Politics 2004 Presidential Election

From the Deccan Herald - a South Indian newspaper.


Deccan Herald, Sunday, November 07, 2004 



ON THE SPOT

Bush begins with a disadvantage – lack of credibility

BY TAVLEEN SINGH



Like millions of people in our part of the world I woke at an ungodly hour last Wednesday to see who would become the next President of the United States.

When I woke, bleary-eyed, and glanced at the messages on my phone, I noticed that friends in Europe had stayed up very late for the same reason I was up early.

The last message came from a journalist friend in England at 6 a.m. his time and gloomily conceded that ‘It all depends on Ohio and that probably means Bush will win’. He had stayed up all night because of a passionate conviction that John Kerry must win if America’s ‘disastrous’ foreign policy was to change.

It is a conviction I share, if not as passionately, so it is with some disappointment that I write this piece. Since this column appears in some newspapers on Thursday I have to write by Wednesday afternoon to meet my deadline and as of the moment of my writing it looks as if George W. Bush will become President of the world’s sole surviving super power for another four years.


The world changed when the Cold War ended and changed totally after September 11, 2001 and it is because of this second change that the choice of the next American President is so important to us.

Under George W. Bush the war against terrorism has become a war between two faiths: Christianity and Islam.

It did not start out that way but since the American invasion of Iraq it is being increasingly seen that way by Muslims all over the world.


If you keep in mind that the Indian sub-continent is home to nearly 500 million Muslims you begin to understand why it is important for America’s war on terrorism to be directed more specifically against terrorists like Osama bin Laden and less generally against Muslims and Islam.

Mood in India

In recent months, partly on account of the Lok Sabha election and partly on account of my television programme, I have spent much time analysing the mood in the Muslim street in India and the degree of anti-Americanism I have picked up is frightening. This mood is evident not just among angry young men and militant moulvis but among the community’s wiser, older men and seems more to do with the war on Iraq than Palestine or any other cause.

People I talked to included poets, writers and thinkers and there appeared to be a consensus among them that Bush’s war on terrorism was really a war on Islam. ‘Anyone can see that it was not terrorists they were looking for but oil. They want to destroy the Muslim world, they want to destroy Islam’ said a well-known Bollywood figure ‘can you blame Muslims for hating America?’

This gentleman is not a devout Muslim and nor were some of the other Muslim ‘intellectuals’ I talked to.

Zionist lobby

Many would probably never visit a mosque, fast during Ramzan or pray five times a day but they saw Bush’s war on terrorism as a war on the identity of Islam.

What was disturbing was that even among these educated members of the community there were doubts about who was really responsible for 9/11. Like ordinary Muslims in the street they believed that a Zionist lobby was responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and that it was this same lobby that controlled decisions taken by the Bush administration.

Among less educated Muslims I found that this idea of an American assault on the foundations of the Islamic faith was a conviction that did not allow for any discussion. As far as they were concerned it was a fact that Jews were responsible for what they saw as a war in which Muslims were being increasingly isolated so that their faith could be destroyed. They pointed out that Bush often talked in a language that reminded them of the crusades and that there were people around him who had gone to the extent of saying that Islam was a religion that believed in idolatry and Satan. In the many interviews I conducted I met nobody who saw the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq as justified and almost nobody who believed Muslims were responsible for 9/11.

From what I have read about the mood in what the Western media calls the Arab street I see that the Indian Muslims I talked to accurately reflected the mood of the Islamic world in general.

The worldwide goodwill that America had after 9/11 has dissipated and been replaced by anger and suspicion not just among Muslims but among liberal thinkers across the world. Even in Europe it is hard to find supporters of Bush’s foreign policy.


Major strike

A war in which next time there is a major terrorist strike we could see weapons of mass destruction being used.

This war has to be led by America so the credibility of the next American President is crucial. If Bush becomes President again, which as I finish this article seems certain, he begins with a disadvantage because whatever his credibility in his own country he does not have it elsewhere.

