Dec 28 2007
Thoughts on the Bhutto assasination
Well, not much, really, because admittedly I don’t follow the minutae of Middle Eastern and central Asian matters nearly as much as I should, so to be honest, I don’t know how this will all play out. What prompted me to post on this, however, was all of the press reports on how this will somehow affect the primaries. It won’t. Most Americans more than likely can’t even point out Pakistan on a map, let alone talk about the internal domestic situation there. It’s not going to matter one whit. It’s just more of the punditry acting like they have a clue, when really, they don’t. And that’s not to diminish the seriousness of the issue, or to imply that the candidates shouldn’t be concerned about Pakistan. I just don’t think it resonates with the electorate as much as the punditry would have you believe. Now, if one of the judges on American Idol were assassinated, you’d have a story as far as mainstream voters were concerned.
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I certainly dont think the general American public is enlightened when it comes to many political issues, and certainly dont know/care much about what goes on in Pakistan. Still, I think that the Bhutto assassination has created quite a stir in the media worldwide and at the very least, even for people who dont understand its significance, it will serve to make people fearful (rightly or wrongly) about the threats to American security that faraway countries and terrorist groups pose.
Jags, I agree wholeheartedly. I had another reader of this post email me with similar sentiments. It’s greatly important for so many reasons… nuclear proliferation, the real front for the so-called "War on Terror" and many other things. Unfortunately, from a campaign standpoint, it’ s just not "sexy" enough, so instead we’re treated to Hillary’s latest gaffe or Obama’s latest "inspiring rhetoric" instead of issues of substance. Thanks for stopping by and chiming in.