Bob Dole shares perspective
On Wednesday night, Former Senator Bob Dole lectured at the university’s Urban Center for about 45 minutes.
Dole who has been involved in politics for exactly fifty years, spoke on a variety of topics, ranging from foreign affairs to his Pepsi advertising campaign.
The former senator visited the capitol in Washington recently and touched on the eerie existence there.
Stating that there are no current public tours of the capitol and White House, he made a point that the atmosphere in Washington D.C. is like nothing he has ever seen before. Also, Dole stated that the U.S.
Congress is acting more bi-partisan than ever.
Dole made quite a point in trying to encourage the younger generation to immerse themselves in the political world, stating that the younger generation is “better educated, smarter and has more technology.” He also mentioned that we live in a “more sophisticated world, with everything more global, and not national or regional” Yet, when asked by a young fellow about the current state of the global economy, Dole, who served as the U.S. Advisor to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for six years, deferred the answer.
Although, Dole did try to rally the younger people that were present in the room to involve themselves in the political world.
On the current state of international politics, Dole was somewhat positive. He made clear that the first thing that the United States must do now, with the capture of Kabul, Afghanistan by the rebel group, the Northern Alliance, is “to help the poor people of Afghanistan.”
He made it clear that the U.S. media is to blame, and not U.S. foreign diplomatic actions, for the ignorance of American people to the issues that have been aroused in the Middle East. Dole claimed that it is the “second guessing” of the media, which “shouldn’t take place,” that makes the American public doubt the actions of the U.S. Government as well as “hiding their patriotism.” Dole also stated that “you must not wave the (U.S.) flag, you should defend it.”
When the subject of the current position of the U.S. in Israel was brought up, Dole was apparently indecisive. He was confident in saying early on in the lecture that funding from the U.S. (three billion dollars a year) would ultimately lead to peace, and that the conflict in the Middle East will hopefully lead to peace. Yet, when the former senator was asked about the accountability of the Israelis in the spending of the money, he stated “They don’t want peace,” and that he was “expecting [the funding] to cease,” because “you don’t bring two people together who don’t want to make an agreement.”
