Joe Biden's Secret Sharing

I agree with you about Biden, although I only have that Bush-like gut feeling to go on. The scenario I keep playing out is to wonder what kind of President Biden would make if, God forbid, something happened to Obama.

The President is up against it on the AfPak war. He either stands up to the Pentagon and makes them withdraw (at considerable political risk) or he capitulates and lets them do what they like showing weak leadership and losing any respect they may have for him. Tough choice. I think he has to exert authority in order to stay relevant as CinC, but I doubt he's up to it.

Forgive me for my density, but what would the Biden act of humming his own tune look like?

At the end of Brazil, Lowry dies. At least that's what I remember.

[No, Lowry doesn't die. He escapes the Ministry of Information by living the dream in his own head. That's what "we've lost him" means. It's a metaphor. In Biden's case he'll just mentally check out once he's overruled on Afghanistan. Easier than resigning, and easier than supporting a quagmire. g.]

I couldn't remember the details of the ending. I saw it recently on DVD, but originally saw it in- get this: theatrical release when it first came out.

I remember being fully satisfied. That must mean I've always seen the dark side of things as the real side. As far as evaluations of humanity go, anyway.

I don't think we'll end up with a bloodied, tortured and mentally goner Biden no matter what.

As for what happens to Lowry, he's wrecked and of no use at all in the end. Right? A delirious and ruined being.

Lucky bastard.

Waiter! I'll have the oblivion plate, please.

Thanks for clearing that up George.

[Perhaps it's the way Terry Gilliam sees himself? Just a thought. g.]

Hi George!

The difficulty with resigning is that after the initial "bounce" from the resignation, the ball goes into the bushes and gets lost. The resignation only matters because of the position of the resigner, but no position, no "matter."

By the way, why did you resign from government? I heard it was over US bombing of Serbia, and that the government spun it as your protest over not enough bombing!

[Well, I have a quite different view of what resigning means, Judy, but it's too complicated to explain here. NATO bombing Serbia, btw, happened in 1999 — I resigned in 1991. When I used to write occasionally for The Nation I had an article that partly explained my resignation but I can no longer find it on their site. You might be able to locate it online if you search for "Balkan Shoals." g.]