W's Performance in the World's Biggest Democracy

I was out running in the rain this AM thinking about what kind of lessons we can glean from the World's largest democracy: India. Couldn't come up with any as I haven't actually been there, but perhaps folks in the Blogisphere have some. The only one I can wrangle is that it is possible to live in a country where diverse and disparate peoples live peacefully, particularly those with very different religious convictions. Please comment to this post if you do have some lessons to add.

Fortunately, the W, Rove and Co traveling propaganda circus is gallivanting about those parts to leave us with more questions. Like here we see him speaking with some students. I love it when he gets asked smart questions by smart people instead of the capitulating Whitehouse press corps. Do note the number of people educated in the USA, btw. Do you feel more confident or less confident in your president based on his answers?

Q I guess I'll do the honors. Thank you for being here. I didn't graduate from ISB, but it seems like a great place. I graduated from Carnegie Melon, in Pittsburgh --

THE PRESIDENT: That's also a good place. (Laughter.) I will tell you something -- she's really smart -- to go there. (Laughter.) You don't go there unless you're smart. (Laughter.)

Q Anyways, so I'm from the IT industry, so let me ask a question relating to that -- not just IT, I guess generally outsourcing. So India and China have experienced a lot of growth because of globalization and outsourcing, in general -- IT outsourcing, in particular. And I live in the U.S. so I know that there is a lot of resistance in the media and also in the industry about outsourcing. But as entrepreneurs and as people who believe in capitalism, we feel that there's no other way to go but capitalism and globalization and outsourcing, et cetera. So does the government or -- does it have a political strategy on how to manage, do a balancing act?

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate it. First of all, what do you do?

Q I have a IT consulting company.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. One of the -- the future of any country is to make sure women have got opportunity, and so I congratulate you for being a CEO. By the way, I've got a strong woman who travels with me in the Secretary of State. (Laughter.) I'm not trying to avoid your question, by the way. (Laughter.)

People do lose jobs as a result of globalization, and it's painful for those who lose jobs. But the fundamental question is, how does a government or society react to that. And it's basically one of two ways. One is to say, losing jobs is painful, therefore, let's throw up protectionist walls. And the other is to say, losing jobs is painful, so let's make sure people are educated so they can find -- fill the jobs of the 21st century. And let's make sure that there's pro-growth economic policies in place. What does that mean? That means low taxes; it means less regulation; it means fewer lawsuits; it means wise energy policy.

So I've taken the position -- I've taken it as recently as my State of the Union, where I said, the United States of America will reject protectionism. We won't fear competition, we welcome competition, but we won't fear the future, either, because we intend to shape it through good policies.

And that's how you deal in a global economy. You don't retrench and pull back. You welcome competition and you understand globalization provides great opportunities. And the class opportunity for our American farmers and entrepreneurs and small businesses to understand, there's a 300-million-person market of middle-class citizens here in India, and that if we can make a product they want, then it becomes -- at a reasonable price -- and then all of a sudden, people will be able to have a market here. And so -- and people in America should, I hope, maintain their confidence about the future.

Thanks for the question. Good luck to you.

Yes, ma'am.

But, we see even in India, some folks blinded by the smoke and mirrors, pitch softballs at the W:

Q Mr. President, I did my MBA -- from Johnson and Wales, Rhode Island, and I loved every bit of it. I saw your speech on the Asia Society, and I thought it was very spectacular.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. You can leave it right there. (Laughter.) No, go ahead.

Q My question is, India was never this important. Why has it become so important now?

THE PRESIDENT: That's a really good question. I think India has always been an important country, but the problem is, international politics made it very difficult for previous Presidents and previous Prime Ministers to reach common agreement. As I said, we're getting rid of the Cold War, and the truth of the matter is, the Cold War caused the world to become pretty well divided. And if you're on one side of the divide, it was politically difficult to work with people on the other side of the divide.

That began to change, of course. And so I wouldn't say that India was not an important country up to now, because it was.

(End of public portion of event.)

END 1:00 p.m. (LOCAL)