Why Obama Will Win: Part 2
By sideways | Related entries in Barack(Part 1 was here.)
Daniel Gross writes in Slate about the “Rise of American Incompetence.”
The dollar plunged to new lows against foreign currencies this week. There are plenty of reasons for its plunge, but at the most basic level, the dollar’s weakness reflects the world’s collective, two-thumbs-down verdict about the ability of the United States—businesses, individuals, the government, the Federal Reserve—to manage the global financial system and the world’s largest economy. Countries that outsourced their monetary policy by pegging domestic currencies to the dollar are having second thoughts. Kuwait last year detached the dinar from the dollar, and Qatar government officials last week said they were considering doing the same with their currency. International financiers are unnerved by the toxic combination of “misplaced assumptions about housing, a lack of necessary regulation and irresponsible use of debt with sophisticated financial instruments,” said Ashraf Laidi, currency strategist at CMC Markets.
Predictions of America’s fall are always exaggerated. We always bounce back. But our self-confidence is starting to seem a little strained this last decade. “We’re number one!” used to be an irritating, but essentially accurate chant. No longer.
The truth is we have fallen off our pedestal. London is now a more important city than New York. Shanghai and Hong Kong may be as well. Delhi?
It’s easy to draw up quite a long list of areas in which we are some distance away from the top spot. Health care? Infrastructure? Primary education? Thanks to Steve Jobs we still make the best laptops and peripheral toys, and thanks to Larry Page and Sergey Brin we still rule the internet. We still make the best movies and TV. We still run publishing for the world. We have far and away the best universities. Cars? No. Planes? Not according to the Pentagon. Financial services? That’s a big no.
Interesting, isn’t it, how many of the areas we still dominate are run by . . . dare I say it . . . liberals? Higher education and entertainment are two of our powerhouse industries. Banking? Hah! Google is a Democrat stronghold. In 2004, 98% of political contributions from Google employees went to Democrats. Bear Stearns? CEO James Cayne went 2.5 to one for Republicans.
We live in the age of the creatives in this country. The age of the manager, the MBA, the CEO, may be fading. I’ll export several million dollars’ worth of intellectual property in the next couple of years. Stuff I just make up while sitting on my front porch. A lot of American writers do the same. What’s Countrywide Financial exported? Incompetence. All by my lonesome I contribute more to America’s balance of trade than many major corporations do.
We’re leaving the “Age Of The Guys In Suits,” and are well into the “Age Of The Guys In Jeans.” Our future as a world power is in the hands of nerds, techies, writers, cameramen, animators, genetic engineers, designers, actors, artists, scientists. It’s all about human potential. As has been said, “the geek shall inherit the earth.”
You know what just about none of those people are? Republicans. Conservatives.
Enron to Iraq to Countrywide. The arc of Republican incompetence. Hollywood to Apple to Google. The arc of the ascendant and reinvented Democrats. No longer the Democrats of NOW and the AFL-CIO. It’s becoming the party of the Geekocracy.
And we of the jeans want very different things than the suits. We do want national health insurance. We want decent roads. We want bandwidth. We want parks and open spaces. We like a different sort of green. We like getting along with the rest of the world. We want equal treatment under the law for gays. We like that wall between Church and State. We don’t like censorship. We don’t own guns. We don’t mind paying our fair share of taxes so long as we can be sure it’s not being wasted.
We’ll always respect John McCain. But we’ll write checks to, and vote for, Barack Obama.
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March 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am
[...] article points out, "Interesting, isn’t it, how many of the areas we still dominate are run by . . . [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
The World is Flat – and Americans are completely unable to compete in that scenario. We don’t learn languages, we don’t travel to other countries, and many of our national leaders wear their ignorance on their sleeve as a badge of honor – what is honorable about not understanding the world in which you live?
Americans are under informed, over entertained, under educated, over stimulated, spoiled, willful, unpredictable and prone to violence. Aside from the industries of intellectual property, our only other real industry is war – we do that really well – better than anybody. Although we may be sucking air when it comes to providing our population with great grade schools and high schools, or medical care, or a dignified wage scale for a days work; or safe roads, bridges, and levees – we can kick anyone’s ass tank to tank – and that’s what really matters isn’t it?
March 15th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Excellent article. I think you (and definitely TerenceC) are overstating things a bit as far as America’s mediocrity. Don’t forget that we’re dealing with a massive immigrant influx, which strains our education and social services systems, but also makes us one of the few leading nations that actually has a growing population.
As for us not leading the world in cars, you can thank the unions for that, not the Republicans. And presumably other nations’ universities and entertainment industries are also run by liberals, so really what you’re saying in that case is that our liberals are better than their liberals, not that liberals are overall better prepared to lead the world.
