Now, my point is that Brooks’ attack on Democrats simply distracts, more than helping understand and deal with the situation.

It doesn’t follow from the rest of the article. And it doesn’t build on solid, comprehensive analysis. It comes accross pretty random, perhaps revealing more about his political leanings than his superb cognitive skills.

The public policy and political debate that should follow the claim that we live in a Cognitive Age should be centered on what specific structural policies candidates are advocating, to prepare our population for that new environment: Iraq & military budget, healthcare, education, science, not just trade.

For example, one could claim that the Republican Bush administration has been the most anti-science in recent history, helping move the US backwards in this Cognitive Age, and that Republican leaders, including their candidate, don’t seem to have reneged on that, hence. Is this more or less relevant than trade policies?

Watch the tape of Clinton and Obama saying one thing about NAFTA to Ohioans and the opposite hours later to Texans. They recognize the NAFTA is geographically discriminating, but they still blame the companies and the countries.

In the next months, listen to the emphasis on what was done “to us” by those companies that left for other (Asian and Latino) countries. It isn’t that our colleges aren’t producing workers who can handle the cognitive demands of the Cognitive Age / New Economy. FYI: I am a university instructor and a Democrat from Ohio.

And there is no “innuendo” in the sentence you object to — it is a fairly clear claim that the Democrats blame countries. My argument would be that all the national pols who know where we are at election time make the same pitches. And none of them are around to increase funding for K-16 education — only high-risk testing.