Obama doesn't see the US as systematically broken. He just thinks it needs the right technocrat in charge.
Judis is right that Obama risks repeating the Carter Administration,
And I wonder if perhaps he's actually risking a repeat of the Gorbachev administration...
Regards Luke -- #include witty_sig.h
I wonder if perhaps he's actually risking a repeat of the Gorbachev administration...
During the last ET meet-up in Paris last year, we had a discussion where I said I thought Obama could be the American Gorbachev. That wouldn't be a bad legacy. Today, I think it would be the best case scenario... "Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char
That depends.
The way the USSR fell apart can be read in several ways. In one reading, it was a disintegration of a coherent political entity, similar to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the Austro-Hungarian empire or a hypothetical disintegration of the United Kingdoms into Scotland, Wales and England. In another reading, it was the disintegration of an empire, similar to the de-colonisation of the British and French overseas territories in the postwar period - a reality that was obscured by the fact that the Russian colonies were directly bordering the heartland or other colonies, rather than being visually separated by the sea.
I very much doubt that the US will fall apart in the former sense. On the other hand, we are witnessing a disintegration of the American colonial empire, partly by seeing it co-opted by other powers and partly by the collapse of the post-Bretton Woods economic system on which it depends.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
