What a time to be sort of close to North Africa! Revolutions abound, first in Tunisia, and now Egypt. Normally, Develop Economies would offer his opinion on the significance of the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and its ramifications for Israel, democracy in the Arab world, civil unrest in Iran, and the foreign policy strategy of the Obama administration. Unfortunately, anything I could say has already been said by countless others. For a play-by-play of the events and a thorough parsing of the discussion among the Egypt bloggers, go to Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. For an in-depth analysis of the implications for America’s foreign policy, see the lead article in this month’s edition of Foreign Policy magazine, which features astute observations from the likes of Nick Burns, Elliot Abrams (real reactionary), and others. In other words, there is no room for Develop Economies to hit the people over the head with some insanely awesome analysis. So I’ll write instead about something that struck me as funny while watching grainy CNN international coverage from my hotel room in Sunyani: Wolf Blitzer saying the word “tweet.”
I don’t know what it is about Wolf Blitzer that grinds my gears. I should feel a special kinship, given that he is a card-carrying member of the Beard-Wearers of America since 1982, a 6th-degree black belt, in official terms, where as I only have my blue belt, or whichever one comes after yellow (orange?). I mean, just look at that beard. That is the beard of a man who has earned the moniker “Wolf.” If he is Wolf, then, on my best days, I could call myself “Billy Goat” or “Chinstrap Penguin.” Like me, he is short and probably not very good at basketball. So what is it about this man that I share so much in common with that causes such a visceral reaction in me?