I just saw an excellent (short) video clip on The Economist website. It is James Baker, the Republican former Secretary of State, explaining why you should talk to your enemies. Note, Baker doesn't say to appease them...and neither does Barack Obama. Bush and McCain seem to equate talk with appeasement. I was very disappointed with Bush's recent hypocritical jab at Obama in this regard, and McCain basically going along with it. Bush, after all, has his people talking to the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il. Does that make Bush an appeaser?

I would have appreciated it if McCain had denounced Bush's jab. If nothing else, Bush's words--raising the specter of Nazis and the holocaust in front of the Israeli parliament in order to gracelessly kick Obama in the teeth--diminish and dishonor the office of the President. Of course, McCain can't or won't denounce Bush's words, for the essentially the same reasons that Obama can't or won't denounce the words of people who say that McCain "wants to have a 100-year war in Iraq," which McCain didn't say and obviously doesn't want.

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I saw a interesting piece in the New Yorker recently that said that McCain should ask Obama to be his running mate, and vice versa...and then they should both accept, and then they should barnstorm the country, having a series of un-moderated Lincoln-Douglas type debates...and then whoever gets the most votes in November gets the top job, with the other one becoming Vice President. Of course, this would never happen, but an interesting thought nonetheless.

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I was glad to hear McCain denounce the absurd farm bill and I wish Obama had also done so. But you can't have everything, and despite McCain's umpteenth impressive appearance on The Daily Show, I don't think I will vote for him. McCain is a good man and a genuine American hero; I have a great deal of admiration and respect for him. But in the end, I think it's time for America to turn a new page.

Even if a McCain presidency wouldn't be a third Bush term, it will look a lot more like a third Bush term than an Obama presidency. And Bush and company performed so poorly and took us down such a horrible path (worldwide hatred for America is at an all-time high; respect for us is at an all-time low; Iraq will cost us over $1 trillion; we still have no coherent energy policy; and on Bush's watch, our national debt increased from $5.72 trillion to $9.35 trillion and counting) that it's just time to give the other party a chance. After spending with epic abandon, Republicans are now saying "trust us, we will be the party of fiscal responsibility." I say, sorry guys, you blew it so badly that the other party should get a chance.

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Separately, and I just have to get off the political soap box here or I will give myself a headache, I saw an art exhibit at the Hammer Museum is Los Angeles several weeks ago that I have been meaning to mention. The artist is Kara Walker. This link takes you to some pix of her exhibit at the Whitney Museum, which was very similar to her current exhibit at the Hammer. Walker's themes are fascinating, thought-provoking, and original. Worth a trip to the Hammer, depending on where you are coming from.