Interstate Talking Head Punditry - BH and BSB

At the Dodd Speech today I met up with Mike Caulfield, one of the administrator's for Blue Hampshire (that with a "sure", not a "shire"). BH is the community hub in NH, so Mike and I largely run the same sort of operation in different states. Well, immediately after Dodd's speech we took a second to talk about it and the New Hampshire primary. While Mike was just speaking for himself, not the blog, he's still got plenty of interesting things to say. Have a listen (it's short, I promise).

Or you can download it here.

As I mention in the audio, this was a pretty good speech. I liked it because there were specific policy proposals (like Obama's speech on Ethic's Friday), but also because it was an innovative, tangible approach to solving one of the problems our country faces today (to be fair to the Edwards campaign, I haven't looked at the policy Mike referenced in the audio). After 8 years of the President's war in Iraq, America faces a lessened appreciation by the international community. One of the biggest indicators of this - other than common sense and international media's taken on the situation - is the world's reception to the US at the UN. Over the past few years we've been voted off of committee after committee that we've had a seat on since the body's inception.

Following World War II the planet was in shambles. Years spent fighting the Axis powers leveled a good portion of Europe and the world. At that historic point the US swept in, spreading economic development with capital from our country through the Marshall Plan. Up until 2003, the goodwill our generosity bought us had held steady. However, we seem to have spent that goodwill in less than five years under President Bush.

Installing a Democratic president will help us gain the cooperation of the international community once again - but it's not the end all be all. Regaining the world's trust will take time and work. That's one of the reasons I like what I'm hearing out of Dodd with this national service plan, not only is it the right thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do in terms of American self interest in the long run.