Day to day life in America

I came back to the US a few days ago.

Sitting in Arizona for the last ten days, wondering how peaceful it is to drive at 35 miles an hour and not have to wonder about which crazy driver will blow the horn at you for going too slow . . . wonderful.

Looking at the structural weaknesses and reading the expensive, absurd rants about Fox News saying that Obama should not have praised Chief Sitting Bull . . . sad (aren't we all Americans, including the descendants of Sitting Bull? When are we going to reconcile our shared history?)

Reading the DailyKos complaining that the only problem with health reform is the way it was "sold": even sadder.

If we don't stop talking past each other, when are we ever going back to being one country?

Obama to India

Okay, so Obama is not spending $ 200 million a day in India. What he is doing is spending political capital, kowtowing to another emerging power without a clear agenda.

The US and India have a lot in common: democracy, a shared interest in containing China, defeating terrorism, etc. One area where their interests diverge to a great extent is global economics. India today is the rising economic power, the US is the struggling one. So where exactly is the synergy in focusing so much on finance so much so that 90% of your delegation is business oriented and the Secretary of Defence is absent?

Clearly, Bangalore is not an area where the countries share a common interest. So while it is good that he is not visiting there, why not spend more time on the military and geo-political ties that do bind?

For similar thoughts, from an Indian point of view, check out: http://myexperimentswithindia.blogspot.com