> In his NYTimes column article with the title of "Who Will Tell the
> People?", Thomas Friedman explained the decline of American power,
>
> "[we are] not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three
> decades, the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard,
> study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to
> subprime values: “You can have the American dream — a house — with no
> money down and no payments for two years.”"
>
> The following also caught my attention.
>
> "Much nonsense has been written about how Hillary Clinton is
> “toughening up” Barack Obama so he’ll be tough enough to withstand
> Republican attacks. Sorry, we don’t need a president who is tough
> enough to withstand the lies of his opponents. We need a president who
> is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of
> the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House
> bedroom. I’m voting for the one who can talk straight to the American
> people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room."
>
> The above says a lot on what's wrong with American democracy. In the
> current two party set up, political leaders often respond to the
> opposite party rather than to the needs and wants of the poeple. In
> this case, Friedman found Clinton's claim that she was toughening up
> Barack Obama against future Republican attacks bogus. Simply put, such
> nonsense changes the responsibility of the U.S. presidency from
> responding to the people to responding to the opposition.