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I thought of "Blowin' in the Wind" recently when Dr. Cornel West made comments critical of Obama. One may not agree with all of his words, but Dr. West is a tuning fork for justice.
In history, we're used to seeing events on an extended timeline: where a few years, or a few decades don't mean very much. In current affairs, that's harder to swallow.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Is the Arab Spring really an "American" Revolution? According to President Obama and his speechwriters, the answer is, surprisingly, yes.
Reactions to President Obama's speech on developments in the Arab World were a striking reminder of just how deep and troubling the disconnect in the U.S.-Israel-Arab relationship, and how dysfunctional politics in the U.S. have become.
There remains a sense in the Arab world, and the international community at large, that America has lost the will or perhaps the ability to shape events. At present juncture, Obama seems to be content to recap the obvious in lofty rhetoric.
We have heard all of this before -- in Cairo, at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo. The overall composition, as well as its individual ingredients, is designed to play on feeling rather than to engage thought. Certainly not critical cognition.
