The World Around You

There is a good piece in today’s Purdue Exponent on Professor Michael Weinstein. Professor Weinstein was one of the most important influences on my approach to politics. He never injected his personal politics into the classroom, but he was the best conversation starter I have ever seen. He taught without preaching and opened my mind, as well as those of my classmates.

I know all those who have been fortunate enough to take one of his classes feels like a better person for the experience. Thank you Professor Weinstein!

It’s time for Governor Gray Davis to face reality. Another major poll by the LA Times has confirmed the results of the USA Today/Gallup poll that Davis’s people were claiming was wrong.

By 56% to 42%, likely voters support ousting the Democratic incumbent, a sign that Davis has lost ground in the closing phase of his battle for political survival. Support for Davis has slipped among key parts of his political base — Democrats, women, moderates and liberals among them — since the last Times poll in early September found 50% for the recall and 47% against it.
…
Tapping that public anger is Schwarzenegger, whose campaign against “business-as-usual politics in Sacramento” has boosted his popularity as voters weigh alternatives to Davis. The Republican actor is favored by 40% of likely voters, followed by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat, with 32%, and state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) with 15%.

The shift in voter support toward Schwarzenegger is dramatic: Since the last Times poll, he has made double-digit gains among Republicans, independents, whites, senior citizens, women and other major voting blocs. The early September poll had Bustamante in the lead with 30%, followed by Schwarzenegger at 25% and McClintock at 18%. Bustamante had also led Schwarzenegger in an August poll, 35% to 22%.

Wake up Gray! This is real. You are going to be recalled! It’s time for you to be the Gray Davis everyone says you are. It’s time to pull out all the stops. ATTACK!!! (Oh come on, it’s not like Arnold doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet).

Arnold has been able to appear gubernatorial. He has overcome his greatest barrier to winning this race and it looks like the timing was perfect. There is very little time left for the Dems to recoup the ground they have lost, virtually overnight. Governor Schwarzenegger? No one ever said California politics was boring.

UPDATE: Steven and Kevin Drum note the release of the poll as well.

Senator Joseph Biden offers a warning through an Op-Ed in this morning’s New York Times,

With our attention focused on Iraq, we run the risk of overlooking the alarming deterioration of security in Afghanistan. In both countries, the projection of American military power was decisive, but we have fallen short in demonstrating the staying power necessary to achieve stability.

Today, huge portions of Afghanistan outside Kabul have been ceded to warlords. Since March, the Taliban have embarked on a campaign of murder and intimidation, targeting humanitarian workers in an attempt to set back reconstruction efforts and to discredit both the government of President Hamid Karzai and the United States-led coalition that supports him.

The same can be said of the US media. For all the criticism they have taken for the coverage of events in Iraq, they should be ashamed of the lack of coverage of events in Afghanistan. However, Biden’s purpose in writing is not simple to criticize, but to offer a solution.

The best way to bring stability to Afghanistan is finally to expand the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force. The force is now permitted to operate only in the capital; because of its presence there, Kabul is one of the few secure sites in Afghanistan. While President Karzai and Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, have called for an expansion of the force, the Bush administration has been slow to endorse such a move, citing the reluctance of other countries to supply troops.

NATO allies must wonder why we can’t take “yes” for an answer. Last month, for example, Germany approved plans to take over peacekeeping operations in the cities of Kunduz and Herat. The more countries that join in, the better. After all, every German, French or Turkish soldier deployed to bring security to the Afghan countryside potentially frees up an American soldier to hunt down Al Qaeda — or maybe even to come home sooner.

With United States support, the United Nations can expand the security force almost immediately. The money is there. Under the 2002 Afghanistan Freedom Support Act, Congress authorized $1 billion for the expansion of the security assistance force. All the administration has to do is request its appropriation. It seems a reasonable price to pay to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a failed state and a haven for terrorists.

I agree, it is a small price to pay for an area of the world that has been declared a victory in the “war on terror”, but is rapidly becoming a failure.