Election week
The accession of Congressional Democrats, Daniel Ortega's Sandinistas and Margaret Chan are big news this week.
Speaker Pelosi, and likely-Majority Leader Reid promise to push the U.S. government in an undefined "new direction" and the patience of incoming Democratic committee chairs will test civility in Washington. Only a dramatic gesture from President Bush such as replacing Sec. of Defense Don Rumsfeld (with former US Sen. Sam Nunn) and/or accepting V-P Dick Cheney's resignation (to be replaced by Colin Powell) can preserve the President's ability to set the agenda effectively for the last two years of his term. As the phone company Verizon advertises: "Can you hear me now?" The election underscores the importance of listening in our democratic government.
In Nicaragua, it's probably "head for the exits" time as Daniel Ortega returns as president with a plurality in a multi-candidate field. When the Sandinistas ran the country from 1979-1990, according to the International Monetary Fund, per capita income in the country fell by two-thirds.
Dr. Margaret Chan won nomination as the new Director General of the World Health Organization, the first woman and first Chinese national to hold the post. She had been in charge of public health in Hong Kong. Passed over, appropriately, was Finland's Pekka Pushka, who spearheaded WHO's unfortunate foray into publlic health nutrition with its Global Strategy embodied in Report 916.
