voluntaryXchange

Obama Planned Political Expediency

From Best of the Web Today:

The real proof that Wright is right about Obama, though, comes from this passage in a New York Times story from April 30, 2007--a year ago yesterday:

Mr. Wright, who has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment, said he knew that he may not play well in Mr. Obama's audition for the ultimate establishment job.

"If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me," Mr. Wright said with a shrug. "I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen."

Assuming Wright's account of the conversation was accurate--and as far as we know, Obama has never disputed it--Obama not only is acting out of political expediency now, but was making plans a year ago to do so.

This is really damning ...

Technorati Tags: wright,obama,distance,denunciation,expediency

Wright and Obama as a Dominant Strategy Equilibrium

People are surprised that Jeremiah Wright would speak out the way he has.

I think this is a dominant strategy for him.

If Obama wins, Wright will look like he supported a winner.

If Obama loses (the election or the nomination), Wright will have more fodder for his arguments.

I think the lesson here is that someone in the Obama campaign was too dumb or complacent to do what it takes to get this guy to pipe down.

N.B. Since Wright has a dominant strategy equilibrium, Obama's choice of strategy is easier because there are less outcomes to worry about. This makes the content of his denunciation of Wright less valuable than if he had done it a month ago. This suggests his campaign management is even dumber.

Technorati Tags: wright,obama,dominant,strategy,equilibrium

Megan McArdle Quote on American Exceptionalism

Some points are so easy to grasp that we avoid thinking about them:

I think the US has done a better job of occupying Iraq than, say, Iraq did of occupying Kuwait ...

Occam's razor is a really useful, and underused, principal.

Criticism of American performance in Iraq is both relative and absolute. With one sentence, she's rendered the former uninteresting and made the latter much weaker.

Read the whole thing.

Cool Photo

This is a photo of Sark, an island in the English Channel. I thought this was very striking, what with the fields, cliffs, and blue sea.

Declinism

Andrew Potter asserts that:

... Climate change is the ultimate declinist wet dream. Sure, there is a long tradition of declinist hobby horses, including overpopulation, the exhaustion of natural resources and the industrial poisoning of the land and the sea, but climate change is the rug that pulls the whole room together. ... Declinism transforms what is essentially an aesthetic preference for live entertainment over television, locally grown produce over fast food and the ability to walk to work instead of commuting in a car into a lifestyle choice of world-historical importance.

... The high priest of declinism, James Howard Kunstler ... can hardly wait ... he wrote recently, "let the gloating begin."

Via Newmark's Door.

Technorati Tags: declinism,global,warming

Ed Begley Jr. on Living Green

Fascinating interview with Ed Begley Jr. in the March 24 issue of The Wall Street Journal.

I tend to be unsympathetic about environmental concerns because the element of telling-other-people-what-to-do and forcing-others-to-do-what-you-want seems to trump the actual issues.

I liked this article because it wasn't like that. I'd even be tempted by Begley's book.

What I liked about the interview was the positive tone, and the idea that I did this, and you can too, but you don't have to follow a script:

You don't have to be shivering in a yurt in Topanga. You can have a very comfortable lifestyle. I have a fax machine. I've got a cellphone right here. I've got a computer. I have all these modern things, and I really contend that you can still have a cool beverage and a warm shower. We're just going to do it more efficiently.

My commute is under 4 minutes, and I like to bike and walk to work when my family can spare the time. How're you doin'?

And, I loved this quote:

...We have four times the amount of cars in L.A. since 1970, yet we have half the smog. We should all get a medal.

P.S. I can't believe I'm posting this - as an actor, Ed Begley Jr. has turned my stomach since St. Elsewhere.

Obama's Chances

The Iowa Electronic Market show that Obama's probability of being the nominee hasn't changed much in the wake of the Reverend Wright fiasco.

Yes, he did drop from 85 to 70 last week, but he's percolating back up towards 80 on their 100 point scale.

Go Read Up On Heather Mills

Even if you're not into gossip, the coverage of the judge's ruling on the Heather Mills / Paul McCartney divorce is breathtaking.

Dan Ackroyd may have said it best on Saturday Night Live, so let me paraphrase:

... Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn, and Heather Mills, like a screeching, squealing, rapatious swamp sow ...

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!

We've got street protests in Tibet that have spread to 3 predominantly Chinese provinces. The Dalai Lama is asking for international support.

My Prediction: the government of China, dominated by the Han (China isn't an ethnic monolith - so this is sort of like saying the government of the European Union dominated by the Germans) will actively suppress this. It will be all over the news, and nobody will do a damn thing about it.

Good School Choice News

New York's incoming governor, David Paterson, is in favor of choice.

Surprising, I know, but The Wall Street Journal reports that he has been a keynote speaker at two Alliance for School Choice conferences.

Trivia: Paterson will be the first legally blind governor.