Gideon Rachman had a dream… more, a nightmare, but presumably it happened while sleeping, so “dream” will be a fine name for it.

Now, it will keep me awake all night, preventing me from sleeping, and this will be the nature of my waking nightmare. The closing lines are … plausible, and I truly hope it never comes to be.

RTFA: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d585da1a-fc3d-11dd-aed8-…

It is November 7 2012. At three in the morning, an exhausted-looking President Barack Obama appears before weeping supporters in the ballroom of the Chicago Hilton and concedes defeat. The euphoria of his victory-night speech in Grant Park four years earlier is a distant memory. The Obama administration has been overwhelmed by America’s economic problems. Sarah Palin is the new president of the US.

Elected on a ticket of populism at home and nationalism overseas, President-elect Palin starts to take congratulatory phone calls from foreign leaders. First on the line is Avigdor Lieberman, the prime minister of Israel; then comes President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Five different leaders claiming to speak in the name of the European Union try to place calls – but they are all put on hold. As for the Chinese leadership, the new president is not speaking to them. How could she, after she has campaigned against the “communist currency manipulators of Beijing”?

The Chinese have resisted the temptation to call Mrs Palin a “capitalist running dog”. But Maoist language is creeping back into Chinese official discourse, as the country struggles to adjust to the collapse and closure of its export markets. Alarmed by the large number of unemployed in the cities, the Communist party has abandoned plans to privatise rural land and invested heavily in public works in the countryside and new collective farms. This policy is swiftly dubbed “the Great Leap backwards”.

The world event that had most damaged Mr Obama was Iran’s successful test of a nuclear weapon in 2011. The Republicans had hammered home their message that Mr Obama was “a second Jimmy Carter”, who had been duped by hopes of striking a grand bargain with Iran.

The Iranian nuclear test had also driven Israeli politics even further to the right and set the stage for the rise of Mr Lieberman. His campaign slogan in the 2011 election – “bomb them while they are on the toilet” – was borrowed from Mr Putin and chanted gleefully by Mr Lieberman’s Russian-speaking supporters.

RTFA: http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/open_for_question…

Q: “Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?” S. Man, Denton

A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

Booooo!

Terrible show. This question was far and away the most supported question submitted to change.gov, and it received the least substantive response from Obama. A little explanation would have been nice.

Granted, there are all sorts of political reasons to dodge the question, but it’s really disappointing that we can’t have a reasoned discussion about this topic. At least provide a reason why legalization isn’t supported. Did he miss the part about creating jobs and boosting the economy?

Oh – I forgot the part about the prison industry being a growth sector of the economy… woo-freaking-hoo… That will create useful jobs!

Anyway, with an attitude like that, it sounds like we’re up for more of the same… which amounts to little more than authoritarian thuggery.

As someone pointed out on reddit, Dr. Ron “The Last American” Paul has a few choice positions on the topic:

Paul favors the use of marijuana as a medical option. He was cosponsor of H.R. 2592, the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act.[225][226] He opposes federal prohibition of this option in states such as California under Proposition 215.

Paul has joined prominent liberal Democrats in urging that states be allowed to permit farmers to grow industrial hemp, which currently is defined as a controlled substance.[211] He contends that this would help North Dakota and other agriculture states, where farmers have requested the ability to farm hemp for years.[211]

In 2005 and 2007 he introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act “to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana, and for other purposes”[227]; it currently has eleven cosponsors. This bill would give the states the power to regulate farming of hemp. The measure would be a first since the national prohibition of industrial hemp farming in the United States. The Economist wrote that his support for hemp farming could appeal to farmers in Iowa.[228]

Pretty sad, really…

RTFA: http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/chi-obama_code_n…

President-elect Barack Obama: Renegade

Michelle Obama: Renaissance

Malia Obama: Radiance

Sasha Obama: Rosebud

Vice President-elect Joe Biden: Celtic

Jill Biden: Capri

President George W. Bush: Tumbler

First Lady Laura Bush: Tempo

Hmmm… I don’t know… I mean, sure: name W after: a form of falling/a cup to drink from. The thing that’s a little off is the Secret Service issuing a press release. Or is the Sun just bluffing?

Well, the Baltimore Sun has names going all the way back past Reagan – it’s pretty cool. Check it!