Dateline: Keelung, Taiwan. This is a port in northern Taiwan, not far from Taipei. Our ship is tied up here on a rainy day, the view out the windows is strictly watercolor. Since we toured here about a week ago, we are staying aboard. Oddly, days when the passengers are ashore are very pleasant as the ship is not crowded and peaceful. It is also a good time to do laundry, if your ship has a Laundromat (this one does). We had thought to take a brief stroll into Keelung and use the free wifi at Burger King, but the rain nixed that.
I have been pondering the fall of Barack Obama over the past year. He started so strong and burned out so quickly. Is the speed of this rise and fall an artifact of the 24 hour news cycle, a reflection of Obama’s lame strategy and tactics, or perhaps a bit of both? Probably the latter.
Another factor is the gerrymandered polarization of congressional districts, meaning there are very few moderates in either party. When your constituents expect you to vote either hard right or left, legislative compromise can equal career suicide.
If I were Scott Brown right now I’d be wondering what the normally liberal voters of Massachusetts expect of me. Scott had better vote the way he campaigned and let the voters decide whether they’ve changed their minds long-term or were just sending a one-time message of extreme frustration to Obama-Reid-Pelosi. Again, it is probably the latter.
