Inauguration part II

Well, my love survived the events of the day. Her dad was able to get some good video footage of the protestors just before they broke down the retaining wall and subsequently got the fire hoses and Pepper sprayed. She flies back on a red-eye for work tomorrow. Hopefully the winter weather will hold off long enough for her to get back to Minneapolis on time and in one piece.

Domestic
It is my personal hope that President Bush will become more domestically focused in the next 4 years. I realize that Iraq still needs to be cleaned up, and we'll be lucky if that is completed by the end of this new term. I also know there is much to be done in Afghanistan, but I think a lot of good has take place there (outside of the replanting of the poppy and increase in drug trafficking). I don't know if the Social Security plan he has laid out is the domestic turn I am thinking about though. I am looking forward to see where things go on health care and medicine policies. I am very interested in the Federal Marriage Amendment proposals that have been bounced around this past year. I am interested to see if minimum wage will go up in the next 4 years. I think immigration policies will be something that will need some attention. I think the No Child Left Behind will need to be overhauled. There are quite a number of other things that I hope he will turn his attention to over the next 4 years. I think this next 2 years will be by far the most important though.

China distraction
I find myself thinking lately about China. Part of it is because I am writing a paper on the Transformational Leadership of Hudson Taylor. Much of it is because it's been pretty quiet "over there" in the wake of the Tsunami and the focus on the election and Iraq. We do hear about China from time to time when oil is being discussed, but beyond that I don't recall much in the press over the past 45ish days on China. I think China and our relations with them will be very important in the next 4-6 years. Perhaps the most imporant 4-6 years in the history of our relationship.


Disconnect
Sometimes I wonder to what extent is there a disconnect between President Bush and the "will" of the average people in the USA. He won the popular election this time, which many falsely believe means that 51% of the adults voted for him. Only something like 60% of eligible people voted in the past election IIRC. That means about 30.5% give or take a bit actually voted for the President. I appreciate much of what he is trying to do, while not agreeing with all that he has been doing.

MrCLM