Did we do that?

Tom Friedman is at it again - posing a question that's nagging us all - Did we do that? Did human activity result in climatic changes? Enough to explain the recent events - like Hurricane Katrina, California Wildfires, and Friedman playing golf in Washington DC in October when the temperature is a basking 70 F?

There is another question that is also brewing in our heads at this very moment - Are we losing our economic and thought leadership in the world? Seems like since 2001 USA only makes it into news worldwide for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't always like this - we used to make it into news for all the right reasons - the best economy, the most effective democracy, the first man on the moon, Internet, the WWW, the first computer, the first cellular phone system. Now a days, those type of headlines come from outside of US - the first mag-lev train - built by Germans for Chinese, the tallest building - being built somewhere in the middle-east with money generously donated by US citizens paying record high gas prices.

Now, I don't want to sound gloomy and I know the situation is not really like that. But like in everything else, perception is reality! What we need right now is some highly optimistic leaders - with qualities last demonstrated by Kennedy and Reagan. We want to be "that shiny city on the hill" that everyone looks up to.

I hope the candidates we end up with after the primaries from both parties are representative of that optimistic spirit. Got any names in mind - do leave a comment.