Descend into the Maelstrom

We’ve all had that spine-chilling moment, sitting alone in the doctor’s office to reflect on what will happen imminently: the door will open, the needle in that smiling orderly’s hand ready to pierce the skin.  For me, that moment is always filled with dread and terror, even though I’m a big boy now, and I know that the pin prick is necessary for my own well-being.  Then it happens, and for a second the pain is horrific and unbearable and thoughts of fleeing the clinic in a sprint flood the brain; and then it’s over, the blood sucked out of the vein or the vaccine now touring the body’s bloodstream. 

America as a nation now faces such a moment.  Most people agree that the health care system in America is broken, and needs a fix.  Call it reform, call it whatever you want, we know it’s going to hurt before we get there, and we can sense it tearing our country apart whether we do something about it, or nothing at all.  Costs are spiralling out of control, 45 million + people are uninsured, and America lags behind dozens of countries on any number of healthcare indicators, including average lifespan, volume of mental disorders, children narcotized on Ritalin, and percentage of the population receiving basic health procedures.  On the prevention front we are near rock-bottom in comparison to most of the Western world, binging too much on all the wrong types of food and beverage, exercising too little, and working our obese bodies too hard at largely sedentary jobs.  None of this is debatable.

The system is filled with perverse incentives and features, such as patients waiting in endless lines at emergency rooms for routine care because they can’t afford general practitioner visits, families dumping their money to fall below the poverty line in order to qualify for Medicaid, unnecessary medical tests administered (quite rationally) to increase profits and pre-empt lawsuits, astronomical malpractice insurance rates, and the skyrocketing malpractice awards that breed them.  Insurance companies are enjoying massive profit margins while disease and pain plague the lives of the insured and uninsured.  In effect, Americans spend more on healthcare per capita than anyone else, 16% of our GDP, only to get a system that lags behind many others.  We are in effect getting less and spending more for it.  From left to right, politicians in Washington and at the local level admit that we need a shot in the arm.  As the baby boom generation prepares to retire en masse in the coming years, the issue is as important now as it has ever been.

The agreement seems to end there in our famously divided land.  The system is clearly not sustainable, but we cannot seem to come to a consensus about what to do next.  It should come as no surprise then that we are engaged in a political circus, as President Obama, Congress, the media, doctors, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and angry citizens at town hall meetings have all jumped into the fray.  The exchanges have been vicious, uncivil, and filled with the types of misinformation and lies that one can expect when Washington decides to go to battle over such a critical issue and the educationally malnourished public is brought into the discussion.  Make no mistake: the health care debate will affect the life (and death) of far more Americans than the Afghanistan and Iraq excursions combined.  The effects will be far-reaching, involving most Americans for many decades to come.   

Often lost in the milieu are the facts, the data, the straight budgetary numbers, the science, and the policies that actually matter most, if and when these things are even truly available.  The dialogue is instead infused with talk of “government takeovers” and “death panels” and “socialism” and other fictional constructs designed by political demagogues to scare the living daylights out of the populace.  I am now attempting to insert my own two cents on this issue, which is exceedingly complex.  To preface: it’s not clear what the f*** is going on as no details are even solidified yet.

Why Healthcare Reform?  The concept of health care reform has simmered at the national and state level for more than half a century.  It has been a pillar of the liberal platform for most of this time, at the heart of the debates about what should be provided by the government vs. the private sector.   Many people, like myself believe that it is incumbent on government to provide certain basic services as a right, not a privilege, and not left to the for-profit private sector to handle.  I believe this must include basic healthcare.  Many others feel that funding healthcare is best left to the private sector instead.

This debate already ended long ago, if incrementally, in other spheres of public life: most do not argue against the legislation that mandates the  government running public libraries.  It is expected to run a police force.  It should run a fire brigade.  It should run public schools and universities, and mandate that all American children attend through the age of 16.  It should run national, state, and city parks.  It should run national defense.  It should adjudicate disputes in courts of law.  It should manage the waste stream.  That’s not to say that the private sector cannot supplement the government’s work; indeed, private schools and universities, private security firms, and private libraries are all thriving in America and many receive funding, grants, and contracts from the government itself.  This isn’t socialism or communism.  It is the common-sense approach that certain business involving the common good should not be managed by for-profit industry; and for other business, such as making clothes and other commodities, it is more efficient for the private-sector marketplace to compete for the bodies that will wear the clothes.  

I get what the other side is saying: that healthcare is fine as a privatized, deregulated sector.  People and businesses buy the insurance they can afford, and those who do not have it made the choice not to have it, or put themselves in the position not to get it by not making enough money.  And we don’t need a “government takeover” so lay off!

The Myth of Government Takeover.  A closer look at our healthcare system shows that the government is already heavily involved in providing and regulating healthcare right now, and most of us take it for granted.  Medicare and Medicaid insure most older people and those below the poverty line already.  The Veteran’s Administration (VA) system insures millions of veterans and their families, as America decided long ago that taking care of its warriors was a basic service that Uncle Sam could provide for those who put their necks on the line to keep us safe.  In addition, the federal government, state governments, and most local governments have a Department of Health specifically mandated to promote public health and respond to crises, such as the potential H1N1 outbreak.  Then there is the FDA which approves every new drug, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), poison control centers, and the health-related functions at a broad range of agencies from fire department EMTs to FEMA to the White House to the Department of Agriculture to dozens of others.  Again, it’s hard to argue that the government shouldn’t be funding AIDS and cancer research for the common good.  Be careful what you ask for if you want the evil government to “lay off your healthcare.”

Why Now?   Why is the healthcare debate raging right now like a Los Angeles area forest fire?  It is because we are at a massive crossroads in history.  President Obama recognizes that he is in a unique and fleeting position: a president with large majorities in both houses of Congress.  Democrats have traditionally rallied around the cause, but have only had a legislative and executive majority in brief and fitful spurts of American history.  The Clintons had it but failed miserably to reform healthcare before the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.  The recently departed Senator Ted Kennedy made it his life’s work to expand health coverage, but did not live long enough to see it pass.  He did, however, make it far enough to witness the ugly debate on the issue. 

The basic sticking point is quite simple.  Obama is being buffeted from both sides, walking on a tightrope pulled by opposite ends of the spectrum in a violent tug-of-war: on one side is the left wing of American life, that wants health care for all funded by a “single payer,” aka the government, as exists in nearly all of the civilized world except America, and on the other we have the right wing, which wants to roll back even the government programs already in place, including Medicare and Medicaid.  The two sides cannot possibly meet in the middle.  The rope can be pulled in one direction or the other, but in this game Obama will fall off the rope before finding common ground somewhere in the middle.  His worst-case scenario, which is still (unfathomably to me) possible, is getting no reform passed.

This has been Obama’s biggest failure thus far: fueling the fiction that we can end up with real reform legislation while walking this tightrope, trying to please both sides and everyone in between, achieving an impossible bipartisan consensus that will get both Republicans and Democrats and their constituents to all sign on, all the while leaving the details to Congress.   As we have all learned this year, this strategy was pure nonsense from the start, with a few qualifications.  That is because Washington, and by extension, Obama’s leadership has become dysfunctional.  An quick examination of each major party shows why.

The Republicans.  Nobody has summed up the position of Republican Congressmen, a bunch badly battered from sea to shining sea in 2006 and 2008 elections, better than Senator Jim DeMint: “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”  Finally, someone in the Republican party elucidated what most of the Congressmen feel in their hearts: here is their chance to cripple the Obama administration and his Democratic party heading into the 2010 elections.  DeMint is not wrong.  Stop Obama on this signature domestic issue, and it will breathe life into the Republican party, even with their own pathetic minority status.  It would be David defeating Goliath.  Republicans have successfully begun their misinformation campaign, renewing cries of Palin’s fictional “death panels” who would decide if Grandma lives or not, a far stretch from the real and good idea of having end-of-life counseling.  There is also the manufactured outrage over the question of how many additional billions of dollars the plan may cost the American taxpayers, despite the fact that it would be mere drops in the bucket when taking into account the state and national budgets as a whole.  This is all folded into the fear and hatred of immigrants and poor people, fears of higher taxes, fears of losing control over choice of doctor, fear of socialism, fear of higher premiums and copays, fear of death, fear of the government itself.  Any legitimacy any of these concerns may have had are long lost in the amount of hogwash being presented, which the media is lapping up.  A lot of it is gaining traction as the economy is still struggling, and people are worried about their financial positions.  The media loves the drama in this fight, because it’s far more interesting than the data.     

Senator DeMint was right, but his rhetoric is still disgusting.  He is openly thrilled to admit that to Republicans, the fight is more about politically damaging Obama than it is about moving the country forward.  It should come as no surprise considering that two of the biggest leaders of the conservative base, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, care more about seeing Obama fail.  They represent some of the worst aspects of America’s conservatives: the ignorance, the intolerance, and the lack of empathy and goodwill towards others.  The other pillar of the Republican party, the business of business, has loved to help fuel the misinformation campaign. 

The Democrats.  Obama’s party looks as weak as ever right now.  Given the chance to produce healthcare reform on a silver platter, finally given the unique opportunity to run the country, the party is now on the brink of pissing it all down the drain.  How could this possibly have happened?  Number one is the lack of discipline.  Whatever one thinks of the Bush/Cheney agenda in the first term, the administration went after it single-mindedly and strong-armed the Republican Congress to move it along.  They ignored the opposition on the issue, took controversial positions, broke laws, and ran extremely effective and aggressive PR campaigns.  The Democrats, on the other hand, are a bickering lot.  They sway here and there with the latest political winds, their knees buckling on every issue including healthcare despite large majorities.  They are further hamstrung by political deals with the trial lawyers, which prevents tort reform, which I believe is key toward eliminating a large part of unnecessary healthcare costs.  The Democrats are also in bed with the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, and the AMA who read the tea leaves and decided to throw their weight, and dollars, behind the Democrats.  What has it all achieved?  No agreement on the “public option,” or an expansion of government-run health insurance that would compete with private insurance.  Waffling on the tax issues, and making sweetheart deals that benefit corporations at the expense of citizens.  As the poll numbers show, the party is in big trouble heading into 2010.  Waterloo comes not just for Obama, but also the Democratic Party.

