It is amazing how the above video so outraged many of the republican bloggers. While calling China’s railroads, airports and ports “vastly superior” is an exaggeration that he probably regrets, I think it can be agreed that China has been investing heavily in their infrastructure, while the US has not. And the rail system in the United States is not very good, especially when compared to Europe, Japan and China. The following from Mommy Life (misleading title) sums up pretty well political discourse in the United States.
This guy is unbelievable! The lengths he will go to to denigrate the US - and his terrifying naivete concerning world affairs.
If we had an unbiased media - which even the media are now admitting they’re not (see the Washington Post: Obama’s Edge in the Coverage Race ), we’d see these clips on the evening news and shudder at the thought of turning the keys to our country’s future over to him:
Heaven help us!
Obama is basing his assessment of China on the propaganda, secrecy and lies rampant during the Olympics - and dutifully fed to the American public by the liberal MSM (ironically, the same people who have everything to lose if America’s government changes in the direction they encourage).
It is sad really. I wonder if reactions like that were why Obama only once directly referred to China in his acceptance speech, and it was a negative reference at that:
We’re a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for 20 years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.”
We will see if McCain will mention China in his acceptance speech at the Republic convention this week.
Did anyone else catch one of the female MSNBC Olympic Commentator (either Tamryn or Jenna, not Tiki) make this comment (i’m paraphrasing here, but the gist is the same):
“[blah blah equestrian blah blah blah]… The New Zealand horses are treated especially well, some people have even said they are treated better then most Chinese people…”
I have been trying to find a youtube video of this. Leave a comment if you heard this as well.
From the Wall Street Journal, Want More Growth in China? Have Faith. The subject of the article is a Mr. Peter Zhao, a Communist Party member and adviser to the Chinese Central Committee. He sees the strength of the US economy growing out of a strong moral fiber.
Mr. Zhao began formulating his ideas during a 2002 trip to the U.S. “In the U.S., the spires of churches are more numerous than China’s banks and rice shops. On a street near Harvard Square,” Mr. Zhao recalls, “I once stood and looked about me, only to find that in three different directions there were three churches.” The trip seems to have made a personal as well as an intellectual impression. Shortly after returning home, Mr. Zhao became a Christian himself.
Mr. Zhao’s argument goes beyond the need for common values. He claims that Christianity produces greater wealth than other religions or no religion. His view is partly historical — the wealthiest societies are those that are traditionally Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. He says that Christianity provides three elements necessary for economic growth: motivation — those who work for God rather than for pleasure, money or status don’t tire of being productive; a moral framework that makes for less exploitation and less corruption; and a mandate to care for the poor and disenfranchised.
A few points:
1. I would guess that if you ask most Americans, they would not list “working for god” as one of their major motivations. I can however see how religion helps people to work, in a “light at the end of the tunnel” sort of way.
2. The Industrial Revolution was one of the most exploitative and corrupt periods in American history concerning workers in this highly religious country of ours.
3. I believe tax breaks also help motivate people to contribute to the poor and disenfranchised.
4. All that Mr. Zhao says implies that there can be no morals without religion.
I may be a little cynical in my responses, but while these arguments can be made (There Will Be Blood: Religion and Capitalism in America) I find the reasoning that Mr. Zhao provides is bogus. He also doesn’t stop to question if it is a positive thing…
Oh, and the Relationship to the Olympics, from the beginning of the article:
Are the Olympics good for democracy? Many South Koreans credit the 1988 Games with helping to bring about the country’s transition from the military dictatorships that followed the Korean War to its modern democratic government. It is not an unreasonable idea. As the citizens of an unfree country are exposed to millions of foreign visitors, unruly media and the tenets of liberty — or so the argument goes — they begin to imagine a different future for themselves. Alas, it seems from the media coverage that the Olympics in China have, if anything, led to more restrictions on citizens, not fewer. Perhaps it is only internal pressure, not external forces, that can lead China to undergo a similar transformation.
While the start of the Olympic games next Friday is the big item in the press right now, there is one upcoming international competition that is going unnoticed:
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