Letter from a traveler to Brazil

I have a letter to share that I will agree immediately is written from a pro Kerry point of view by an old neighbor of mine who does a lot of travelling in his retiree years. He lives in California. He's been to Brazil numerous times now, having made friends there when he first visited.

He is exBostonian who believes in the old town square concept of community. This is a letter from him, Bob, to his long time friend C, who is a Republican.

To be fair, I should post C's answer, and will consider that if I am shown it, and get permission to post that one (I have permission to post this one.)



Hi C:
Just got back.

Brazil is covering the campaign extraordinarily well.
While there, I heard the American ambassador (friend of Bush, no diplomatic experience, doesn't speak the language) say that "the problem isn't that American doesn't understand the rest of the world; the problem is the rest of the world doesn't understand America."
Not surprising, this was a joke there.
Problem is: the rest of the world does understand the U.S. Even in Brazil, their right-leaning magazine Veja had one of the best articles I've read on the American psyche...on how so many of the folks who supported Bush on the war, waved their flags, etc, are now in a state of denial....exactly what occurred during Vietnam...and will vote for Bush more out of despair and hope rather than logic.

As for those swiftboat guys. They've been caught in so many contradictions and outright lies (including disputing their own documentation) that none of the mainstream media is taking them seriously now...and the foreign press has already written them off as "paid-for" loonies. The only folks who'll believe them now are the same folks who won't believe anything if it happens to be critical of this administration, even if it's written by good Republicans like Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Kevin Phillips, etc etc.

Tom Friedman (who wrote a column after being away writing a book) was translated into Portuguese and given a big column in Jornal do Brasil. He ended by saying that, by a series of miscalculations, bungled planning and disinformation, the Bush administration has created a situation in which the U.S. is "at war with itself and isolated in the world." Sad but true. He'll probably be re-elected, and, if so, the US public will deserve what it gets. Usually, the US (unlike the RedSox until now) stops at the edge of disaster and gets the 'right' leader for the times. Sometimes (Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, even Wilson) it's by accident, but it's been enough to save our butts. This time we may really let our prejudices complete the rightward shift (completely opposite to the rest of the industrial world where they've learned that the ultra-right never delivers prosperity, only more state control.) I'm please to read (down there) that a lot of libertarians and moderate Republicans are alarmed, and are turning to Kerry not because they like him, but because they're downright worried about 4 more Bush years. It probably won't be enough...more than 80% of Evangelicals are pro-Bush, as is the Catholic rightwing. Those statistics were reported in Brazil magazines. Emotional issues and prejudices are dominating logic--just as happened in Argentina, I was reminded, and we all know what happened to what was once the 2nd most prosperous nation in the western hemisphere.

For example: here we are, C, four years later and still can't get a uniform, honest voting system. There were observers from 10 countries in Brasil during their election. No fraud, everything ran efficiently, computerized with paper backup and sealed disks. And, I read down there that, in Florida, after the election chief refused to release records of the 'exclusion' list, a newspaper got ahold of it and found that many blacks (Dems) were being unjustifiably excluded, while many latinos (Reps) were not excluded and should be. Have we no shame, I wonder?
And, how about Brasil's credit card confirmation system?

Brasil is now negotiating to sell airplanes to Russia, of all people, and they have a centrifugal system for enriching uranium (they have a lot of it) that is 30% more efficient than ours. That's why they're resisting our demands for full inspection. They're determined not to let us steal their method--it uses suspension of the centrifuges in a magnetic field. A lot less friction than our method, on an axle, and can run faster. The whole controversy was clearly explained in the paper down there.

Brazil still has horrendous problems with poverty and shantytowns, but I was reminded that they, unlike the U.S., have a growing middle class. They're expanding subways and transit systems in all major cities.. a huge percentage have cellphones (more cellphones than residential phones now.) They still have a long way to go, and they view China as a future major competitor. But as long as the U.S. continues to let our infrastructure deteriorate, along with investment in education and jobs for the middle class, all because of an obsession with tax cuts (and the last bunch, for the middle class, have already been eaten up by rising prices of gas and heating fuel) we're going to be regarded by the rest as a declining but still-dangerous empire. Feared, but not respected. (by the way, even in the remote northeast of Brasil, the jibes were there. In a folkloric show in Natal, the comedian jabbed hard at Bush, for 'needing an enemy and succeeding in making one out of the whole world' and then followed with "but we still like Bill Clinton." The place cheered. (I'll bet even you miss him...but can't admit it))

C....no matter who gets elected, we'll have to find an honorable way out of the most-bungled war in U.S. history...and it's going to be bloody tough. Tell your friends to pin that to their flags.

Bob (aren't you glad I'm back?)





edit, to remove the rest of C's first name