Obama’s Way Forward.  Although the situation is dire for proponents of healthcare reform, the jig is not up yet. It’s no accident why Obama has left much of the bill writing to his milquetoast colleagues in Congress.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this perilous approach.  The Clintons were in a very similar situation before, with a Democratic majority in 1993 and most of 1994, and their strategy was to attempt to steamroll the reform through. 

Obama, a student of that debacle, understands that pretending to achieve consensus, by using the town-hall forums and allowing Congress to lead on the bills, would give the appearance of bipartisanship.  As we have learned, this was never going to achieve harmony.  His campaign promises of bipartisanship, the expectation of a team of rivals all working towars common goals, and the dream that we are now in a new era of hope and change were not meant to be played out as we optimists hoped for. 

Obama would help his cause by defining, in much more simple terms, exactly what health care reform means.  There is too much manure out there that the public and media are sifting through, to the point where health care reform as a concept has no clear meaning, and no clear goals.  I believe that a nationalized health care system such as that of Canada or the United Kingdom, though they have their faults and problems, is a far superior solution for us, a no-brainer.  However this would never happen in the current political climate, and Obama is right on that.

Anything less is therefore incremental.  Therefore, Obama needs to define what these incremental changes are, and go after them.  And he needs to circle the Democratic wagons around the reforms, and ram it through.  The pretense of bipartisanship and consensus should now officially end, though it was useful tactic for the earlier part of the battle.  He is giving a speech on healthcare next week, which we can only hope will be a landmark Obama speech akin to his speeches on race or the economy.  I hope that it will include health insurance coverage for all.  Anything else would be a loss.

Health care reform is far more complicated than all of these political angles, however we have already delved far enough for one installent.  In Part 2, we will dig deeper into the nitty-gritty, technical stuff: the role of doctors (where any reform of healthcare must begin and also end), insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, government bureaucracies, and hospitals, examining the critical role of each one.  For all of these players have created different symptoms of the sick man that is American healthcare today.  We’ll also dissect what Obama has to say next week.  Till then, be well.

Foreign policy is back in good hands again.  We are witnessing a veritable sea change in the way that America deals with the rest of the world, and it is long overdue.  An honest assessment of the dramatic moves being made by the new foreign policy establishment under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will show that America is finally on the path of responsible leadership that is becoming of our stature in the world.  I have long argued that America’s current position as the world’s lone superpower is stable but will not last forever; however what we do during this critical period will have repercussions around the world for many decades to come.   During this time it is important to portray confidence, not fear; understanding rather than “my way or the highway.”  The rest of the world is not inclined to be either “with us or against us” no matter what we do just because we are a superpower; they are with us if we lead by our shining example, and they will be against us if we are belligerent, unempathetic, and uncooperative. 

The narrow neoconservative views of the world we live in, espoused by George W. Bush and his friends who have fallen out of power, live on today in the form of angry attack dogs who have recently come out on the airwaves en masse to decry the sea change we are witnessing.  They are led by folks such as Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, who whine that America is less safe today than during their tenure, when we actually happened to lose about 3,000 American lives on 9/11 on their watch and over 5,000 more Americans and 25,000 limbs on living soldiers in theaters of wars that they initiated.  In the world these people live in, most countries outside America are scary and evil and intent on destroying our way of life, and us.  Neoconservatives by and large successfully prey on the minds of American citizens who do not have a good understanding of history and culture outside of America’s.  Their solution to survival in the frightening world that they portray is to carry big guns and point them at everybody.

I’m not one to say that Latin or Asian dictators or Al-Qaeda terrorists or Somali pirates aren’t bad people; I just believe that Barack Obama understands these phenomena better than the neocon dunces do and concordantly, there are far better ways of dealing with these problems that we can now finally pursue.  Let’s sift through the action that’s in the headlines today and compare the points of view against the reality of the world we live in.  Because you aren’t going to get any dose of reality from these talking heads who have fallen from power, nor from their missile-humping minions such as Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly. 

The torture memos.    Obama recently released memos describing the types of torture America committed against our prisoners under Bush.  He also announced that America would no longer engage in torture.  The ending of the practice of torture by our government is controversial for several reasons.  Throughout history, it has been commonly practiced by the law enforcement and national security apparatus of most countries around the world.  It achieves multiple purposes: (1) The extraction of sensitive information, which is why Bush enabled it in the post 9/11 world when much of America was busily peeing itself with fright.  (2) As a deterrent to would-be criminals or terrorists: if you know you’ll go to jail and get your skin slowly peeled off with a cheese grater, you might think twice about some nefarious act you are being asked to do.  (3) It demoralizes the resistance to your government. 

Let’s separate the hysteria from the facts.  (1) Extraction of information:  Abu Zubaydah was considered to be among Osama Bin Laden’s deputies, and he was caught during a dramatic shootout with the local troops in Pakistan.  When you grab hold of an extremely high-level terrorist target such as this, you know he has a ton of valuable information about how Al-Qaeda operates, as well as potential future attacks.  There was a choice to torture him or not torture him, and we decided to mess him up: he was water-boarded about 180 times according to the newly released memos.  He was subjected to exposure to nasty insects and “stress positions” such as being forced to stand in tiny closets.  If he spilled the beans, that’s all well and good.  However there has been no evidence presented of how torture was successfully used against Abu Zubaydah or ANYONE in the last eight years to make us safer.  The Bush administration just expected us to take their word for it.  Meanwhile the CIA, the armed forces, and numerous other agencies have conducted lots of studies on the effectiveness of torture to get information; the bottom line conclusion has consistently been that torture does not achieve valid results.  Victims of torture often tell interrogators what they want to hear, and not the truth.  There is a ton of evidence on this fact.   Since people like Cheney and Rove have never chosen to read this evidence, and have also never been water-boarded, they wouldn’t know that and their contention that this practice is effective is absurd.   (2) Rather than acting as a deterrent, there is overwhelming evidence that our use of inhumane tactics and incarceration of detainees in Guantanamo has grown the anti-America terrorist movement, as well as anti-US government sentiment within our own nation and among the citizenry of our staunchest allies. (3) Far from breaking the spirit of terrorists, our brand of incarceration and torture has been a rallying cry for Muslims the world over, and has converted normal people into terrorists.  Don’t take my word for it; statistics clearly demonstrate how Islamist movements have grown exponentially since 2001.

Mr. Cheney, if fueling the terrorist movement against us is your idea of making America safe, I’ll take being “less safe” any day.  Thank God we have now ended it.  All of this does not even touch on the fact that even the founding fathers of America considered torture to be morally reprehensible.  That is why the 8th Amendment to the Constitution states “there shall be no cruel or unusual punishment.”  Finally, if we do it ourselves, we have no legs to stand on if Americans are captured abroad by another government or non-state actor.  As McCain has said over and over, it exposes our own troops to grave danger.

The Chavez Handshake.  Right-wingers across the country are up in arms that Obama would dare shake the hand of the democratically elected President of Venezuela at a conference of American states.  Whether Chavez is a savory character or not, he is the leader of a nation that is close to us geographically, and is the fourth-biggest supplier of our oil and gas imports.  The conference they were at resulted in a foreign policy coup: the two nations have made overtures about re-instating embassies on one another’s soil.  This is an excellent development for many reasons.  Dialogue through diplomacy is an excellent way to achieve the common goals between any two nations.  Much of the business of international relations is conducted over bottles of whiskey shared in embassy meeting rooms between friends from different countries; these meetings have resulted in treaties that have improved the lives of millions of people.

The criticism of this positive moment from the right-wing is based on a larger narrative: that Obama is going to somehow lessen America’s standing in the world by opening up dialogue with leaders of rogue nations.  To the contrary, Obama’s confidence in America is strong enough that he is willing to speak to leaders of nations such as Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela even though their behavior has been troublesome in the past.  Obama recognizes that America is immensely powerul relative to these countries and does not face any sort of serious threat from any of them.  Standing in the world is not only a function of military might; it is also the product of the power of ideas.  By demonstrating that he is breaking from the past, when many nations felt that America was ignoring their interests, Obama is setting the stage for further cooperation.  Although we have not seen many tangible results yet, we are still in the early days of the administration.  The increased warmth towards Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America will help increase trade and goodwill between America and other countries.  It will also lead to the downfall of authoritarian and socialist regimes, which is good for America as well as the citizens of these nations.

Under Bush, who used the cold shoulder to deal with Latin American leaders, populist socialist movements thrived in multiple countries.  That is simply not in America’s interest.  Although we have yet to see if Obama’s administration can reverse this trend, it is always worth trying something new when old ideas have failed.  I challenge anyone to look at examples in history where opening up dialoge led to a dangerous outcome.  The classic example that is always brought up is European and American appeasement of Hitler during his rise.  That’s overdramatic and does not apply to any of today’s leaders.  The most dangerous among them is Kim Jong Il of North Korea.  He is only a threat if he is a suicidal maniac, which appears to be up for debate.  In extreme cases such as this, there is no easy answer on how to deal with them.  There are simply no good answers that any scholar has for conducting relations with a suicidal maniac.   

Our foreign policy must be shaped by an understanding of the forces behind rogue actors and how they gain power.  This understanding will be key toward dismantling the factors that allowed these rogue leaders and the movements behind them to establish a foothold.  The downfall of today’s conservatives is that they never like to look in the mirror and admit that America ever screwed up.  But America’s actions in the past were a strong impetus that helped create many of America’s worst headaches: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Al Qaeda, and even Saddam Hussein included.  On the other hand, the positive we have done for helping the world flourish far outweighs the effects of our mistakes.  Admitting that we have made mistakes in the past is the first step toward correcting them.  Now we can try to do some things differently, and better.  We are finally on the path of creative solutions once again with the scrapping of torture and the opening up of dialogue with the rest of the world.

A part of me derives great pleasure to witness the pathetic state of today’s Republican party and its American conservative movement in general.  After all, the Chicken-Hawk cabal of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and their minions achieved a nearly irreversible degree of damage to the state of the nation, both at home and abroad.  The unlikely victory of Barack Obama was entirely thanks to this dark period of the last 8 years.  The sound defeat of the party at many levels of government in 2008 restored my faith in the American citizenry’s ability to elect the right people into power at least when backed into a corner.  The mess we have inherited is so bad that it could take many years to restore America’s standing in the world.   For these reasons I was happy to say goodbye, and good riddance when large sections of the White House and Congress packed up their bags and left, hopefully to retire for good.

