Outside Reading: Editorial #2

Editorial: "I Believe I Can Fly"
by Thomas L. Friedman
published November 13, 2010

     Thomas L. Friedman's editorial, "I Believe I Can Fly," is a criticism on the ignorance of world leaders, using a strong voice and support of his argument. Friedman argues that national leaders are behaving as if they believe they can fly because they are "ignoring that sudden stop at the end that's sure to come" (1).

    

    Friedman uses a strong voice with a great amount of support to convince the reader of the leaders' ignorance.  He begins with Israel's prime minister as his first example. Bibi Netanyahu refuses "to halt settlement building as prerequisite for negotiations" even though he claims that he is completely committed to peace with the Palestinians(1). Unless the first outcome is war, Netanyahu will eventually hit that sudden stop at the end, when they no longer have a Jewish majority because of all the risks he took. The writer uses America as his next example, describing the undermining efforts of the Republican Party to have a clean energy bill put in place. By doing this we could break away from the countries we are dependent upon for oil, have "cleaner air, more renewable energy, a stronger dollar, more innovative industries and enemies with less money" (1-2). If nothing is done and people remain ignorant to the situation, future generations will reach that sudden stop, when they can no longer be carefree and fly, but rather have to hit that hard reality. Friedman's last supporting detail discusses the people "working to scuttle Senate ratification of the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty" (2). In his opinion, many people don't want to pass the treaty just because they don't want President Obama to have the success. The writer then points out the important fact that people should care less about weakening their own president and more about the ties between Iran or U.S. and Russia. Friedman successfully argues his point with multiple pieces of evidence.


       Not only does Friedman support his argument with many key points and criticisms, but he also comes up with solutions to the problems. According to the writer, the Republicans continuously try to push Obama out of power and keep him only as a one-term president so that they can obtain power to achieve their goals. Friedman argues that they didn't pursue those goals the previous eight years they were in office, and he believes those aren't even the right priorities anyways. The writer argues that their priorities should now should be to "mitigate the recession" (2). He even then goes on to explain how to achieve this goal, which he believes is by improving the skills and education of workers. 


      Using clear evidence and a strong believable voice, Friedman successfully support his argument.  His writing is very persuasive because he seems to know about the evidence he provides and even offers ways to fix the problems. For an AP essay, this would definitely be appropriate, with his sophisticated voice and knowledge.