Thomas Friedman writes: Here’s what strikes me this election eve: I can’t remember a
presidential campaign that was so disconnected from the actual
challenges of governing that will confront the winner the morning
after. When this election campaign began two years ago, the big issue
was how and for how long do we continue nation-building in Iraq. As the
campaign comes to a close, the big issue is how and at what sacrifice
do we do nation-building in America.

Unfortunately, you’d barely know that from the presidential debates.
Watching them in the context of the meltdown of the financial system
was like watching a game show where the two contestants were kept
off-stage in a soundproof booth and brought out to address the audience
without knowing the context.

Since the last debate, John McCain and Barack Obama have unveiled
broad ideas about how to restore the nation’s financial health. But
they continue to suggest that this will be largely pain-free. McCain
says giving everyone a tax cut will save the day; Obama tells us only
the rich will have to pay to help us out of this hole. Neither is true.

We are all going to have to pay, because
this meltdown comes in the context of what has been “perhaps the
greatest wealth transfer since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in
1917,” says Michael Mandelbaum, author of “Democracy’s Good Name.” “It
is not a wealth transfer from rich to poor that the Bush administration
will be remembered for. It is a wealth transfer from the future to the
present.”

Never has one generation spent so much of its children’s wealth in
such a short period of time with so little to show for it as in the
Bush years. Under George W. Bush, America has foisted onto future
generations a huge financial burden to finance our current tax cuts,
wars and now bailouts. Just paying off those debts will require
significant sacrifices. But when you add the destruction of wealth that
has taken place in the last two months in the markets, and the need for
more bailouts, you understand why this is not going to be a painless
recovery.

The Bush team leaves us with another debt — one to Mother Nature. We
have added tons more CO2 into the atmosphere these last eight years,
without any mitigation effort. As a result, slowing down climate change
in the next eight years is going to require even bigger changes and
investments in how we use energy.

Given that Times columnists are not allowed to “formally” endorse
candidates and given that the context of this election has changed so
much from the policy positions the candidates started with, all I can
suggest is that you vote for the candidate with these character traits: …  (11/03/08)
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