A reminder of terror
Mumbai attacks renew awareness of our own vulnerability
Chicago Tribune, Nov. 27: A fresh act of savagery drills home the lesson. We are India, as we are Spain, as we are Great Britain, as we are the United States. We are, together, the breath-filled targets of ideological extremists who want us dead.
In the coming days we’ll learn more about who and what was behind the astonishingly broad and carefully coordinated attacks in India. We’ll learn if Americans were targeted, as reported. We’ll learn if this assault has deep political ramifications for the nuclear-powered neighbors India and Pakistan, for the rest of the world.
For now, for today, we watch the shocking images from the streets of Mumbai and we’re reminded of the power of terrorism, the capacity of small people with vicious intentions to provoke wide fear.
And we’re reminded to be vigilant at home. As the attacks in Mumbai were carried out, U.S. authorities issued a warning that al-Qaida might have recently discussed making attacks on the New York subway system. A vague warning, to be sure.
We take a little more care, and grieve for the people of India on a day that is supposed to be reserved for giving thanks.
Washington Post, Nov. 28: In selecting nominees for his Cabinet and a new White House staff, President-elect Barack Obama has so far placed an admirable emphasis on proven competence over personal loyalty or political purity. He’s been pragmatic in choosing pragmatists but also bold in his willingness to enlist formidable personalities such as Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff and (reportedly) Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Now, according to the Post and other media, Obama is close to settling on another unconventional but supremely practical pick: Robert Gates as defense secretary. We hereby join what undoubtedly will be the large chorus that hails this choice.
Gates has been serving as secretary for nearly two years; he took over the Pentagon after President Bush finally ended the disastrous tenure of Donald Rumsfeld. In important ways he has been the antithesis of his predecessor: low-key rather than arrogant and a problem-solver rather than an ideologue. A veteran of Washington who also served in the administration of Bush’s father, Gates hasn’t hesitated to get tough with the Pentagon bureaucracy when necessary. He fired the Army secretary when he failed to respond adequately to the scandalous treatment of veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and sent the Air Force secretary packing following egregious lapses in nuclear security. He has pressed the services to adapt to the new wars of the 21st century – insisting, for example, on more rapid production and deployment of the unmanned aircraft that have been used to devastating effect against insurgents in Iraq, Afghanistan and western Pakistan.
Gates has also demonstrated a readiness to listen to commanders on the ground and to adapt to the shifting circumstances of war.
Dallas Morning News, Nov. 26: The duel last week between Democratic heavyweights Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan was a classic insider’s battle: Two tough pols trying to outmuscle each other to lead the House’s influential Energy and Commerce Committee.
There wasn’t a most likable guy in this race, but popularity wasn’t the issue. At stake for air-breathing, gas-buying Americans was which congressional veteran was more likely to protect the environment and press Detroit to produce cars that consume less gasoline.
For that reason, we’re glad Waxman ousted Dingell as chairman. And we hope he takes the committee in a direction on the environment that Dingell proved over many years that he would not.
As a congressman from the auto-producing Detroit area since 1955, Dingell showed little interest in having automakers get with the modern world and rethink the average fuel economy for cars and light trucks. Some, like New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, believe he even loved Detroit to death by not forcing it to keep up with energy-conscious foreign manufacturers.
By contrast, look for Waxman to demand that the Big Three make more cars that pollute less. Look for him, too, to be less friendly with the coal industry. And look for him to lead, not retard, efforts to keep the climate from changing so fast.
Sacramento Bee, Nov. 26: When Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that he wanted to extend $60 billion of the $700 billion rescue package to non-bank credit card and auto loan firms, we called it “an irredeemably bad idea.” We urged Congress to stop this idea before it went any further.
Well, there’s another piece of this proposed non-bank rescue: Paulson wants to use some of the $60 billion to bail out providers of high-cost private student loans – the “alternative” student loan market that had expanded with little federal oversight during the early part of this decade.
That idea is irredeemably bad, too, and Congress should weigh in to stop it.
The overwhelming majority of students do not use private loans to pay for college (only 8 percent of students in the college Class of 2007 took out private loans, according to the Project on Student Debt). And during the current credit crunch, federal Stafford, Perkins and PLUS loans are as available as ever to students and families at all income levels. This bailout is unnecessary.