Investors in other countries gave President Bush’s economic stimulus plan a vote of no confidence, as stocks dropped sharply in foreign markets Monday. They don’t believe that the proposed tax rebates would be enough to keep the U.S. economy out of recession. Unfortunately, they probably are correct.
Choppy-sock actor Chuck Norris, a Mike Huckabee supporter, says John McCain is too old to be president. He cited a (scientific?) theory that the presidency accelerates the aging process by a 3-to-1 ratio.
“If John takes over the presidency at 72 and he ages 3-to-1, how old will he be in four years? Eighty-four years old — and can he handle that kind of pressure in that job?â€
He went on to fear that McCain might not make it through a four-year term.
McCain might note former President Ronald Reagan’s winning response to questions about his age in the 1984 campaign: “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.â€
Note that by Norris’ formula, Reagan, nearly 78 when he left office, was actually nearly 102.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago, on April 4, 1968. On today’s celebration of the civil rights leader’s birth, we excerpted the conclusion of his 1963 “I Have a Dream†speech on the Opinion page. His words still ring with power and challenge the nation to live up to its ideals.
Also on today’s Opinion page is a Leonard Pitts column on the Clinton/Obama campaign dispute about who deserves credit for the civil rights movement. Pitts notes that this debate shows how much America has changed, in that it is occurring between a black man and a woman, either of whom may be the next president. “The most important thing about this argument is not who’s right or who’s wrong,†Pitts wrote. “It is, rather, who’s having it.â€
As aimless as the GOP presidential nominating process has been so far, are things really so bad that the party is headed for its first contested convention in 60 years? Associated Press reported talk of it at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Washington, D.C. The last such nomination stalemate was in 1948, when New York Gov. Thomas Dewey won on the third convention ballot, only to lose the election to Harry Truman. Of course, every day the GOP takes to sort it out, the spotlight remains on current standard-bearer George W. Bush.
Here are two sharp reads from writers who aren’t buying the Clinton campaign story line.
Christopher Hitchens gleefully dissects the Clintons’ serial fibs, dynastic ambition and sexual baggage and wonders “what on earth we are doing when we make the Clinton family drama — yet again — a central part of our own politics.â€
And Slate writer Timothy Noah takes on the prevailing unexamined myth of Hillary Clinton’s vast experience.
Want to raise test scores in high schools? Consider starting the school day later, author Nancy Kalish wrote in a New York Times commentary. Body clocks shift during teenage years, research has shown, causing teens to get sleepy later at night and become fully awake later in the morning. A number of schools that have pushed back their first bells from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 or 8:40 a.m. have increased standardized test scores, reduced dropout rates and lowered the number of car crashes involving teenagers.