John Kerry as President could have begun with a clean slate and that is the weapon most needed in this war that since the attack on Iraq has gone so awry.
 
ms.katejones said:
Bush signed a bill extending the debt limit by $800 billion. See this article for more details. I always thought that Republicans were supposed to stand for a balanced budget. Maybe if Bush didn't get us into an expensive war and cut taxes at the same time, we wouldn't be facing this problem.
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republicans are supposed to stand for a balanced budget, which is probably why we'll see mecessary social programs cut to account for the skyrocketing cost of iraq. they had to raise the debt ceiling though, or the government would have stopped functioning.

and to Natalia's post: it's horrendous that so many foreign muslims see the War on Terror as a war against Islam. i truly don't believe that that's what anybody in the American government believes. yes, there are some scary, right-wing, fundamentalist Christians who see it that way, but i don't think that that's the way it was intended. it started off as a war against Al-Quaeda, and unfortunately, Bush expanded it to include Iraq for what i think were partially economic reasons, not religious ones.
 
The US$ is now at a 4 year low and will only weaken further as the deficit increases. It's your dollar. ;)

To Natalia's post:
I'm not surprised at the rising (and dangerous) level of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. I think it's predicated on a perception of both religious (threat against Islam) and geopolitical persecution (Iraq invasion/imperialism in ME). The Iraq war was a PR disaster from its inception, and then there were no WMDS, no plan for peace in the postwar chaos, Abu Grahib and the "collateral damage" of Iraqi civilians shown daily on Al-jazeera. No wonder hearts and minds aren't being won- and perhaps it's a lost cause in Iraq at this point.

Of course, radical Islamic clerics (who fear losing power) are also to blame for inciting hatred against the West by framing the conflict as a war against Islam. I think it's a combo of virulent nationalism and Islamic extremism that is causing the mess in Iraq.

Perception is reality on the streets of Cairo or Nairobi. It's a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. And yet still not enough Americans are linking the anti-Americanism to Bush's misguided foreign policies which have made the world that much more dangerous.
 
You know what's funny Mr. Bush "Fiscal Responsibility Man" has never vetoed one spending bill. Like ever. I mean he can't blame it on congress his party controls it. But hey we're America and guess what Mr. Bush loves America so that makes everything ok. I fear for the future of this country. I have a terrible feeling that personal freedoms as well as national security are at a serious threat with this man as president. I can only hope for the best and wait till Barack Obama is ready to run for president, god knows if McCain runs in 08 the Dems are screwed bad. But McCain is SO moderate of a republican he's practically a Dem so I wouldn't mind having him as president.


RIP John "Jack" Fitzgerald Kennedy- A real president. For those that dont get the reference he died Nov 22, 1963 which would sort of be today.
 
AliasHombre said:
Im pretty sure its true for most lame duck periods.
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This is true, I just heard it on one of the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. Plus, being a Poli Sci major in college (and having a Bachelors in the subject), I've studied this quite thorougly.
 
Spike said:
can only hope for the best and wait till Barack Obama is ready to run for president, god knows if McCain runs in 08 the Dems are screwed bad. But McCain is SO moderate of a republican he's practically a Dem so I wouldn't mind having him as president.
I love John McCain. He calls a spade a spade, and he has common sense, not getting lost in all the false political arguments. I don't agree with him on everything, but I trust his honesty. He's the only politician I know of who actually admitted to doing something wrong instead of pretending he only made a 'mistake.' When a politician uses that word, mistake, I no longer trust them. Mistake is code for I'm not wrong, I'm not sorry, I'm only sorry for getting caught.
 
Humph... and Bush invites Rumsfield to stay for his second term. 'Course Rummy did such a bang up job he couldn't be asked to go! And when has there been real accountability in this Administration? :rolleyes:

In funnier news, Bush thanked all the Canadians who waved to him with 5 fingers on his visit. :lol: Yes, good one Mr. President. Now if only you had more substantial things to say on the pressing matters...
 
tippinlover said:
My experience is that people hate Bush too...And I'm in law school, so I can't say it's a bunch of teenagers...I'm talking grown, educated adults who tell me that they would trip him if they saw him walking down the street...

And even though I laugh when they say that, they are dead serious...
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:P I had to laugh at this... grown educated adults who would trip the pres... LOL.. i don't know.. i just thought it was pretty funny.
 
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