After Gadhafi, what’s next for Libya?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
In Libya, as in many parts of the Middle East, getting rid of the dictator is only the first step.
We're talking about people, for the most part, who have lived under oppression for generations and have no idea what freedom is about.
Now that governing will be in their hands, it's a good bet they'll make some mistakes along the way. And, change is not going to happen overnight.
You don't have to look too far for examples.
More than 8 years after Saddam Hussein was toppled, Iraq is still trying to figure out what it wants to be.
In Afghanistan, 10 years after the U.S. went in to knock out the Taliban, the country is pretty much the same disorganized, poverty-stricken collection of tribes that it's always been.
You can probably make money predicting 1,000 years from now it will still be that way... and Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama are not going to change that a whole lot.
Egypt without Mubarak is very much a question mark. Love him or hate him, Hosni Mubarak was a friend of the United States for a very long time and managed to keep the Camp David accords in place.
Since his ouster, the peace between Israel and Egypt has become more fragile.
In Tunisia, the social and economic problems that helped bring about that revolution are still weighing heavily on the interim government.
And now, Libya also finds itself on the threshold of a whole new way of life. In some ways, it's not unlike an inmate being released after serving a long prison sentence.
The world has changed and life without the structure behind the prison walls is frightening and challenging and a lot of them don't make it.
Here’s my question to you: After Gadhafi, what’s next for Libya?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 6pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
Tea Party effect on 2012 elections?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The national debt is increasing by an astounding $3 million a minute; $3 million. Meanwhile, President Obama and Congress are on vacation.
When the president took office in January 2009, the national debt was $10.6 trillion. Less than three years later, it's $14.6 trillion.
Obama has presided over the fastest, largest increase in the national debt in our country's history, something to be truly proud of.
Under President George W. Bush, the national debt increased by $4.9 trillion, but it took eight years to increase that much.
Obama has the distinction of putting us an additional $4 trillion in the hole in less than three years. And he's still talking about wanting to spend more. It's insane. These rates of borrowing are unsustainable. It is far and away the biggest problem we may have ever been faced with. Eventually, our country's survival will be at stake.
And whether anyone likes it or not, the tea party seems to be the only group that gets it. The group became a force during the midterm elections because of the growing national debt and the refusal of Washington to do anything about it.
In fact, the recent debt ceiling standoff was driven by a group of only 60 tea party members in the House of Representatives.
You can bet that the tea party will continue to ring the alarm bells as we head into the 2012 elections - and it should.
Because just remember this: In the time it would take you to listen to this Cafferty File segment - a minute and a half or so - our national debt increased by more than $5 million.
Here’s my question to you: What effect will the tea party have on the 2012 elections?
Tune in to “The Situation Room” at 5 p.m. to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we’d love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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