Another side of me recognizes that a failed Republican party is bad for the country.  I want to see the party come back, stronger than before led by politicians who have something to positive to offer the country.  We are a nation of checks and balances, and Washington functions best as a cauldron of competing ideas, especially in times of enormous crisis like today.  The Democratic party cannot have a monopoly on power and in fact is not capable of maintaining it anyway.  The necessary political equilibrium can only be achieved with a healthy intellectual ferment on both sides of the aisle.  Unfortunately, the Republican brand is currently an irrelevant horror show with the same tired old ideas at the forefront since the 1960’s.  The country has changed immensely and is in real danger of passing the Republicans by, especially when the party has lost sight of what its core values are supposed to be.  That is why disillusioned red-blooded conservatives such as Newt Gingrich have made noises about starting a third political party.

What went wrong in the party of Reagan?  2008 was a watershed year which will be remembered by liberals and conservatives alike as the turning point when Republicans completely lost their way.  There are plenty of reasons why. 

Leadership, anyone?  It will take mighty human beings to challenge the phenomenon of Barack Obama.   Despite all the criticism (and my documented bromance aside) Obama is a powerhouse of a politician who ran circles against all Democratic and Republican comers that already had clout and name recognition and millions of dollars while Barry O was still drinking in his college dormitory.  Critics also lose sight of the fact that by 2012 the economy WILL have improved on his watch, as will the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, for the simple reason that these problems cannot get any worse mathematically.  We have already spiralled to rock-bottom.  Guess who is going to get the credit for getting us out of it?  The Republicans are in serious danger of being completely irrelevant to this recovery, which could set them back a decade.  So let’s get started on the Rogue’s Gallery.

Michael Steele - The Republican party is so behind the times and reactionary that they cannot seem to put forward their token minority or women candidates for office until they realize how popular the Democratic one is.  Every one of these conservative tokens has been in haplessly over their heads.  Barack Obama running for an Illinois Senate in 2004?  Let’s get a Reagan old salt, Alan Keyes, who’s not even from Illinois, to run against him!  Hillary Clinton got 18 million primary votes?  Let’s dispatch Sarah Palin to mop up those disenfrachised women!  The Democrats got a black guy elected?  Let’s make our own leading black politician the new face of the Republican party as the RNC Chairman!  There is too long a list of mistakes made by Steele to note here.  Let me just hazard a guess that his concept of enlisting hip-hop music to garner black voters is as tone-deaf as Washington ideas come.  That’s saying a great deal.  The RNC is utterly rudderless.

Sarah Palin.  Thank you, Sarah; for not reading about the same issues that you are running on as a Vice Presidential candidate.  For not knowing how to run a competent PAC.  For not knowing that cities are part of the “real America” too.  For blaming your foibles on the media.  For running as a “maverick” when your political strategies are culled from a tired Republican playbook.  I hope that you run in 2012; you are obviously a front-runner in your party and Charlie, you do fire ‘em up, Charlie.

Dick Cheney.  Please go away, sir.  Go back to the (Jackson) Hole in Wyoming you came from and enjoy retirement.  How DARE you emerge during a fledgling administration that was legitimately elected and say that it is making America less safe by dismantling policies that have threatened our security?  When your incompetence allowed 9/11 to happen; when you failed to secure victory in Iraq and Afghanistan; and when you have helped lower our standing in the world by running your own shadow government that steamrolled the appointed government apparatus?  When your Chief of Staff was indicted for outing a CIA official?  Your words are not only in bad taste, they are downright dangerous.  You had your chance to protect America, and you failed.  Be a man and let your legacy speak for itself.

The pundits.  I am struck by the dearth of good ideas coming out of conservative so-called intellectuals and other right-wing media figures these days.  Histrionic cries of how we are turning socialist, about taxes being too high, about how we’re spending too much on domestic programs and not enough on defense, how abortion and stem cell research and gay marriage are ruining our society, and whining about Obama’s warmth towards Europe would carry more weight if they mattered in today’s society.   Evidence is piling up that the world has moved on since these issues were actually relevant.  Obama is an attractive target for this gang, but there are no good alternatives being offered that I can see.  It is very telling to listen to figures such as Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Charles Krauthammer, or John Bolton with their righteous anger.  They are understandably angry that their side has lost, but if they are to lead the intellectual ferment of the Republicans, God save the party. 

So what’s needed?  I believe that you need a new generation of smart young people to take control of the ship who grew up sometime after the 60’s and care about things that matter to conservatism’s core: most importantly, real and sensible conservative fiscal policy as opposed to the lip service paid throughout the 2000’s.  This will be the most important role of the new Republican party; everything else on the RNC platform appears to be either indistinguishable from the left, or bankrupt.  If you know of any impressive Repblican leaders, I’d love to hear about them.  Because I don’t see this new leadership ANYWHERE on the horizon.  And I’m desperate to find it.  It’s unfortunate that the party will have to go digging in Barack Obama’s scraps.

During the early stages of the presidential campaign in 2007, my older and wiser friend Richard told me that the reason I was so enamored of Barack Obama was my emotional connection to him.  I argued back that my support was related strictly to his policies. 

Several years later I was able to admit to Richard, and more importantly myself, that he was right in a sense.  Obama and I do have a number of things in common which have endeared me to him- some of which may be considered to be throwaway coincidences on their own, but as an aggregate I find them to be interesting.  Here are some of them that I can think of.  It’s not as uncanny as the Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences but it’s all true.

Our early lives have some interesting parallels.  While growing up, Obama was often an outsider or even what I call “double outsider”- where he was in the minority or even super-minority.  Like my parents, Obama’s mother loved to travel from country to country and learn about new cultures.

- Obama was among the few black kids in Hawaii with parentage from another country- Kenya in his case, India in mine.  During my childhood in Indiana I was among the small handful of Indians in my town.

- Obama spent four years from age 6-10 in the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia.  I spent four years from age 7-11 in the world’s original Muslim nation- Saudi Arabia.  So he was a Kenyan-American in Indonesia, and I was an Indian-American in Saudi Arabia- this is what I mean by double outsider.  Like he is, I’m highly thankful for this chance to understand Islamic life from an outside perspective, to play or go to school with the local kids and understand how much we actually had in common.

- Obama has made Illinois his home.  I lived in Illinois briefly during middle school (okay, tenuous).  However we both have that midwestern accent, and I like to think, charm.

- In high school, Obama worked at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store for pocket money.  I also scooped ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins for pocket money during high school.  My shop had 36 flavors technically, not 31.  I ate way too many sundaes during this period, to the point where I smelled like ice cream from my pores.

-  Obama went to an East Coast college and majored in International Relations, with a focus on nuclear weapons proliferation which he wrote his thesis on.  I went to an East Coast college and majored in International Relations, writing my thesis on nuclear weapons proliferation.  Neither of us were exactly honor students either.

- Obama had a Pakistani roommate in college.  I had a Pakistani roommate in college too.  Obama went on a trip to Pakistan with his buddy; I’d love to visit mine there one day soon. 

-  Obama spent the early years of his young adulthood in New York City.  I have spent my 20’s in New York City.  This amazing experience no doubt shapes a person’s worldview as much as anything else.

- I’ve uh, been to Kenya, and uh, so has Obama to visit his relatives (very tenuous, I know).

- Obama has been known to carry a Hanuman trinket, or a small idol of the Hindu monkey God which has excited Hindus the world over and was considered to give him a lot of power by many Indians.  I always have different forms of Hanuman on me: pictures in my wallet, or a small idol on my chain.  I don’t make too much of this, but most Indians who know about this fact do.

- We have just about the same skin complexion.   Inconsequential, yet interesting when you consider he is the first one of our skin color to get into the White House.

- Although Obama is a politician and dedicated his adult life to public service, including many years at the local level, he made his big bucks as a writer.  His books made him a millionaire.  I’ve been in public service all of my adult life at the local level, and I do write some stuff (at least you’re reading this!) and am also hoping to publish professionally.  Can’t speak to the big bucks just yet.

- Obama ended up marrying someone from his background: a pretty African American named Michelle, though there was no indication this was a done deal from his earlier life around people of mostly different backgrounds.  In June I am marrying a pretty Indian girl, after many years of never being sure I’d do this either.  Both spouses seem inclined to put their mate in their place.

-  Obama’s positions on foreign policy are nearly mirror-images of mine; if I were much more intelligent and well-read, I would say some of the same things he says.  This, most of all, has shaped my admiration for this man.  He was against the Iraq invasion, he wants to shut down Guantanamo, he wants to draw down our nuclear arsenal, he believes America should listen more, and the list goes on.  I always remember what David Letterman said after interviewing Obama last year: “What an intelligent guy.  He could do what I do in a heartbeat; but I could never do what he does.”

So go ahead, make fun of my “BrOmance” if you will; just don’t be jealous that you can’t say that you have as much in common with our president as I do.  I’ll freely admit that someone with this background being in the White House excites me, perhaps to a worrying degree.  And with the hiring of actor Kal Penn yesterday to the White House, there is a pretty cool Indian-American in Obama’s circle.  Can’t pretend that I’m not excited to hear that.

Here begins a new series of blogs that I will be publishing over time: The Three-Martini Interview Series.  I will first take world figures.  Then we will make things interesting with this unique blend of equal parts:  I (the interviewer) will drink three martinis (or other weapons of choice), insist that the world figure (the interviewee) does the same, and then conduct interviews on extremely important topics of international concern.   This is just to get some social lubrication going, and try to arrive at some profound truths that one cannot achieve during sobriety.   My first interview transcript is below.  I tapped Osama Bin Laden to be my first subject. 

*** Disclaimer: These interviews will be strictly fictional, until such time as real important people agree to talk to me.***

NOTE: As I do not know Arabic, a fictional translator was fictionally hired by me to assist in conducting this fictional interview.  If any of the answers are falsely represented here due to the translations from Arabic to English, you can blame our imaginary friend.  If you are Bin Laden’s lawyer, sue that guy.

MJ:  The first question on my mind, and President Obama’s mind, and everyone’s mind, is this: are you dead or alive?

OBL:  That is quite a deep and philosophical question. 

MJ: You can give me a philosophical answer.  That’s allowed.  Anything goes.

OBL:  Thank you.  Okay.  According to Islam, and most infidel world religions, life is transitional.  However, the soul lives on.  So in either scenario, according to your small minded constructs, I am very much alive.  If I’m dead, my name alone inspires millions to do the work that I started. 

