Archive for October, 2008
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
Wassup 2008
Thanks, Sanjeev, for the heads up on this one.
1 Comment » - Posted in Obama 08 by eric
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
With God’s Blessing, inshallah
In Arabic, all statements about the future are tempered by adding the phrase inshallah, meaning “God willing”. This comes from the Muslim precept that only God knows and determines the future; and therefore, it is a sign of arrogance and blasphemy to speak of the future without conditioning it on God’s will. Examples would include: […]
7 Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
20th Century Rhetoric for the 21st Century
As an American living in Europe where the root word “social” is considered a democratic value, I often tell people about how growing up in the U.S. in the 1970s and 80s we were taught to fear all things “social” as dangerous manifestations of Soviet communism. Being called a “commie” or a “socialist” was an […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Dans le sud de la France
I took a two day petit séjour from my election obsession to go to Hyères in the south of France for my first authentic French wedding . On Friday afternoon, we took the train from Paris to Zizou’s hometown, Marseille. On the train, believe it or not, I dreamt that I was writing a detailed […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Digressions, Friends / Family by eric
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Colin Powell
This morning I watched Colin Powell’s very moving endorsement of Barack Obama for president. It was moving for many different reasons – Powell, a life long Republican and long time friend of John McCain, is one of the most uniformly respected figures in America. He plainly and eloquently stated what most centrist people have been […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Monday, October 20th, 2008
The Real Voter Fraud
If you’ve been concerned by the Republican cry of fraud over Acorn, maybe it’s time to think again (or think twice — he who casts the first stone). Acorn is a non-issue. It’s a ruse, a disguise, one in a series of tactics to distract voters and to rally Republicans to cry “foul play” in […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Friday, October 17th, 2008
Joe Plumber and Anti-Freeze
What’s all this about Joe the Plumber? Must he spread his wealth, will he be prejudiced if he buys the company, earning more than $250,000. The truth is that no one is being fully straight with us. Let’s think about it.
4 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
The Final Presidential Debate
Here is my “two cents” on last night’s final presidential debate. In general, I would say that John McCain came off as the better debater, more forceful, but ultimately failed to convince. While he did a formidable job of distancing himself from President Bush with a few good one-liners and his senate record, ironically, he […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Is McCain being Mistreated?
I have heard a lot of commentary over the past few days about how the McCain campaign is furious, feeling that it has been mistreated by the press. The argument goes something like this: Obama is playing filthy politics while McCain is getting all of the blame. I even read that it is not the […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Monday, October 13th, 2008
Angel Cabrera, Leadership, Education and the Crisis
During my early days working at the Instituto de Empresa Business School (”IE”) in Madrid, Spain, I had the great pleasure to learn from and become friends with Angel Cabrera, the former IE dean and now the current president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Angel (I sound like Sarah Palin, “do you mind if […]
