Nation-Building >> 2008 horseracin' | return to front page

With apologies to my co-blogggers, I've added some horseracin' to the blog. While most of my focus has been foreign policy, the term "nation-building" certainly applies to domestic as well as abroad. And now that the 2006 elections are past it's time for me to focus on the prize: the 08 elections.

One thing I have to say at the outset is though I am not a registered Democrat, I will almost certainly be voting straight-ticket in 2008. This is because the GOP as a whole has come to stand for many things that I must repudiate utterly. These include international diplomacy, the Geneva Conventions, freedom of speech and expression, the scientific method, the individual as sovereign, and Enlightenment values as a whole. I will be an opposition voter for the next election and possibly the one after that at a minimum; I will not repeat my agonising attempt at fairness and balance in 2000 when I grappled with trying to choose between Gore and Bush. I was profoundly wrong not to have trusted my instincts from the start then; I will never make that mistake again.

So, I will be paying attention to the 08 horserace from here on out. I have added a new feed to the right sidebar, which will track links related to various candidates, particularly Edwards and Obama who in many ways would be a dream ticket. I used to be pro-Hillary but have been increasingly disillusioned, culminating in her shameful fearmongering on the Dubai Ports World deal. I will hold my nose and vote for her should it come to pass, but I know from experience that rooting for the underdog can pay off.

I am also tracking Al Gore who has repeatedly said he will not run but seems to be slowly coming around to the possibility. I have even setup a humble Draft Gore fundraising page, which is a fantastic and novel scheme by ActBlue to encourage draft campaigns. Thousands of small-dollar donations to Gore's draft page will send a clearer message of meaningful support than any number of blogs or online petitions ever could; should he choose not to run (as is most likely) the money will simply revert to the DNC. In other words, if you funnel your money for '08 through this page, it goes to either Gore or to Howard Dean. That's what I call a win-win.

It's true that Al Gore is the fantasy candidate. The original liberal hawk, his track record on foreign war is essentially perfect: Persian Gulf War (yes), Afghanistan (yes), Iraq (no). He's also got the right technocratic credentials to give us hope that scientific policy and technology issues won't be given short shrift. Still, he's a longshot at best, which is why the ActBlue page makes so much sense.

So, bear with me as I add some sidebar furniture and dabble in some occassional horseracin' punditry. Also I invite anyone who wants to add links to the sidebar feed to simply tag the links with both "2008" and also "for:azizhp". Likewise for the foreignpolicy feed right below it, tag it "@NB" and "for:azizhp".