MJ:  Okay, another housekeeping matter then.  I’ve had three martinis.  And, uh, you don’t drink alcohol right?  That kind of ruins the premise of these interviews but I respect your right not to drink.  Can you meet me halfway somewhere here to follow the spirit of my plans?

OBL:  (smiles) I’ve chosen to share a battery of three hookahs- middle eastern water pipes- with you instead.

MJ:  (belching) Great!  What flavors shall we share?

OBL: Strawberry, apple, and peach, in that order. 

MJ:  Beautiful.  (a masked gunman-slash-attendant sets a water pipe in between us)

OBL:  (taking the first drag on the strawberry flavored tobacco) It is strange talking to you.  An American whose parents are from the great Hindu land of India; you chose to live amongst white infidels in miniskirts and pay taxes to the Great Satan.  This is after you spent four years in my beautiful home country, Saudi Arabia while growing up.  So confused you must be.

MJ:  I take umbrage with that.  Just because we bailed out AIG and other big companies that didn’t deserve it… that doesn’t make us Satan.  That smells good, by the way.

OBL:  Yes, strawberry is my favorite.  Your entire system is corrupt.

MJ:  It’s better than any other system out there!  America in my opinion represents the best system of government in the world, the best way for the largest ratio of citizens to achieve prosperity through merit and hard work.

OBL:  Your country is a far-reaching empire that has shoved American Idol and Britney Spears down the throats of innocents around the world.  It’s undefendable.

MJ:  Yeah but you guys live in caves and don’t allow women to show their faces.  I think that’s chauvinistic.  All countries have their faults, Osama.

OBL:  At least we’re not tempted.

MJ:  So you’re admitting that in your ideal world, your men simply have no control over themselves?  That a state of utter domination over women where they are not allowed to show their faces in public is the only way to repress mens’ inner temptation?

OBL:  Quite the opposite.  We have full control.

MJ:  OK, moving on.  We’re never going to see eye to eye on this one.  (takes a drag of strawberry)  Damn, this is tasty. 

OBL:  Yes this strawberry tobacco was purchased from my friend’s farm.   

MJ:  This one is very important to me.  I live in and work for New York City, and I had just moved here when 9/11 happened.   It affected many who are close to me.  Why did you do it?

OBL:  I guess you didn’t see my Youtube video?  Here’s the URL:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiKyWJRRjnU

To wit:  “The events of September 11 are but a reaction to the continuous injustice and oppression being practiced against our sons in Palestine and Iraq and in Somalia and Southern Sudan and in other places like Kashmir and Assam.”

MJ:  Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second.  Your guys killed 3,000 innocents on 9/11 in New York, at the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA!  Including Muslims!  What did any of them do?  Many of them have never even heard of Assam.

OBL:  I knew that would get your goat.  You’re Indian and you know where Assam and Kashmir are.  You know what’s happened to my people there at the hands of the Indian government.  They weren’t innocents; and like you, they were part of the system and deserved to die.

MJ: (gulping, looks at the masked attendant, and takes another drag)  I don’t understand a philosophy that condones the killing of innocents.  This isn’t what I stand for, or what America stands for.  Those places you brought up are war zones, with organized militaries fighting other organized militaries, with inadvertent civilian casualties.  There cannot be a moral equivalence.

OBL:  I laid it all out on my video.  Watch it! 

MJ:  So your justification for 9/11 is the story of the wolf and the lamb.

OBL:  Yes, the wolf and the lamb!  The wolf (America) accuses the lamb (Middle Eastern Muslims) of dirtying its water the year before.  The lamb replies that it was not born in the year before so that’s not possible!

MJ:  I’m following-

OBL:  Then the wolf said, “it must have been your mother” and ate the lamb. 

MJ:  I guess that’s messed up.

OBL:  Then the lamb’s mother, in passion for its dead offspring, butts its leg against the wolf.

MJ:  Okay-

OBL:  Then the wolf dares calls the poor mother a terrorist even though the wolf wasn’t really hurt.  And the rest of the world chimes in like parrots in agreement!   Where were they when the wolf ate the lamb?

MJ:  I’m trying to make sense of this man, I really am.  I’m a bit intoxicated but let me try and understand what you’re saying.  Killing 3,000 innocents on 9/11 was a poor mother sheep’s kick against the wolf who ate her son?  YOU are the poor mother?

OBL:  Exactly!  (motions his attendant to replace the hookah; MJ shivers)

MJ:  Again, we are never going to see eye to eye on this.  You had other means of peaceful protest at your disposal.  You didn’t have to kill so many innocents.

OBL:  It was the only way to make my point.

MJ:  Weren’t you seeking power by creating a global Caliphate?  With you at the helm?

OBL:  Yes, and we’re going to succeed.  And if I am dead now, or if I die in the process, other sons of Islam will grab the prick.

MJ:  Grab the prick?  (OBL and the translator talk animatedly for 20 seconds)

Translator:  Sir.  He meant to say “baton.”  Sorry, that didn’t translate well.

MJ:  The mother sheep wants to rule the world?  It doesn’t make sense, man.  Anyway most Muslims are smarter than that anyway, they won’t let your small minority hijack their entire religion and culture.  I agree with Barack Obama: your ideas are morally bankrupt.  True Islamic clerics themselves would say so. 

OBL:  We’ll see who’s right about that in the future.

MJ:  Let me understand you.  Why couldn’t you achieve change through organized, peaceful means with the resources you had at your disposal?

OBL:  I’m not like your heros Gandhi or King.  I don’t have the time or the patience for that. 

MJ:  You killed Muslims!

OBL:  As you know, those Muslims who disagree with me on the 9/11 issue are not true Muslims at all.  In fact, they are as bad as the infidels.

MJ:  I doubt that the prophet Mohammad would have agreed with you.  You think Mohammad’s followers who disagreed with you, including the custodians of Mecca and Medina who exiled you, are wrong?

OBL:  Yes.  They are just as bad as the Western infidels; therefore they also deserve to die.

MJ:  But don’t you know that history is against you?  That most of the civilized world is against you?  Now that Bush is out of power, objective people will start hating your Al Qaeda movement more than they hate America.   You’ll get wiped out.

OBL:  What a way to go.  72 virgins await me and my men who die for this cause.

MJ:  That’s quite a gamble to take; you have no evidence that your boys will get that in the afterlife.  It’s sick thinking.

OBL:  So let’s assume 100,000 civilians died in the American-led invasion of Iraq that you paid for with your tax dollars.  That’s okay?  Compared to my mere 3,000 body count?

MJ:  It’s not okay; but they were collateral in an armed conflict.  Saddam himself killed more of his own people.  And for the record, I was against the Iraq invasion.

OBL:  I had no love for Saddam.  I begged the Saudi royal family to let me at him.

MJ:  We can agree that guy was a prick.

OBL:  Yes, he was quite a baton.

MJ:  See, I knew we’d find something in common!  (pulling on the pipe) I like this apple flavor.

OBL:  You really think peaceful protests will solve the suffering of the Palestinian people?

MJ:  Yes, if it was organized around the principles of democracy instead of terrorism.

OBL:  You do not agree that Israel’s agenda is one of oppression?

MJ:  It’s not their agenda.  But terrorism puts those who seek draconian measures into power in the name of security.  I believe in Israel’s right to exist.

OBL:  We can never agree on this then.

MJ:  What’s wrong with Arab peoples and Israel living side by side in harmony?

OBL:  It can never happen.

MJ:  I disagree.  People of different backgrounds around the world live peacefully next to each other.  America is the best example of that.

OBL:  Even you oppressed the black population for centuries, built your agrarian economy on their backs.

MJ:  We made some mistakes.  Now we have a black president; we’re on our way to improving that situation.  America has progressed over time, we’ve had our civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, different forms of enlightenment of sorts.  You’ve never had that.

OBL:  We don’t need it.  We’re fine the way we are. (signals attendant for third, and last hookah)

MJ:  To me that shows a lack of education about the world, a lack of intellectual curiosity; a form of Islam that says even within your religion your way is right and everyone else’s is wrong.

OBL:  Exactly.

MJ:  I’m starting to realize there is no point in talking to you about these things.  You’re not flexible in your thinking.  I can try to understand your point of view but you’ll never try to understand mine.

OBL:  I’m just older and wiser than you.  I know the way the world works and you don’t.

MJ:  Moving on.  What do you think is going to happen in the Iranian elections coming up?

OBL:  Shi’ites are a waste of my time.

MJ:  So even though they’re Muslim- you don’t feel any connection to their issues?

OBL:  They’re right to want to wipe Israel off the map.  And not much else.

MJ:  Okay.  We’re obviously done talking politics.  Let’s talk about Abha, the town where I lived.

OBL:  Beautiful city. 

MJ:  I agree.  Among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen-

OBL:  Great weather.

MJ:  Yes, year round.  Amazing mountain vistas.  The most beautiful parks in the world.

OBL:  The baboons.

MJ:  Yes, the baboons who roamed the parks as if they owned them.

OBL:  It’s too bad you didn’t join the good side, able young man like yourself.

MJ: I’m on the good side.  I guess we don’t have anything else to talk about.

OBL:  No, we don’t.  Goodbye.  I hope your hangover isn’t too bad.

MJ:  Goodbye.  (escorted out of the cave at gunpoint.  Takes an ornate hookah pipe as a souvenir in his flowing Arabian robe when the armed guards aren’t looking- a small act of defiance in this crazy world)

 

Barack Obama has been President of the United States for almost two months now.  It has been a shaky start for his administration at best, as I thought it would be.  Any time a new president attempts to come into Washington and shake things up, the Washington establishment fights back tooth and nail to maintain its grip on the worst aspects of the status quo.  We are witnessing a period where Obama has rapidly and decisively moved forward on many parts of his agenda laid out during the long 2008 campaign season; on the other hand, it appears that Obama has given in on several core principles.  It is also worth mentioning that Obama has inherited the most difficult situation of any White House transition in our lifetimes, with several unresolved American wars abroad, heated conflicts tangentially affecting America in other parts of the world, and a monumental collapse in the American economy and world economy.  Entire industries, including American auto manufacturing, have approached the brink of disaster.

