Hillary vs Caroline and TPP
The Trans Pacific Partnership, commonly known as TTP, was a hard fought negotiation amongst a number of countries that border the Pacific ocean. It took years and a lot of political capital by everyone to get an agreement in place. Obama touted it as one of his administration's achievements. But now it seems to be stalled. No progress has been made in the US congress, who has to approve it before the President can sign it into law, and it is unlikely to get approval during the remainder of Obama's final term. To make matters worse, Hillary Clinton has said numerous times now that she will not approve TPP if she is elected president. How embarrassing this must be to Obama and the democrats. In a recent interview in Japan, US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy was asked what achievements had been made between the US and Japan while she has been here, and she replied that TPP was one of them. Huh. Caroline is probably a democrat, right? Yet she and Hillary are clearly not on the same page. Japan Prime Minister Abe has said that if the US doesn't approve TPP it will cause the US to suffer a huge loss of trust in the region at a time when it needs to maintain that trust to counter the growing influence of China on the region. Will the US ever understand that the rest of the world negotiates in good faith and expects the US to follow through with its agreements.
17 August 2016
Not Everyone Is Happy...And they Never Will Be
Since Trump took office there has been an ever increasing gap between liberals and conservatives. So much so that I fear we will never be able to move back toward the center and find some common ground. The differences are just too stark. On every thing from immigration to trade, from military issues to education, from social inequality to gay rights. We see eye to eye on nothing and I fear it is only going to get worse before it gets better. I don't think Trump is to blame here. He is the result of the division in the country.
For too long so-called liberal costal elites have told the rest of the country what they should do and how to do it. The predominantly liberal press has acted to reinforce that along with our heavily liberal left leaning universities. The more centrist and conservative Americans have said enough. Hillary would not become our president because she offered nothing really different. Her drive was more to become president for the sake of becoming president, first female president aside. She never had a vision of what her presidency would be. She just was obsessed with being Madam President.
Trump for the most part has done what he was elected to do, namely, shake things up. He has done that and he will continue to threaten the status quo in Washington DC for another two years or even more. For all his arrogance and polemic tweeting, he has tried to do what he promised to do during the campaign. There are no surprises in that regard. His belligerent stance toward the press was unforeseen but at this point I don't think it has been a disappointment. The press has for too long thought of itself as special -- ivory tower residents who could bend the story to suit its liberal views. Fake News has become a household word and a belief. There is no doubt fake news on both sides but I am more convinced it is really misleading news rather than fake news. It contains a fair amount of fact but is presented in such a way, in such context, as to blur the total picture, to mislead and confuse the consumer. People do believe the last thing they have read or heard. It is hard to shake that last impression.
22 June 2018
Haiku 俳句 -- Sakura さくら
Hana bira ga -- 花びらが
yuki no you chiru -- 雪のよう散る
haru ni natta -- 春になった
22 June 2018