The day has come. In just a few hours, I and 15 of my classmates will take part in a public debate on President Obama and Governor Romney’s foreign policy strategies. We are split up into two teams of eight and have been studying their policies inside and out. This debate is also our midterm and is worth 30 percent of our grade. Two surrogates – one from each campaign – are coming down to moderate the debate and it will also be streamed online here. The debate runs from 5:30 – 7:30 and for those on campus, it’s in Von Canon in the Bryan Center.
Category My Life
Quote of the Day
Vanity Fair posted an excerpt from Mark Bowden’s story running in the November issue about the raid on Osama bin Laden. My favorite part:
According to Bowden, Leon Panetta told Obama that he ought to ask himself this question: “What would the average American say if he knew we had the best chance of getting bin Laden since Tora Bora and we didn’t take a shot?”
That’s probably not the best way to make a huge decision as it is purely emotional. But, it’s a pretty convincing line. Read the rest of the excerpt here.
P.S. I know, posting has been terribly slow the past month. It’s midterm time for me so I’m pretty swamped with work – I actually have a midterm in a half hour. Next Tuesday, I’ll be taking part in an eight on eight public debate on foreign policy representing an Obama surrogate. It’s for my class Foreign Policy and the 2012 Campaign taught by former Clinton and Bush adviser Peter Feaver. It’ll be live-streamed online for anyone who wants to see my quivering voice try to defend Obama’s China policies. More on that to come.
Lack of Updates
As you can tell, I haven’t had time to post here in a bit. Schools been heating up and I’ve been catching up with friends here. I should be more on top of things by next week and will get back to more posting.
Until then, I have a small piece in the new issue of the Washington Monthly that I co-authored with my fellow intern Minjae Park. It’s a short, news-you-can-use sidebar on different options students have for repaying their student loans. Here’s a quick taste:
Graduated Repayment: Under these plans, borrowers have the option to pay between 50 percent and 150 percent of their standard payment, and the payment increases every two years. The plan lasts for ten years, unless it is part of an extended repayment, in which case it can then last up to thirty years. However, the longer the length of the loan, the more the borrower pays in interest. These plans tend to work best for borrowers who are likely to see their earnings increase sharply over time.
That’s just one of nine different options Minjae and I lay out (different borrowers qualify for different programs). Check out the rest here.
Danny Vinik 