dynasty

amnesia the other day, john and i sat with another barfly, talking about politics, discussing the evitability of jeb bush's bid for presidential election and the continuation of the bush dynasty in america.  boring.  i don't think jeb bush's candidacy is as inevitable as my friends would like to believe.  and even if we do see him running in the next republican presidential primary, i'm not sure the bush name will strongly carry either fiscal conservatives or the christian right wing to secure jeb bush a place in the presidential election against a democratic opponent.  not with so many other high-profile republican candidates currently being groomed for the campaign.

the revolving cast of characters in politics sometimes disgusts and dismays me.  america doesn't seem as bad as europe sometimes.  berlusconi finally went to jail - but how many times have we seen him in office?  today i saw this article in le monde in which nicolas sarkozy is called above any political party.  what's happening?  what's he hoping to accomplish in france?  is he hoping to return to office?  in the midst of the confusion in france surrounding the socialists and the economic slump and the power crisis of the european union, i bet france looks back and remembers (perhaps falsely) the stability of sarkozy's time in office.  i say do not become conforted with the false myths of bygone days.  nothing was really that golden.

and it's not just europe: japan just re-elected shinzo abe as prime minister, which at first seemed to be the manifestation of the eternal japanese wish to return to a golden age of politics and national stability.  i will say that abe seems to be making some difference to the japanese economy despite his track record his first term in office, though i should also say that while abe seems to be taking concrete steps to encourage growth, his central bank policies are small and any recent growth in the japanese economy might soon fade without any larger development.

it's not unusal for past american presidents to influence, encourage, and advise in political and diplomatic matters, but they cannot run again.  they take their turn and move on.  or they encourage their families to run for office.

remember when you found yourself really excited about obama?  i never found myself fascinated with him during the election the way the rest of america was, but i want to feel that way about a candidate.  i want to see a candidate run that won't just run on past ideas or family ties or a return to a golden era of politics.  i want one big idea.  at least one big idea.  i want someone committed to changing at least one thing.