NationRight

A Conservative look at the Sunday editorial page:

In “What leaders can and can’t do,” Dick Polman of The Philadelphia Inquirer is correct in asserting that

A candidate would probably commit political suicide if he addmitted the truth, which is that, while presidents are indeed powerful in certain respects (they can now listen in ou your phone calls), they cannot control global economic markets.

They cannot stop China and India and Brazil from joining the capitalist money chase and sometimes beating us at our own game.  Heck, they cannot even control the crafters of monetary policy at the Federal Reserve.

There is truly very little that a president can do to affect the economy, particularly the global economy.  Sure, domestically, tax policy has some effect on, as Polman puts it, the margins of the economy, but, other than that, its up to the free market (as it should be).  Blaming President Bush for oil prices or the mortgage fallout is no smarter than crediting President Clinton with the tech-stock boom or, for that matter, the tech-stock bust.  There’s just not that much they can do.

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For once, I somewhat agree with Cynthia Tucker in “Students neeed 2nd language.”  I agree that it is good for us as Americans to learn another language, particularly, in today’s economy, Spanish or Mandarin.  However, we see some things a bit differently.  Ms. Tucker insinuates that right-wing anti-intellectuals don’t want American children learning another language.  I think it is the fact that the rest of the world has learned English, the so-called “Universal Language of Business,” eliminating the need for us to learn another language.  However, as globalization continues, we need to be aware of the increasing need to learn other languages.  Once again, the free market will, and should, dictate the actions here.  As we find it harder for our children to find jobs without a second language, we will begin to teach them other languages.