Sunday, November 09, 2003
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name...
Newsweek is carrying a cover story on how Prime Minister Cheney made the case for the Iraq war on mostly flimsy grounds. In this context, Kevin Drum has posted a relatively old essay called Sympathy for the Devil written by John Perry Barlow, better known for being the lyrcist of the Grateful Dead and founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Turns out Barlow used to know Cheney well, being from Wyoming and all. Beyond the surreality of a Dead lyricist writing about Cheney, its a very interesting read, irrespective of whether you agree with what Barlow says or not.
With the possible exception of Bill Gates, Dick Cheney is the smartest man I've ever met. If you get into a dispute with him, he will take you on a devastatingly brief tour of all the weak points in your argument. But he is a careful listener and not at all the ideologue he appears at this distance. I believe he is personally indifferent to greed. In the final analysis, this may simply be about oil, but I doubt that Dick sees it that way. I am relatively certain that he is acting in the service of principles to which he has devoted megawatts of a kind of thought that is unimpeded by sentiment or other emotional overhead.
Here is the problem I think Dick Cheney is trying to address at the moment: How does one assure global stability in a world where there is only one strong power? This is a question that his opposition, myself included, has not asked out loud. It's not an easy question to answer, but neither is it a question to ignore.
etc, etc.
I have myself tried to figure out what Cheney's about, and haven't got very far. Guess the Rolling Stones had it right.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
With the possible exception of Bill Gates, Dick Cheney is the smartest man I've ever met. If you get into a dispute with him, he will take you on a devastatingly brief tour of all the weak points in your argument. But he is a careful listener and not at all the ideologue he appears at this distance. I believe he is personally indifferent to greed. In the final analysis, this may simply be about oil, but I doubt that Dick sees it that way. I am relatively certain that he is acting in the service of principles to which he has devoted megawatts of a kind of thought that is unimpeded by sentiment or other emotional overhead.
Here is the problem I think Dick Cheney is trying to address at the moment: How does one assure global stability in a world where there is only one strong power? This is a question that his opposition, myself included, has not asked out loud. It's not an easy question to answer, but neither is it a question to ignore.
etc, etc.
I have myself tried to figure out what Cheney's about, and haven't got very far. Guess the Rolling Stones had it right.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
