Obama-Palin ticket

Firstly, we here at OotC salute John McCain's choice for his running mate. Sarah Palin exudes a fresh profile for the Bush party, one that can't be so conveniently linked with the current chief. Sarah will surely raise the confidence of the conservative voter who have found their new heroine. So in essence, she's Barack Obama to the GOP, just with less stature being second fiddle. Wouldn't it be fascinating to have the two tickets switch their VP's. That race would give us Obama/Palin against McCain/Biden. Now think about that for a second, the former is made up of two (relatively) young, attractive, vibrant, political unknowns. Obama and Palin both played basketball in their hey days, and have roots in the two far-away non-contiguous states. Conversely, McCain and Joe Biden are carbon copies of seemingly every duo that's held the White House since this country's inception, two senior citizen European-Americans with all the pizazz of a Kinkos.

Now America was or still is in need of unity and change - so what better combination than Obama and Palin. They would bridge all known ideological and political divides, and give every vote something to hang their hat on. Overlooking the inconceivability of all this, its amusing at least to take note of. Its times like these that I wish Obama was a conservative, in which this ticket could have transpired. Nonetheless, great to have Sarah Palin added to the campaign going forward!

The end of General Musharraf

Oct 12 1999 - Aug 18 2008. So shall read the political tombstone of another Pakistani head of state, one who led the nation as both head of its most powerful and revered military unit, as well as an all too brief civilian role. History is replete with examples of ill-chosen directives given by people in power - the proverbial invade Russia pratfall. In the case of President Musharraf, the most erroneous misstep involved the overreaching move to silence the sitting chief judicial figure in March 2007. This led to a series of boisterous public conventions involving lawyers and politicians across the land, exclaiming an utter betrayal of what they held most dear - an independent judiciary to give some semblance to a democratic state of affairs. From that point on, the General's track was derailed from completing another term as head of state, culminating in having to reconcile with his adversaries who then conspired together to separate Musharraf from his leading role.

He stood nearly nine years in power, longer than what any US president is legally allowed to carry, and to have it end with a resignation amidst national acrimony and economic doldrums was ordained. For, you see, in the annals of the country's history, this day closes yet another rueful chapter in this thing called Pakistan.