Opinion: In today’s pages: Potter, predictions and a pop quiz
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The Times’ editorial board wraps up its American Values series with ‘The blessings of liberty’:
The Bush administration soon will be consigned to history, and not a moment too soon. The end of this cynical, mean-spirited presidency provides the opportunity for a renewal of generosity and hope, for a widening of political and cultural horizons, for a return to strength tempered by humility, for an era of decency and mutual respect rather than the blunt exercise of force. That will be the mission of the next president.
The board also raises an eyebrow at a lawsuit filed by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. seeking to block the publication of the ‘Harry Potter Lexicon.’
The Opinion page caps off 2007 with a quiz on the year’s ‘hard-to-forget moments,’ while columnist Joel Stein looks into his Magic 8 Ball and makes some predictions for next year. Under ‘Presidential election’:
Barack Obama wins the general election but does not carry the Northeast, due to New Englanders’ ingreasingly implausible excuse, ‘It’s not that we’re racist; it’s just that the South would never elect a black person.’
Readers weigh in on oil and green energy, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s hunting prowess and the billion-dollar child-support suit against Donald L. Bren. Snarks John Rabe,
I hereby publicly offer to be adopted by Bren. For a monthly remittance of $1,000, I promise to buy him one tie on Father’s day, one pair of slippers and/or a robe at Christmas, and one joke card on his birthday.... For my part, the contract will be considered null and void if I get a DUI, disparage Bren in public or cause the police to be called to a noisy beach-house party.