Under the stress of these times, Obama’s Democratic party has splintered into several factions, rendering it more difficult to get things done, and above that the two parties in power have failed to reach across the aisle for bipartisan achievement so far.  Most bills are being rammed through by the Democratic majority without much input from the Republicans, which is not good for the nation in the long run.  The weak Republican party, which is having a crisis of leadership at the moment, isn’t helping the cause.  The result is a mixed bag, and although contention is everywhere in Washington these days, there is a lot going on on the legislative front and in the halls of executive power.  Here is a fair examination of Obama’s first two months.  At the 100 day mark, the media outlets will be chock full of report cards.   Consider this to be a mid-semester preview of Obama’s performance, both positive and negative.

Problematic Personnel Moves. Obama’s team has flubbed a number of presidential appointments, due largely to an unexpected epidemic of tax problems and the specter of corruption and industry ties amongst high-level appointees.  Bill Richardson, an early Obama favorite to join the Cabinet as Commerce Secretary, bowed out due to an ongoing federal investigation into a transportation contract that involved him as Governor of New Mexico.  Tom Daschle, the formerly powerful Senator and an Obama Rabbi, was felled by $128,000 in unpaid income taxes.  Dashcle’s fall was especially painful as he was to head the Department of Health and serve as the president’s health czar, picked to oversee a vast expansion in the health care system to cover all Americans.  Earlier the same day Daschle withdrew his nomination, Obama’s pick for the newly created position of Chief Performance Officer, Nancy Killefer, went down in flames for owing taxes from 2005 related to a housekeeper.  Tim Geithner, Obama’s appointment for Secretary of the Treasury, supposedly owed $34,000 in social security and medicare back taxes during a stint at the IMF, while retaining a housekeeper whose immigration documents were not in order.

This disturbing trend has stained the administration for several reasons.  First of all, these are jobs of immense authority and accountability where it is unacceptable to have legal issues in your personal life when you are overseeing the work of thousands of government officials.  It begs the question of how Geithner could oversee the Treasury Department and the IRS; how Killefer could measure the success of government programs based on performance indicators, and how Daschle could regulate a multibillion dollar industry in massive transition when each of these people could not keep their own house in order.  Of course, the opposite argument is that these people probably do not manage their own money, and have accountants who are supposed to take care of the inane complexities of tax laws.  But these people too are in the employ of the appointed officials and should have been managed more closely.  More importantly, the delays in filling these important roles has harmed Obama’s agenda during the critical early days of the administration, despite the work of a well-oiled transition team.

Yet another gaffe occurred when Obama’s highest-level Republican appointee, Senator Judd Gregg, withdrew his nomination for the cursed Commerce Secretary spot.  This was a failure of bipartisanship more than of substance, as Obama had promised to appoint people for the job regardless of party affiliation.  Gregg’s qualifications don’t appear overwhelming, so I envisioned him as a token Republican Cabinet Secretary just as Norm Mineta was the token Democrat under Bush.  Gregg somehow woke up and realized that taking this job would cause an irreconcilable conflict with his fiscal principles and his ideas about the 2010 census (run by Commerce), of all things.  This belated realization makes me wonder what conversations really occurred behind closed doors to make the Senator change his mind.   However, the damage has been done and the cabinet cannot be called truly bipartisan by any stretch of the imagination, even though Obama has kept on critical Bush appointees including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Finally, the appointment by Obama of William Lynn as Deputy Secretary, the #2 at the Pentagon behind Gates, appears to be a failure on a different level.  He campaigned on the principle that federal lobbyists would not be part of his team; yet Lynn was just that for the defense contractor, Raytheon, and accepting the position required him to dump millions of dollars in company stock.  Obama’s team waived the rules for Lynn.  Qualified for the job or otherwise, the exception in this case was troubling to many.

On the other hand, I believe some of Obama’s personnel moves were strong.  Picking Joe Biden as Vice President has pluses and minuses.  One minus is that he will continue to commit gaffes on the job.  However he will be loyal to Obama, not attempting to undermine him as Cheney did over and over under Bush.  The country would also move forward under a President Biden if anything were to happen to Obama.  Biden is also overseeing the disbursal of the federal budget, and as a Congressional insider for 35 years that can only be helpful.  Picking Hillary Clinton for the State Department was also a wise choice; though I have not always agreed with her foreign policy positions, most notably the vote to use force against Iraq, few could argue that she knows world affairs inside-out from a wonk’s perspective.  It is also a positive step for the world to continue seeing a woman in the position of Secretary of State.

Overall, only time will tell how the Obama appointments fare.  There are still several key holes to fill, including in the offices around Geithner’s at Treasury.  For the sake of the country, these holes must be patched quickly with first-rate people.

Foreign Policy. Perils abound on the world stage, and they require swift and decisive action by the United States.  The Iraq conflict must be wound down.   Efforts to contain terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan must be ramped up.  Rogue actors with nuclear aspirations such as Iran and North Korea continue to give America a headache.  Russia is rapidly turning backward from democracy; China is moving forward on capitalism but backward on most democratic indicators as well.  Meanwhile, Mexico threatens to be a massive failed state right on our border, as a cabal of powerful drug dealers are overwhelming the state’s resources and ability to govern.  Violence in Mexico has reached unprecedented levels, largely to quench American demand, and the situation is deteriorating.

It appears Obama will approach fighting terror differently than Bush did, and in this I believe Obama is doing the right thing.  He has moved to ban torture of detainees.  He has moved to shut down Guantanamo Bay and find an alternative way to try terror suspects.   These measures are morally correct from a human rights standpoint, and also a better play for America’s long-term national security.  Shutting down Gauntanamo will remove a key rallying cry for Middle Eastern radicals, while helping regain America’s image of moral authority that was lost drastically under Bush.    Meanhile, some aspects of Bush’s anti-terror tactics have remained, notably the right to use unmanned drones to bomb terrorist targets in Pakistan’s lawless Northwest Frontier region.  If this program kills terrorists instead of civilians, I am all for it.

Obama is also cutting the budget for missile-defense systems, a costly and questionably effective program that has served to rattle a belligerent Russia into ramping up its own missile programs.  Although Obama has made secret overtures to the Kremlin on this subject, it is unclear at this time how far cooperation will go between the two rivals that do not fully trust one another.  On a related note, I believe that Obama’s thoughts on WMD non-proliferation are serious and will be followed through during his administration.   Obama intends to enlist the assistance of Russia’s good offices with Iran, which will be necessary when dealing with this prickly rogue state.  It is early times on the diplomatic scene but our fledgling foreign policy is moving in the right direction.

Domestic Policy. Domestic policy interests me far less, but it is at the forefront in today’s environment.  The recession is here and it is very real.  Various programs initiated under Bush continue, such as the $700 billion bank bailout known as T.A.R.P., a separate fiscal stimulus of nearly $800 billion being injected into the economy, and a massive federal spending bill for the next fiscal year.  Much of this appears to be necessary to get us out of where we are; I’ve written on some of the concepts involved here for the stimulus and here on the bailout.  However Obama appears to have given in on pork.  Realizing pork, or the earmarks in the budget inserted by Congress for various pet projects with varying degrees of necessity is a tiny part of the overall budget, Obama may have agreed to let it through for political expediency- to mollify his Democratic Congress.  Obama needs this body to pass his agenda.  Like the appointment of Lynn, it seems to some like a compromise on principle however.  Obama’s opponents feel vindicated during these instances, whether Obama held his nose or not.

Science is advancing under Obama after what seemed like eight years of the Dark Ages.  Obama has acted quickly in the arena of stem cell research, reversing Bush’s opposition to this area of laboratory testing based on religious grounds. By recent executive order, the government will allow federal funding of stem cell research to proceed again to help find cures for various diseases.   The environment and global warming are again at the forefront of the conversation after many years of denial.  The new Energy Secretary Steven Chu is a professor who specialized in solar power research.  The stimulus has set aside money for mass transit, alternative energy, and other improvements to infrastructure that are sorely needed both by the sick worforce and by crumbling towns and cities across America.

We have not seen the health care debate begin in earnest, and that is something to watch for.  The issue is complex, controversial, and contentious, which should make for good theater at the very least.  Obama has promised to bring all vested parties to the table to debate openly: insurance companies, HMOs, drug companies, doctors, etc.  This is a departure from the past, including Hillary Clinton’s own efforts that fell short in the 90’s.

Finally, the promise of a new era of bipartisanship in Washington is looking increasingly bleak.  Obama has been unable to bring a meaningful number of Republicans onto his wagon on any critical subject.  Partly that is a symptom of an ailing Republican party, led by ignorant clowns such as Rush Limbaugh and an increasingly incompetent and tone-deaf RNC Chairman, Michael Steele.  However, part of the blame must fall on the Obama administration, fairly or unfairly, for being unable to reduce the toxic partisan rhetoric that is becoming highly problematic.  The media, of course, loves the drama and that doesn’t help either.  Although the Republicans are reflexively opposing the Democratic agenda without clear, viable alternative ideas, and have overseen many years of failed policies, it is necessary for them to at least be a part of the debate as a strong minority party.  At this time they are being nearly shut out of most debates.  This will backfire on the Democratic party unless its members rule completely effectively, which they do not appear capable of.

Finally, Obama must take control of the Democratic party back.  There is much opposition within the party, especially on fiscal issues.  If the tensions within the party continue to escalate, it will prevent the passage of needed legislation despite large majorities in both houses of Congresses.  In dealing with both Congressional Republicans and Democrats, Obama’s team must find ways to play the political game better and prevent a full-scale mutiny.  This is perhaps harder than anything else; it is not a merit-based system, but one of painful compromise and soul-selling.   Obama seems to have been pragmatic on the budget by giving in on some pork that Democrats wanted, and also tax relief that Republicans were looking for.  It’s a dangerous game but one that must be played.

Overall, we are not out of the woods yet on most aspects of the economy or national security.  However, Obama has worked hard, he has made serious inroads, and many pans are frying simultaneously on the burner.  We all know much is left to be done.  All in all, it has been an active two months that have seen a whirlwind of achievement.  I believe the biggest failures are related to personnel decisions, and once these have settled all parts of the administration can get cracking in earnest.  It is my firm belief that the nation’s outlook will improve during the first two years of the administration, with or without the help of the government.  Inevitably, this will make Obama look good.  The goal is to not screw things up any worse than they already are, which should be feasible.  I remain an Obama fan, but one who is not beyond criticism where it is due.

