Eureka! Tom Friedman stumbled upon the truth...

[kentuck]

Friedman of the NYTimes was on MTP this morning with Tim Russert. He made a very interesting observation, in my opinion. He had just come back from a trip to the Middle East, including Damascus, Syria. He had the opinion that most of the world looked at America as a somewhat naive but optimistic country. It was the hope and optimism that connected them to America.

But, under George W Bush, Friedman said, we had lost that hope and become a nation of fear. When we lost our hope and optimism and adapted "fear" as a national disease of sorts, the rest of the world lost hope also. They clung to the hope and optimism of America and when we lost that under George W Bush, we lost a lot. I thought, in 10 short years, we have gone from a Man from Hope to a Man from Fear...

[Mythsaje]

1. I think I've touched on that myself a few times...

One of our greatest attributes as a nation was our hope and idealism...sometimes misplaced, but still an asset over-all.

[malaise]

5. Carter saw that erosion from

1979.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Stopped clock.

Unless Friedman is ready to denounce the entire package, the entire ideological framework of which he is one of its primary intellectual advocates, I discount anything he has to say, no matter how reasonable.

[Ms. Clio]

4. one of the most overrated "experts" of our age

future historians will mock him mercilessly.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. That assumes we will have future historians.

At this point that is assuming quite a lot.

[Ms. Clio]

9. you're right :(

[chimpymustgo]

3. "Friedman stumbled on the truth"...you bet he did. It's been quite a

day of epiphanies. Is "the Light" too bright to be ignored any longer?

[idgiehkt]

6. lol, I think the OP meant "onto".

Because Friedman stumbles on the truth daily, lol.

[kenny blankenship]

7. When you're wandering thru the rubble and smoke of a global disaster zone

that you (Friedman) helped to create, you're bound to stumble a lot. Now and then you're bound to stumble on a truth.

[Libby2]

10. I think I like that as a bumper sticker

From the man from Hope, to the man of fear.

Something like that.

[liberal N proud]

11. Yes, Even though the world like to make fun of America they needed

OUR naive optimism.
That is the one thing this nation had before George W. Bu$h overthrew our Democracy that the rest of the world needed and desired from the US. It is the one thing that people from all over the world look up to us for.
And it is one more thing that the bu$h regime and the PNAC has stolen from us and from the world.

I hope bu$h and his cronies all rot in hell for eternity for what they have done to this world. Not one thing for peace, not one!

[wicket]

12. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"

n/t

[stopbush]

13. Did Tommy Boy opine that "the next 6 months are critical,"

as he does EVERY time he assesses the situation?

[Generic Other]

14. What a disheartening thought

Friedman seems to have touched the nerve.