Other Musings

++The Washington Post urges the removal of the natural born citizen clause from the constitution. Remember when Orrin Hatch argued the same thing because the great Republican White Hope was Arnold Schwazennagger. He was Austrian. I guess this year the Post's favorite is Marco Rubio because he's in big trouble with the eligibility for President issue.

++I made a mistake about the GOP debate. I kept saying it was the fifth. It was the sixth compared to the Democrat's two. So far we are still in the Obama era. His language may not dominate the behavior in the Washington political culture but it dominates the over-arching arguments.

++You have missed the real war party--which is the D.C. establishment. They have been banging the war drums here in D.C. with Senate hearings on Syria. Obama-era military types and his ambassador to Syria say that 25,000 American troops are not enough to seize and occupy ISIS held territory in Syria. They say the Iraqis have gotten better and with our airstrikes and other Arab states can hold the national territory together. But these troops aren't able to battle ISIS within Syria. 

++So the best bet is on "the moderates" who can only come to power if we topple Assad. These guys don't quit. Their testimony was interesting in their analysis of a more complex situation than anyone has seems to know. Tonight the Pentagon has announced plans to assist Turkey with Arab troops to defend their eastern border with Syria. But the effort is to push the Kurds away from areas that they control.

++Tomorrow The IAEA is supposed to release their report about Iran's compliance with the Iranian nuclear deal. Observers expect this report to lead to the ending of UN and EU sanctions on the country. Ours can only partially be lifted by Obama's executive actions. And those will set off a firestorm in the 2016 debate. As the Rachel Maddow interview showed, Hillary Clinton is perhaps more hardline on Iran than President Obama and Secretary John Kerry.

++Bernie Sanders came to the attention of this blog by his wonderful --real-filibuster on social security that became a book. The Republicans again claimed that Social Security was broke. As Bernie would tell you, which he did in an instagram that social security can pay full benefits to recipients until I am close to 86. Then I will get 10% left if the Republicans haven't destroyed it. Basically until I am dead.

++The delight of the week was President Obama's after the State of the Union with interviews with young posters on YouTube. He was asked what his characteristics would be if he were an element named Obamaium. He said "stable, a "Catalyst", "Useful" and not disruptive. To a young woman who just came out, he talked about the advances in LBGT rights and the work left to be done. Her question was did he know that "Tampons are taxed as luxury items in 40 states?" He didn't but opined that these were state taxes passed by males, who aren't sensitive to women's issues. He also showed her what he carries in his pockets as reminders of people who have touched him. Rosaries from Pope Francis, a miniature Buddha from a Buddhist monk, a silver poker chip from a biker in Iowa during his 2008 campaign, a silver figure of a Hindu God. He says he changes these things every day from a huge pile of things people have given him. Obama interfacing with these young people shows his great character and his ability to relate. 

++Which brings me to the great GOP talking point that Obama's Last State of the Union Address got the lowest audience of any of his. Well, we don't know because the ranking were for straight television channels. This did not include those who saw it on YouTube,Facebook, channel television shows, and the internet. And so we have no idea. 

++As I said, I missed the experimental element of the State of then Union because I didn't see the graphics on the Internet and other supplemental materials on other applications until later.

++The best treat for me this week personally is that a sophomore from Williams, an Indian women called me to talk about careers and her plans for the future. She is studying political economy now but is interested in getting involved in international affairs. She is obviously engaged now as well as playing Lacrosse.  It was interesting to bridge the generational divide because her options may appear larger than mine were but the institutional mediators are now more complex and the problems of sustainability of a lifestyle that I would sum up as the gig-economy remains a question mark. But her spirit was encouraging. We connected on the Dalai Lama for whom I arranged the first American tour, while her mother hosted him in their home in India.