Still, I agree with the overall point. Americans need to get their act together, and the Republicans deserve to have their asses handed to them in this election. (And I’m speaking as someone who, at 38, has never voted for a Democrat.)
March 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
How many other countries have the denigration of intelligence and study as a major component of their culture? That’s one thing to look at. Another is the concept of federalism as a reason to not set standards for academic excellence and I’m not talking about the way NCLB was implemented. Our educational system is still grounded in a schedule that was created because of our agrarian roots. Do we still really need a lengthy summer vacation that leaves teachers and students trying to get back up to speed for the first few weeks of the school year? Why even after it has been shown that students don’t do well in early morning classes schools that have acted on that information are incredibly rare? Oh, sorry. After school sports programs are the primary reason for that one. What does that say about what we consider important?
March 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Diesel – I don’t blame the Republicans for anything because I can’t give them credit for anything – I do blame select leaders though, impotent-ignorant-and arrogant seem to be the order of the day (irrespective of party affiliation).
Please don’t blame immigration for poor planning, bad execution, and arrogance, the immigration challenge was supposed to have been dealt with in the early 1980’s. Many of those same incompetent clowns who were supposed to do something about it are still floating around Washington by the way. I blame the American people. I blame them because of their apathy and their willful ignorance for the situation(s) we now find ourselves in.
Many love to hear “we’re number one” – “Godbless the USA” – but ask those same people to serve the country they live in and they’ll tell you it’s someone else’s issue. Ask them to do 2-4 years of compulsory service and they’ll tell you to go “F” yourself. Ask those same people to get involved in local politics and even the local school board and you get the same response. I love this country, but I know how much better it really could be if people took an active role in their Republic – as a nation we typically do not.
In fairness, I may be overstating some things – (I have rather strong opinions) but I don’t think I am. I’ve traveled outside the US quite a bit and lived in many countries, I know what’s out there in much of the rest of the world. There is only one USA, there isn’t another one like it anywhere in the world – and (at the risk of sounding melodramatic) the USA belongs to anyone in the world who ever had hope for a better life – that’s why immigrants still want to come here – they too can be Americans. It’s an idea not a passport photo.
Immigration is a good thing – we can’t blame immigrants because the majority of citizens who vote in this country feel that our standing in the world is more important than our ability to take care of our citizens. We can’t blame immigrants because many of our corporate executives think quarterly profits are more iportant than a good product, or the human conditions that go along with that persuit.
We have systemic problems in the fabric of our society, and they are serious and getting worse – “God bless the USA” – “Red,White, and Blue these colors never run” – just wont work anymore. How about this for a new tag line…….Real problems require real people to implement real solutions – no experience required (in fact it may work against you) but a deep and abiding love for the US Constitution and everything it represents a must.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Jim — hey, we’re actually in complete agreement on something. The agrarian school calendar needs to be updated to fit modern times. And the shcool day should start later.
As for America not being as phenomenal as we might like, some of that is just because other countries are catching up, not because we’ve slagged off. It’s no small thing that our citizens have led the Internet boom. That’s impressive stuff. We also have a very good bio-med industry and, the one government Airbus contract aside, we’re still leaders in aerospace.
One reason I’m not worried about the longterm (short term, I’m indeed worried) is that, first of all, we hate NOT being number one. Our competitiveness can be a weakness but it’s more frequently an advantage. We also do things very well when we decide we want to do them. Look at the food movement in America. In a matter of years, we’ve gone from having just a few wineries and small farms in California to having artisnal foods and fine wines and spirits available across the nation. (and for you free market haters, a lot of that was do to deregulation, taking away restrictions the prohibited small businesses from competing — sorry, had to get that in).
But, Michael, point taken. The jeans and brains class will go for Obama in large numbers. After all, all the new anti-Americanism is ruining their over seas vacations.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
diesel,
How exactly is it the unions” fault that the car industry is what it is? I am just curious. This is one of those things that people say all the time, but when challenged, they lack a valid response.
It was management that persue bone-headed plans, building only large gas guzzlers when the potential for gas increases was evident. It was management that so completely outsourced their design and engineering that their own staffs are barely able to orchestrate new vehicles, it was management that exported all its labor — and who do you think bought most of those cars?
The worst you can say is that labor bargained and extracted what they could for pay and compensation…you know what a Republican would call it is an entity worked out a deal where it comes out ahead?
A good deal.
I will grant you that labor has done one other thing wrong–they will protect unproductive members to their detriment and bargain to retain unneeded jobs….but how many boards of directors have a) kept poor performing executives, b) enriched these executives with outrageous compensation packages, and c) given these executives obscene golden parachutes.
A business succeeds or fails based on the decisions of management–including the decision to give labor wages and benefits. It kills me when people trot out these cliches.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I could swear this used to be a moderate blog.