“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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New York Times Editorial Board: Sanders and Kasich Should Ignore Any Pressure to Quit
New York’s primary has rarely been more than a footnote in presidential history. But on Tuesday that all changed. Donald Trump won his home state by a substantial margin, while Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders, son of Brooklyn.
A prediction: The minute the results are final, Republican stalwarts will crank up the volume on calls for Gov. John Kasich to leave the race. He should ignore them. Mr. Sanders also has no reason to give up his fight. [..]
Voters are keeping these also-ran candidates going. When Mr. Sanders loses in a state, he raises more money, not less. Voters consistently choose Mr. Kasich as the Republican most likely to beat Mrs. Clinton. This refusal to anoint a front-runner in either party appears in poll after poll, as dispirited voters declare that they simply don’t like Mr. Trump, Mr. Cruz or Mrs. Clinton. This should be a wake-up call to leaders of both parties. They are missing something big about their own members’ priorities, and their mood. A spirited nominating season might teach them what voters actually want from their president. So far, voters are saying they aren’t willing to settle for a party favorite, and don’t want to be cheated out of a choice.
William D. Hartung: Obama Shouldn’t Trade Cluster Bombs for Saudi Arabia’s Friendship
When President Obama visits Saudi Arabia this week for a meeting with representatives from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, he should avoid doing what he did at Camp David last May, the last time he met with them: promise more arms sales. Since Mr. Obama hosted that meeting, the United States has offered over $33 billion in weaponry to its Persian Gulf allies, with the bulk of it going to Saudi Arabia. The results have been deadly.
The Saudi-American arms deals are a continuation of a booming business that has developed between Washington and Riyadh during the Obama years. In the first six years of the Obama administration, the United States entered into agreements to transfer nearly $50 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia, with tens of billions of dollars of additional offers in the pipeline.
The Pentagon claims that these arms transfers to Saudi Arabia “improve the security of an important partner which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.” Recent Saudi actions suggest otherwise.
Celso Rocha De Barros: Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment Isn’t a Coup, It’s a Cover-Up
BRAZIL took a major step toward the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday when the lower house of Congress voted to send her case to the Senate, which will almost certainly refer her for a trial. It now looks likely that the president will be removed from office and replaced by Michel Temer, her vice president. Ms. Rousseff’s supporters are furious, her opponents are overjoyed, and Brazil’s corrupt politicians are breathing a sigh of relief.
In the hourslong televised session on Sunday, members of Congress explained their decisions as they voted for impeachment: They voted “for peace in Jerusalem,” “for the truckers,” “for the Free Masons of Brazil” and “because of the Communism that threatens this country.” Very few members of congress based their votes on the charges that have actually been brought against the president: that she violated regulations regarding public finances.
Those in the opposition claim that they want to send a message about good governance. But the real reason the president is being impeached is that the Brazilian political system is in ruins. Her impeachment will provide a convenient distraction while other politicians try to get their own houses in order.
Maya Foa: Obama pushes drug reform at home, but he’s still a hardliner abroad
As President Obama’s representatives at the UN drug policy summit meeting this week push “alternatives to incarceration” for drug offenses, the president himself will be shaking the hand of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman – a ruler who has presided over an explosion in drug-related beheadings.
The contrast underlines an unfortunate contradiction in the president’s drug policy: for all his willingness to advance reform at home, he has done little to confront grave abuses carried out overseas in the name of the “war on drugs”. In many instances, in fact, his administration has actively enabled such violations.
Domestically, the administration has advanced a progressive agenda centered around public health, arguing that drug users should receive increased “support, treatment and protection”. But overseas it has supported an aggressive law-enforcement approach which has contributed to, or at least not halted, horrendous human rights abuses.
Burke Stansbury: I want Bernie Sanders to win. But it’s more vital that his movement persevere
I was caucusing for Bernie Sanders at Washington State’s Democratic event last month, but when I stood up to speak to my peers, I found that I wasn’t specifically praising Sanders himself.
Rather, I spoke passionately about our need in this country for political imagination and for vibrant grassroots movements. Though I’m rooting for a Sanders presidency, it’s even more important that the ideals spurred by his movement continue, with or without him at the helm.
Political imagination is something that is often missing from the candidate platforms of both major parties. We hear candidates talk about the need to be “pragmatic”, to “meet in the middle” or “take incremental steps”. It’s not surprising that many voters, especially young ones, start to tune out. In the face of the enormous social and environmental problems, it’s not pandering to be visionary about the world we want to live in – it’s absolutely essential.
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