Much is being made of controversial high-cost bailout packages and stimulus packages these days.  Washington is engulfed in an all-out war against an economy in global decline, and Washington is losing so far.  The conflict has already spanned over the sunset of the Bush reign and the sunrise of the Obama era.  It appears that the Obama administration, with a largely partisan Democratic Congress, will ram through some version of a $700-$800 billion stimulus package as an opening salvo in the battle.  Much has been said about all of this, and above all the only predictable outcome is more uncertainty in the short run.  Since I nearly failed every one of my college Economics classes, four of which I was required by my undergraduate institution to suffer through in order to matriculate, perhaps I’m not the best person to comment on all of this.  Then again, the world’s top economists and policymakers appear to be as clueless as I am, so here are some issues to keep track of as the battle rages on.  It’s a complex and unpredictable subject, so one thing we can sure about is that there are no easy answers.

To Stimulate or Not to Stimulate. That is the question.  Most of the citizenry and most of the government seem to be in agreement that something must be done, as the economic indicators spiral out of control.  Unemployment is at a high level unseen for decades.  Housing prices are down sharply, resulting in trillions of dollars of lost wealth collectively for Americans and foreigners.  The financial system is on the brink of collapse.  Lending is down, and so is consumer spending.  Most people, rich and poor feel like they are worse off right now than a few years ago.  To navigate out of the quagmire probably requires drastic government action of some sort rather than sitting lamely by.  The Democrats believe that we should spend our way out of it, thousands of multi-million dollar checks at a time.  The nay-saying Republicans have been thrashed so badly in the last two election cycles that they are rendered irrelevant in the debate because most of them are not needed to pass legislation.  Their game appears to be that tax cuts are the ultimate answer, not spending.  John McCain, the closest thing the party has to some semblance of leadership, has taken pains to absolve his party of responsibility for the bill.  As a compromise several hundred billions of dollars of tax cuts are part of the plan.  The Republican strategy appears to be: hope the stimulus will fail miserably in its aim, making us look good in time for the 2010 midterm elections.

The Need vs. the Speed. On the other hand, the optimistic tack taken by Obama and his Democratic team appears to be that the stimulus can right the ship, a la President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s massive spending bills from the 1930’s whose public works projects shaped much of what America looks like today and helped the country out of depression, along with a patriotic re-purposing of the workforce toward defeating the Axis powers in World War II.  This period saw workers who used to make fridges learn how to make tanks and bombs instead.

However the stimulus bill is based on America’s ability to spend the money speedily.  In the political world that means progress must be made by 2010.  Contracts have to be signed, shovels have to pierce the earth, and dams and bridges and windmill farms must pop up or be repaired.  But the speed must be balanced with practical concerns.  Are we building roads that we really need, or are we just spending for the sake of spending?  Will the newly planted infrastructure help our economy into the future or will it be a one-off shopping spree that will leave us back where we are now at the end of it- like a temporary caffeine rush from a visit to Starbucks?  Unfortunately, Congress’s poor track record on spending wisely does not inspire any confidence.  That’s not even the biggest pitfall.

Debt. The larger risk is taking on more debt to get there.  Money doesn’t appear magically from the sky- the government is spending from a finite pot, and putting more cash in circulation means that the American people are borrowing against our own future.  This is a sticking point for Republicans, and it’s a good thing that it’s being discussed.  But debt is only a problem if the economy doesn’t get stimulated.  If stimulation occurs, the debt will be neutralized by a rejuvenated economy revving up.   If it doesn’t happen, we will owe the Chinese and the Gulf states even more in the future than we do now.

Bigger is Better? Size matters when it comes to spending.  What’s the right amount to spend?  Bush and Obama both backed a bill that injected $700 billion worth of treasure into the coffers of America’s banks.  With about half of the taxpayer money already spent, nobody can prove that it’s been any better than pissing $350 billion into the wind.  Credit hasn’t loosened, job loss has not been stemmed, and the banks seem even worse off and more tone-deaf than before.  Many banks have admitted to just holding onto the gift money for dear life to better position themselves for an economic recovery that they have no intention of contributing toward.

The latest stimulus figure being thrown around today,  $789 billion, has clearly been pulled out of someone’s ass.  Nobody can agree that any number, whether it’s $400 billion, $800 billion, or $2 trillion would really stimulate a damn thing.  That is because our economy is more complex and globally entwined now than it’s ever been.  This 789 number is an arbitrary compromise between all of the pigs feeding at the special-interest trough and salivating at getting their pieces of the slop.

What Should We Really be Doing? Ultimately I do not believe that we are spending the money in a creative enough fashion.  Our way of life as we know it is being threatened, and a massive shopping spree paired with a massive bank bailout simply cannot be the only fathomable option on the table.  We have to think of re-structuring our country and indeed the entire international trade system in radical ways.

We need to consider more carefully what Americans should be doing, and what we should let other people in other countries do.  Our economy should be driven more by things that Americans can do better than everyone else.   For example, our cars will not be able to compete much longer against those built by automakers in other countries with sharply lower labor costs and access to similar technology.  Cars, for America, are a thing of the past.  We should be focusing on what will matter 20 years from now, high technology innovation, the stuff that Google and Microsoft and Oracle are made of.  We should invest more of the stimulus money in alternative energy research and production, and re-thinking our entire energy grid system.  We should begin the complete transition of things we do not do well or cost-effectively, such as auto manufacturing to other nations.  People in Detroit should learn to make or do something else.  For that matter, American workers should be commuting to work not in SUVs but instead, newly-built mass transit or perhaps new types of high-tech bicycles powered by electric batteries.  Our schools should be teaching foreign languages from 1st grade onward, sponsoring mandatory study abroad programs, and hooking up every child with a laptop computer.

Finally, we need to invest in stabilizing the rogue states of the world run by dictators tacitly supported by foreign great powers, and get them working productively as part of the community of nations.  Until that happens, we will always be at war with somebody who hates us, and we will not be using our resources most effectively.  It’s my opinion that if Africa never becomes politically stable and civil enough to be the place that builds all our cars, America and the rest of the world will never progress.  We will probably sink or swim together now in the global drink.

Unfortunately, these creative long-term goals are difficult to achieve when politicians are only elected for short spans lasting 2, 4, 6, or 8 years at most.  Transitioning America toward the next and better step of history would take longer than that, and many aspects of creative and visionary thinking are defeated by the overpowering urge to seek short-term gain and glory.  Ultimately this may be the largest flaw in our system, one that is not nimble enough yet for the 21st century, and one that to our peril just may never be.

Inevitably, we’re going to have some sort of stimulus package.  I hope it achieves some sort of stimulation.  But I don’t think it will be a long-term solution in any case.  That means we are still going to need one.

To follow up on my last food blog about New York’s tastiest morsels, full of flavorful red meat, I’m going to expound here on the best vegetarian food I’ve eaten in over 7 years of wandering around this great city.

Just because you’re eating something vegetarian doesn’t mean you have to deny your body of protein.  That’s where falafel comes in.  Falafel is generally a deep-fried elliptical ball of crushed chickpea mashed with delicious seasonings, and it seems to be the only thing that both Israelis and Arabs seem to agree on.   That’s how you know it’s special.  Ubiquitous amongst both cultures, it’s usually served with rice or pita bread.  In New York you’ll usually find it in a sandwich preparation with white tahini (sesame) sauce, onions, tomatos, lettuce, and parsley.  It’s a cheap meal, always within a few dollars, and can be found within short order in every neighbordhood in New York at Israeli or Middle Eastern establishments.  I believe the crown amongst these goes to Mamoun’s, a world-famous store usually featuring lines out the door past four in the morning.  As a kid living in Saudi Arabia I still remember the vendors who fried these on the sidewalk in large vats of oil, and served them fresh on the spot.  Usually they were gone before my family made it home, which was just three blocks away.  Mamoun’s wins out for the quality, freshness, and perfect seasoning you get every single time, day or night for $2.50.  And it can now be found in both the East and West Village areas.  If you haven’t devoured a falafel sandwich, haul yourself down there like yesterday.

A few doors down from the original Mamoun’s on McDougal Street is the Indian sandwich shop known as the Kati Roll Company, which competes nightly with Mamoun’s for the length of the line going out the door. Here you can buy the achari paneer kati roll, which features grilled cubes of paneer, or hardened Indian cottage cheese, topped with fresh chilis, onions, lemon juice, and spices rolled up in a grease-toasted flatbread known by various names, including paratha.  When you bite into one of these I guarantee your saliva will drip all over the paneer.   The cheese doesn’t melt, so it stands up to the barbecue process, and it’s cholesterol-laden enough to satiate even the meat-eaters amongst us.  As an added bonus, this is easy to make at home too after a quick visit to any Indian grocery store.  Slabs of paneer can be found in the frozen section.  Defrost it and throw it on the pan, cut into cubes and we’re ready to go to town.

Of course, New York is also famous for its unique style of pizza.  The most famed sit-down pizzerias in New York, such as Lombardi’s, Grimaldi’s, John’s, and others specialize in the gourmet coal or brick oven-fired pies that have been feeding New Yorkers since the 1800’s at very reasonable prices.  You cannot go wrong at any of these joints, with any pie on the menu.  Just about all of them have their roots in one single shop in Manhattan, but vicious family feuds mixed with ego issues (”Ayyyyyy, I said 227 degrees not 229 degrees in that f***ing oven Luigi!!!”) caused them to break off into splinter groups.  Now you can get a slice of pizza on just about every street corner of all five boroughs.  Although no two people seem to agree on this, I think the best amongst all the budget chains is easily Famiglia. Within the first bite of a plain cheese thin-crust pie from this place in the fall of 2001, I was in love.  This simple concoction of dough, a sweetish tomato sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese is the one dish that I always take out-of-towners to taste.  My preferred store is on 50th and Broadway, not too far from the bright lights of Times Square, my old ‘hood.  Toppings really are not necessary- the basic pie has all the flavor you could want- although a little garlic powder and crushed red pepper takes things to the next level.  Chase it with a $1 order of garlic knots.  I think the secret here is the sauce, made of vine-ripened tomatoes picked by discerning old women with nothing better to do in Southern Italy, and water from some secret source that helps shape both the sauce and the dough.

I would be amiss not to include a dessert item on our vegetarian tour.  A chain called Beard Papa’s, all the rage in Japan, has been happily transplanted to Manhattan several years ago.  Like all of today’s features, this one too is exceedingly simple: a fluffy hollow pastry filled with luscious creams of various flavors.  The regular cream puff is heavenly, but you also can’t go wrong with coffee-flavored and green-tea flavored cream infusions.  If you’re really hungry, get all three.

