamous loquaciousness, he doesn’t talk out of his butt.  Biden always does his homework. 

If Biden is named Obama’s VP, I’ll cry tears of joy.  If not, I’ll just cry.

Alaska’s Teetering Titans

Charles Homans witnesses the end of an era:

The events of the past two years in Alaskan politics read like the last days of a venal institutional party somewhere in Latin America. Indeed, Alaska’s history often resembles that of a kind of frozen banana republic: an idealistic political experiment projected onto an unsettled territory with a troubled colonial past, stagnating in the hands of a single ruling party bolstered by a monolithic resource extraction economy.

Biden’s Primary Experience Theme

It makes his veep potential more complicated. I’m really agnostic about Obama’s veep choice. With Obama, his own persona is so strong I’m not sure it matters as much as it sometimes does. Personally, I favor Webb. Given the tenor of the campaign of late – the usual macho-posturing of the GOP – Webb would work very well. And Obama needs oomph. Bayh gives the ticket a youthful Clinton-Gore feel. Biden is a good attack dog and foreign policy re-assurance. But he does go on.