Dammit, I like America!

Dammit, I like America!  Yes, yes, it has its faults, and being America, they tend to be writ large but still, its virtues are equally immense.  Take all this election razzmatazz, for example.  My dears, sooo ghastly, brash and common, all that hoopin' and hollerin', and how do those politicians manage to keep on smiling and smiling and smiling like the rictus on a death mask?  So unlike our own, very dear Gordon whose sudden smiles come and go in a flash and usually appear at the most inappropriate moment in his speeches.  It is of course, a great boon that our own elections are done and dusted in three weeks, where-as our American cousins take nearly two years.  And how wise they are!  It is difficult for us Brits to comprehend just how huge America is and it takes enormous time and energy for the candidates to work their way round the country.  Of course, they have TV to get their message across but it is still very necessary to see, and be seen, in person, to face ordinary voters not just news reporters.  Most Americans, like most Brits, are not that interested in politics, they are too busy getting on with their own lives and once they have done their civic duty and voted they just expect the politicians to get on with it and not bother them for another four years.  Given the immensity of the USA you can see the necessity of whipping up, with the help of national TV, a sustained electoral frenzy, so that gradually, over time, the mass of the people cannot avoid taking some view of the candidates they see paraded before them, smiling, always smiling, night after night on their TV channels.  The genius of it is, that after a while you do begin to see through some of these people, or at least, you have no excuse for failing to do so.  What a contrast to the government-rigged farces that take place in the likes of Russia or China where they try desperately these days to emulate American electoral democracy but the end result is as phony as those copy-cat products they produce by the zillion.

I have no idea who will be a more effective or intelligent president, McCain or Obama, but then, nor does anyone else.  The job finds out the man!  However, I gain the distinct impression that the people who surround Obama are not nearly as clever as those around McCain.  True, Obama was forced to fight a wounding battle with Hillary Clinton and, naturally enough, picked up a few cuts and bruises in the process.  Nevertheless, I sense a vacuum, or perhaps, a confusion, at the centre of his campaign.  Some of his younger advisers, I guess, want to keep on pressing the buttons that produce the juices from die-hard, Left-wing Democrats, whilst older heads are insisting that he shift to the centre. Thus, we see his extraordinary choice of Sen. Biden as running mate - more like shuffling mate, at his age - which seemed to me to be an admission that he, Obama, was not quite old enough for the job and needed a veteran to hold his hand.  McCain, by contrast, began his campaign knowing that the antediluvian Right was never going to be happy with him as a candidate but, hey, who else are they going to vote for - a Left-wing Obama or, horror of horrors, another Clinton?  So McCain, in line with his slightly maverick political history, always had the advantage of some independence of thought and action.  Thus, he was able to execute the brilliant political coupe of appointing a young, and very Right-wing, lady as his running mate, knocking Obama's convention speech off the TV news and giving the Republicans a terrific shot of excitement for their convention next week.  That was very smart politics!

As I told (with only a modest amount of relish!) my e-pal, 'Fallenmonk', a good egg but a hopeless Lefty, there are some ill-omens for the Democrats in the choice of this remarkable lady as VP. If, as some Right-wing American commentators are predicting already, McCain does win, the Republicans will have a young, attractive and experienced, female candidate ready to stand for president in 4 years time which could mean that it will be at least 12 years before the Dems get anyone in the White House.  Oh dear what a pity never mind!  According to Hank's excellent graph of graphs, Obama has enjoyed a slight up-tick in the polls - but McCain's is even steeper!  It is quite remarkable that at the end of what most Americans see as a failed Republican administration, an elderly Republican is up there slugging it out toe to toe with a young, charismatic Democrat.  Truly, America is a marvelous country!

Comments

[fallenmonk]

"at the end of what most Americans see as a failed Republican administration"

The vote will tell David. Let's not get to overwrought with Lady Palin just yet. There seems to be an undercurrent of "she won't stay on the ticket until November" brewing. More's the pity. As more and more Republicans realize that she was forced on McSame by the ultra religious right there will be some fallout in the ranks. Of course there are lots of "Americans" who would rather vote for Satan himself than a black man but there should be enough folks fed up with the GOP to turn the tide. It will be an interesting two months.
And thanks for the link BTW.

[David Duff]

Here's a rash moment I may well regret, but I'll bet you, 'FM', a bottle of single malt against a bottle of Jack Daniels's best that McCain wins. Let me know if we're on.

[David Duff]

Incidentally, 'FM', I was down 'your' way this week, about 5 miles from Cotahele.

It rained!