And there we have it: without leaving Manhattan you can travel to the shores of the Red Sea, the stalls of Delhi, the vibrant markets of Sicily, or the back alleys of Tokyo.  All the while stuffing your face with tasty vegetarian food.  Most major cities of the world can boast the confluence of cultures, but no other place can match the consistenly high quality of flavors within easy reach of one another.  We haven’t even scratched the surface yet, so tune in next time.

It’s always a delight to watch the peaceful transition of power from one leader to the next, as will take place on Tuesday in Washington.  We Americans take this luxury for granted.   Since November we have finally seen the American establishment come together, united with goodwill toward the new Commander-in-Chief.  Obama’s poll numbers are sky-high during this honeymoon, and his rivals from a bitterly contested journey to the White House such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain have been exceedingly gracious.  So has the outgoing president, George W. Bush.

But this period is just that: a honeymoon that must come to an end when Obama’s transition team actually transitions into the hairy task of managing this nation at a historically difficult time.  There is no time to blink.  Here is what to watch for as we plunge forward as a nation into the deep blue waters.

The Team. Obama has assembled a talented team around him, drawing from both major political parties.  There has been a focus on hiring people with Congressional experience into the Executive fold: Senator Hillary Clinton at State, Senator Joe Biden as VP,  Senator Tom Daschle at Health, and Rep. Rahm Ehmanuel as Chief of Staff.  This decision will stand Obama in good stead as he seeks to push legislation through Congress, a place where many good ideas go to die an ignominious death.  Even so as Ehmanuel said today, there will be no “slam dunks” in getting bills passed even as he will try to “Rahm” things through.

Another factor is how much of a hold corporate interests will have on Obama and his team.  Ralph Nader frequently called Bush’s administration a slave to corporate interests.  Obama, and the Democratic party at large, must prove that corporate cronyism will not derail the change and hope that Obama has promised.   These interests are exceedingly powerful in today’s America, especially as they relate to health care, national security, energy policy, and the financial system.  Let’s watch and grade Obama as he goes along to see if he can break through the corporate shackles to get things done.

Finally, will the presence of conservative thinkers on the cabinet enhance or hurt the administration’s decision making?  For example, two key national security spots are filled by Bush appointees.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, although clearly competent, are no bleeding-heart liberals.  In theory, we can view these moves as pragmatic on Obama’s part.  We’ll see.

Biden’s Role.  On a related note, it is probably safe to say that Biden is no Cheney.  Although he has been a Senator for 35 years, starting at a time when Obama was a skinny kid in middle school, I have seen a certain deference in Biden.  He will not be pulling the strings behind the scenes and running his own shadow regime as Dick Cheney did.  I think that bodes well for America.  The difference is clearly the fact that Cheney was more intelligent and ideology-driven than Bush was.  In the case of Obama and Biden, it is clear that the more capable Obama is in charge and Biden will be his Robin.

Negotiating the Crises. America on many levels has lost its way in the woods.  To get out safely will require a re-tooling of the nation’s priorities.  A nation that allows health care costs and education costs to spiral out of control year after year is in real trouble.  Starting a pre-emptive war on the basis of fear also cannot be a principle to live by.  Serving as the biggest cause of the planet’s pollution and over-heating sets a poor example.  Helping create a global recession thanks to blatantly corrupt financial practices engineered right here at home does not serve America, or anyone else.  Unfortunately we live at the confluence of all these factors.  Can Obama help change the underlying culture which caused these problems?  I don’t know.  That’s expecting a hell of a lot from one man.  It’s unfair.  But expect we must.

What May Come. At this point we cannot anticipate the crises that will arise during Obama’s first term.  We haven’t seen his team manage one successfully yet.  The inauguration will be immediately followed by the grunt work of putting out lots of raging fires.  It’s an unpredictable world and the plate is already full.  Will there be time and energy to deal with something new?  Will the nation stay behind Obama through it if he stumbles?

Despite the fears, I feel as though most Americans are cautiously optimistic.  After all, we are America.  Confidence here reigns supreme above all else.  We aren’t in as much peril as General George Washington’s men who marched all night through the snow without shoes, losing comrades to cold and starvation all along the way.  They emerged victorious to shock and awe the sleepy Hessians in fierce hand-to-hand combat.  The alternative was unthinkable.  Let’s see if 21st century America can live up to this legacy that was granted to us 230 years ago.

It’s true.  I’ve taken the plunge, and some of you might be interested in hearing the whole story of what happened.  Or at least my side of it.  Naina, perhaps you’d like to write a response someday?  A lot of people across the oceans can’t wait to hear what you think of all this.  For better or for worse I’m going to cover a lot of ground; you can choose to bear with me- this will probably be pretty long.

If I do say so myself, it’s been a fascinating love story to be a part of, so much so that I often feel as if it’s happened to someone else, and I’m an outsider who’s observing the whole thing in wonder.  Like I’m sitting in a theater and watching a Technicolor romantic comedy from a bygone era that someone else is acting in.  Additionally we’ve both been alarmingly calm and irrationally certain so far since being engaged, which remains unfathomable to both of us, as of this magical New Year’s Day.  I’ve never had a single doubt or concern since doing this despite the incredibly short period of time and limited interactions we’ve had together.  I’ll be the first to admit that it’s all been perfectly abnormal.  Then again, we are talking about me here.

On December 15th I proposed to a young lady named Naina Mallya, who I first met exactly 57 hours earlier, at a point on the planet which is as far as possible from where I live in New York, known as Bangalore.  She said yes without hesitation, even after I immediately asked the follow-up question, “Are you sure?”  I was only half-joking.  From beginning to now, the whole process has been just that effortless, the word my sister always used to describe how relationships, and life in general should be.  I always waved off this cheesy new-age idea of “effortlessness”, as my own sensibilities told me that great things were achieved only through effort and hard work.  How ironic that the sharp arrows of effortlessness came to pierce my heart.

Meanwhile, our relationship is in itself a unique hybrid: a 21st century blend which combined specific elements of both traditional Indian family-arranged marriages (where lightning-quick decisions with little contact or knowledge of one another are a dime a dozen) and modern romantic “love” marriages where the two halves of the couple find each other on their own- the concept people in the individualistic Western world are more familiar with.  So although my parents and Naina’s parents initiated the connection upon the recommendation of a mutual relation, the two of us took the introduction to the next level on our own terms.  So it was a happy marriage between what my parents wanted for me, and what I wanted for myself, without any pressure on me to make a quick decision one way or another.  Although I finally entered the arranged marriage process after several years of my mother’s prodding in part to make her stop, I immediately found myself completely excited and immersed in the experience of my own volition because it was so awesome.  This came after many years of never even being certain I would pursue an arranged marriage process, or even end up marrying an Indian.  I now understand that all of that can change for anyone in a day.

That is because from our very first contact, despite the distance and differences in background, Naina and I connected on some inexplicable level, and it was largely a two-way street.  The kind of thing that I’ve read in novels or heard in songs, but never believed truly existed, at least not for me.  My first email to Naina on September 1st that triggered this whole thing off was very businesslike, almost like a formal cover letter for a job.  That’s one of many funny things about the arranged-marriage process: it feels like you’re applying for something, at least at the start.  I’ve attached that first, mundane email here below for your entertainment.  FYI for you non-Indian firangis, “biodata” is the rough equivalent of an arranged-marriage resume, with a focus on personal and family background, which your potential partner’s family can quickly scan to find out how old you are, where you work, where you were schooled, who your parents and grandparents were, your sub-caste, your Hindu star-sign, etc.  In fact, “applications” are routinely accepted or rejected based on your biodata.

Then there was her photo, which sort of haunted me from the start.  Here was this pretty Indian girl with a winning and confident smile, dressed up in a traditional white salwar kameez dress, in front of an idyllic Indian backdrop with beautiful coconut trees and a flowing blue river.  It evoked another place and another era.  But more importantly, I felt from the first moment I saw that photo that I already knew her from somewhere.  Of course, this wasn’t possible because we had never crossed paths before.  I was excited to initiate the conversation, and waited until I was completely ready before doing so.  Our mothers had already engaged in a lively, if brief email exchange before then and there was already a connection developing between them - something which I almost worried about because I didn’t want them to get too friendly before Naina and I had decided if we wanted to stay in touch.  Anyway, here’s how it all started, exactly 105 days before our engagement:

date:  Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 11:03 AM

Hello Naina,
Hope you are doing well.  My name is Mahanth, and I am writing to you to introduce myself.  Our parents have been in touch and exchanged biodata, photos, etc.  I have received yours and hopefully you have seen mine by now as well.  My mother asked me to go ahead and email you.

Sorry that I did not get in touch earlier, due to my work and graduate school schedule I’ve been a bit busy until today.  So here’s a bit more about me, I’m working in New York City government for the last 7 years, and in the evenings taking Master’s classes in Urban Affairs in the last year.  I have a strong interest in writing about politics, foreign policy, and culture as well.  And although I’m American, my sister and I have been lucky to spend a lot of time in India and other countries while growing up.

I would like to learn more about you.  Please respond when you receive this so we can communicate some more.  I look forward to hearing from you.

My introduction was fast-tracked across continents and time zones on the information superhighway.  Naina responded right away, which started a long chain of emails back and forth, and constituted the entirety of our early relationship.  This went so well that by the end of the email chain, before we had even spoken for the first time, I was really into her.  Can’t say for sure if she felt the same way but I was digging the tone of her emails.

After more than two weeks, we spoke on the phone for the first time.  The conversation lasted for over two hours, and there wasn’t a single awkward pause.  Neither of us remembers much of the content, which must have been at least mildly substantive to overcome my Attention Deficit Disorder.  I mostly remember our complete agreement on spiritual matters- we were literally finishing each other’s sentences on the subjects of reincarnation, karma, monotheistic polytheism, etc.  The only other notable feature of this conversation was the number of times we had to interrupt one another because we had trouble understanding each other’s accents.  In particular, Naina ceaselessly spoke sentence after sentence at breakneck speed with a thick Indian accent that I had trouble keeping up with, despite being around Indians all my life.  Naina came to call my American accent exceedingly “fancy-pants.”  What a start.

