Topics included:
Who will succeed Strauss-Kahn? The old boys network says the World Bank and IMF should be run by an American and  European. But this may be changing, as Africa and Asia want to lead too. Strauss-Kahn was undoubtedly one of the most powerful people in the world. Our current political and financial world where most anything is okay as long as you don’t get caught is custom-made for skilled liars, manipulators, and sociopaths to ascend to positions of high power. Not all of them are sociopaths, to be sure. But way too many are.
US policy in the Middle East is muddled. We need a coherent policy that is applied to all countries, and not one where we go charging into Libya to save the protesters but stand idly by as they are beaten in Bahrain (because we have a naval base there.)
And just what was the point of Obama’s Middle East speech? The Arab street doesn’t need to be reminded they are fighting for freedom and of course Israel would be pissed off by Obama calling for a return to 1967 lines – something US presidents have been calling for for quite some time. So none of this speech was new or ground-breaking, and seemed, well, pointless.
The GOP seems determined to have a primary where the extremists rule. But can they win in the general with such a candidate? Obama’s only serious weakness is the economy. If things continue to worsen, he will be in danger. But given the lack of a strong candidate from the Republicans, he will still probably win.
With Steve Hynd of Newshoggers, Josh Mull (@joshmull) and myself.
Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio or on iTunes.