Meantime, Mr. President-elect: here’s what’s been happening in the economy, in your country and in the world at large. The Clinton boom is coming down for a soft landing, or maybe a hard jolt; the growth rate is under 3 percent, going by the third-quarter figures, and falling; exuberance isn’t the problem any more. The mood of America, before the onset of Florida rage, seemed mellow enough and may be again: the referendum results drowned out in that month of presidential tie-breaking point to redirecting the drug war, toward treatment, not prison; people seem to want school reform but not vouchers; they wanted gun control but not gay marriage….
The biggest war in the world is in the heart of Africa-gunmen from 10 nations making a bloody chaos of the Congo. And there’s an Arab-Israeli crackup underway that you can’t ignore even if you wanted to. You’re briefing the next President, this hour on The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Paul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times and Professor of Economics at Princeton University
Gideon Rose, Managing editor of the journal Foreign Affairs
Alan Woolf, Professor of political science and sociology, Boston College
Andy Kohut, Pollster from the Pew Research Center.