From that first call the conversation really took off, to the point where my rational and analytical powers surrendered completely to my hopelessly romantic side, which had been exiled to the dungeons for many seasons.  This transition was well under way by early October.  To be honest I’ve been completely sure everything would work out since early October.  That would be exactly several months before we even met and one month after my first email.  This certainty has visibly agitated a number of people that I am close to, most of all one of my favorite persons, myself.  And this certainty has never gone away for a single moment.  My rational and analytical powers, which used to be formidable once upon a time, put up a massive fight but then decided to assert their inalienable rights, and went on strike.  I like to believe they’re sharing some beer somewhere and laughing at me.

Thank God for technology.  Although this wasn’t exactly a Match.com or Shaadi.com Internet mating solution, 95% of our interaction was on email and G-Talk Instant Messenger, as we barely got time to talk on the phone all week due to the 10 1/2 hour time difference.  There were a limited number of hours when we both weren’t at work, sleeping, out, or en route to any of the above.  I like to joke that our relationship was like playing a video game: I’d sit down at a computer for several hours, usually late at night, and type stuff to someone on the other end, who would respond, and this went on and on for months.  This is how I got to know Naina, but I often asked myself, was she real?  Or was she just my opponent on an arcade game?  Was she a figment of my imagination?  Too good to be true?  Would I wake up from a dream where I was experiencing all of these new emotions for the first time?  In any case, we had some truly profound exchanges, emotional outbursts, and got into and out of conflicts through emails and chats.  Just like any great video game relationship.

Eventually it became clear that we had to meet up, and as soon as possible.  Fortunately I was already planning a trip to India to attend the weddings of my cousins, Ajesh and Akshatha in Udupi.  So I piggy-backed meeting up with Naina onto my India itinerary.  What followed was the most difficult 6 weeks of waiting, as we both could hardly bear to hold until December 13^th, when we would finally meet one another.  Throughout it all, I never had a doubt or fear that it wouldn’t work out, or that we wouldn’t like each other when we met.

During this phase, I was beginning to talk crazy talk with colleagues and friends, including the fact that I might return from a short India trip engaged to somebody I hadn’t met, and that people should consider making a trip to India in 2009 for my potential wedding.  That’s when some truly interesting conversations began.  One thing I have learned from all of this, and something that Naina deserves credit for teaching me, is that sometimes no matter how intelligent and well-meaning people are, they simply might not understand what two people in a relationship are going through.  This was amplified due to the very orthodox Indian cultural context I was entering in order to pursue my life partner.  I used to think that you could analyze your way through any relationship situation.  I now understand how wrong I was, and how important and inexplicable the role of emotions can be toward making two people work.   There was a lot of skepticism from many people who are close to me here in the United States.

On the other end of the spectrum there was the advice from those who thought arranged marriages were as natural as beeswax.  My mom laid out what I now understand is the traditional approach to arranged introductions: “If she doesn’t turn you off, and you don’t turn her off, you might as well do it.”  At first this seemed quaint but as the day neared when we’d finally meet, I thought it made perfect sense.  And I have seen a number of relatives and friends tie the knot through the arranged process given much less time and interaction than I have had, and they are overwhelmingly successful and happy marriages.  For example, my parents never met before the families agreed that they would be married 36 years ago.  Of course, I am a product of this union and always found it to be cool.

Although I was supremely confident in the days leading up to my flight out of New York, knowing full well with every cell in my body that Naina and I would like each other once we finally met “in the flesh,” Naina from what I could gather seemed to swing from cautiously optimistic to frightened and spazzing.  My only moments of terror came early on, when I saw Naina’s photo in August and September and got this spine-chilling feeling that I already knew her from somewhere, which felt like I’d seen a ghost.  Luckily, I was distracted by the markets crashing and the presidential election, which helped me move past my terror quickly.

The long-awaited journey finally happened.  The 24-hour trip via Paris could not end soon enough.  I touched down at 2 a.m. local time on December 13^th at Bangalore’s little international airport.  I was picked up by my cousin Sushanth, who 5 years earlier had married a young lady named Anuradha, who is related to Naina.  That’s how these things happen.  Sushanth and I stayed up most of the night talking- catching up, as I hadn’t seen him in several years since his business trips to New York, hadn’t met his toddler son, and also discussing the ins and outs of his own arranged marriage process.  This was great, as I was finally next to someone of my generation, who had done what I was about to do, and also knew what my life in New York was like.

I’ll never forget that day.  I didn’t sleep a wink due to the combination of anticipation and jetlag.  I spoke to Naina on the phone that morning, and for the first time, we had a clear cellular connection and I actually heard what her voice really sounded like.  It was like a melodious song.  We made plans for her to pick me up from Sushanth’s apartment building.  The rest of the morning, high on anticipation, I played with Sushanth and Anu’s 1 year old son Nivedh.

When the call from Naina came, telling me she was downstairs, I got ready and walked down the five flights of stairs.  Finally, during those short moments, I began to hyperventilate.  My body started reacting in all kinds of strange ways- my palms were sweating, I was having trouble breathing, my mouth went completely dry, my legs were numb, and my heart rate doubled.  My brain was calling for calm, while my body pulled the alarm and called the fire brigade.  I’d experienced this before- I was unmistakably in the early stages of shock.

It was so bad that when I saw Naina sitting in the black Maruti Swift car across the street from the apartment gates with her signature big sunglasses, I froze, and even considered for a split second turning around, going back to the apartment, and trying to concoct some sort of excuse to buy time.  The thought flashed violently across my mind, “What am I about to do?”

Naina had already told me she would feel this way on the first day.  I had been telling her for weeks what a cool customer I was, and how calm and collected and confident I would be at that moment.  It was just the opposite.  I had for many weeks had this whole plan in my head for our first moment together: I was going to take her by surprise and do a few classic ballroom dance moves: I was going to twirl her around, and then dip her low to the ground in my arms before she knew what was going on.  Instead, since my wobbly legs could barely hold my own self up steadily, and the ground was gravelly and muddy, I decided to just hug her for a few moments instead of risk both of us falling into the mud and ruining my really cool plan, and our clothes.  That wasn’t exactly the start I envisioned.

And then Anu showed up right behind me, because in my state of hyperventilation I forgot the chocolates I had brought for Naina from the States because she told me she liked them.  Anu realized that I forgot the candy bars in the living room, and ran down with them after me.  Anu later told me she thought I looked like I was nervous.  That was an understatement.

The rest is more or less history.  After we both calmed down sufficiently in the first few minutes, I quickly realized that hanging out with Naina was going even better than my unreasonably high expectations.  I knew that I could easily go a lifetime without finding someone who was so compatible with what I wanted.  And that people did indeed go a lifetime without meeting such a great match.  I think we both knew everything was going to work out by that first day.   Whatever we did that day- going to a mall, going to a coffee shop, having lunch at a Chinese restaurant, driving around the sprawling city of Bangalore- was a blur.  I spent most of the day pretty dizzy and in disbelief.  Already, a number of patterns emerged which I believe will continue for a lifetime.  Naina occasionally tuned out and ignored what I said or the waiter said while at lunch.  I cracked a bunch of jokes which I thought were truly brilliant, which she didn’t think were funny.  And we spent most of the day looking at each other and saying things that weren’t very intelligent.  We were nonetheless affirming what we had during the long-distance phase: the arranged marriage process wasn’t about companionship, or fun, or games.  From the start it’s about whether you can be married to each other.  And we thought so before, and we thought so on that first day.  We could sense it without having to say it.  If not, you end it right away, which I find to be a huge advantage to the system.

On the second day, we hung out at an awesome little pub called Couch which was owned by Naina’s buddy, named Tina.  Tina and I had already had lively email exchanges with my friend Luke, and Tina and I had become instant friends well before my trip.  Tina is about as cool and interesting as anyone I know; but more on Tina later.  Suffice it to say that it’s very fortuitous, and helpful, to become an instant friend of someone your future fiancée is close to, so I was pretty happy about all of this while the three of us hung out and professed how happy we were to be in this moment after waiting so long for it.  And while we were at Couch, I remember looking at Naina and knowing that my mind was completely made up; for many hours I had been thinking and thinking and trying to find a reason, any reason in the universe, to not make the decision soon.  An inkling of a doubt, or some piece of information I needed to find out; I couldn’t come up with anything.  And then when Naina left the table for a few seconds, a song I really like by Green Day called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” came on.  And I thought to myself, “Good song.”  But my unbroken dreams were coming true.

I didn’t want to propose until I met her parents, Naina met my mother, and they had all met each other.  As is the norm in these cases, the families were heavily invested in the process, and since they initiated it I wanted them to at least have a glimpse of us together before I pulled the trigger.  Indian marriages tend to be more of a union between families and networks than in the United States, and this was no different.  On the second day I arrived at Naina’s house and met her family: her mother, father and two little sisters Dipti and Pooja.  Quite quickly, a pattern emerged: Naina’s father and I had a lively conversation mostly about American politics which lasted for more than two hours.  Naina’s beautiful mother looked at me intently, checking me out but not saying very much.  As she probably has conjectured, eyes would be drawn to her anyway.  Naina and her sisters tuned in and out, clearly bored with the subject matter, and found it more fun to whisper things and giggle.  I knew that I’d hang out with them later at a karaoke joint anyway and we’d get to talk at that point.   I was really digging the whole scene and comfortable with everyone, as if I’d been there before- it was a perfectly normal first meeting with the family and couldn’t have gone better.

Afterwards I went out with Naina and her sisters to Opus, a really happening joint where Naina’s close friends, her sisters, and their friends all joined us.  Sushanth and Anu also popped in.  Wave after wave of people came to meet us, and I was just myself.  I liked all of them and they all liked me.  More importantly, they could see how happy Naina was to be around me.  We talked, and by getting to know her network of friends I was getting a sense of what Naina’s social life was like.  And I liked it.  “I’m done,” Naina told me later, essentially signaling that any vetting process that may have occurred with her parents, her sisters, and her friends was complete, besides her own made-up mind.  I cannot explain how good it felt to hear that.

By the next morning, Monday December 15^th, Naina nervously sauntered into Sushanth’s apartment to meet my mom.  Of course, as I always knew she would, my mom silently gave me a thumbs-up sign in private before Naina and I went to hang out for the day after spending just a few minutes together.  At that time we spoke to my dad on the phone.  “Go ahead and do what you want to do,” he said from California.  “You don’t need to wait for me.”  My father and sister wouldn’t be in India until the end of the week.