End Game

(photo by Melinda Kolk)

So here we all are, ready for the Melbourne Cup tomorrow and then Wednesday will be the US elections and the whole world will be watching. There is a lot riding on this and we have been following this right from the start. We are so much more clued up than we used to be and we are taking a lively and considerable interest in overseas politics. About time. But we’ve had fun. It was great following the French election and then pretty sad France couldn’t put a woman in their top position. So then we thought, maybe America would and they went along with Hillary for some of the way and she was suddenly just out. Sarah Palin came in for a bit but has been losing ground faster than she gained it. So it’s pretty disappointing to see than women just cannot get to the finish line and then stay in power and be regarded as worthy of top positions. Women will fix that in time. Meanwhile our eyes are on John McCain and Barack Obama. Who is going to get into the White House? It is going to make quite an impact internationally whoever gets in there. That’s why we are watching.  The Australian has a Live Poll ready to go and I am really pleased about that because Australia has often made it hard to get overseas information. This is a great step forward to have us looking out onto the world. I just wish that America would respect its voters more and allow them to vote more comfortably. They really have to do the hard yards to put in their votes in those great long queues. It’s too long for people to be standing around. So, I wish them well and I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Beware the Lurkers

There is a Victorian saying which goes something along the lines of : “It’s not the knocking at the door which should worry you, but the serpent which slithers under it” and it would appear Barack Obama is aware of this judging by this article. He is dealing with the door knockers. He is dealing with what is out there and in front of him and he appears to be doing that well. In this article he refers to the last minute unknown quantities which he and his voters will need to manage. Oh yes, there will be lurkers in the wings. This is a hard fought election and it won’t be won until whoever is in the White House is in the White House and maybe we’ll be wondering how on earth they got there. There are all sorts of things which this article discusses which could throw the election. Throw it? Are the Americans not sure what they want by now? The French election was hotly contested right to the last but then the two candidates were a tough match for each other and each had their strengths to offer. France went with Sarkoszy and inherited Carla Bruni along with him in the end and she spends a lot of time being interviewed on the European circuit and has eclipsed him in many ways. With Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain, well, there is not much to compare. John McCain is 72 and wouldn’t remain as President. Ms. Palin side tracked us for a while there and was pulled out of the hat, but she no longer has any appeal. Barack Obama continues to impress and so it is important that if the Americans want him to be President they will have to manage whatever comes in from the left field and the article suggests some pretty severe stuff. That is what America needs to get rid of. The fear fest. People should be able to compete on their merits not their trickery and treachery or well timed events. Surely the Americans are not hat easily put off track?

Food Politics

The Americans seem to be enjoying this campaign in lots of ways. With the comic book biographies and now the food polls there is a healthy mix of serious and then the light hearted approach which enables people to ingest and digest all the information and serious issues. You cannot always be straight faced and frustrated. Sometimes you just have to lighten up and laugh. So when I read the article about how they are doing food polls, I was thinking this is a pretty cheery idea and a good way to find out in a straw vote how people might be thinking. I mean there is a method in the menu madness but there is a sense of fun too. At this stage Obama Barack is two thirds to John McCain’s one third in the food voting.Add to that that Obama Barack was judged to be the winner of the third debate,then you can think that he is in an excellent position to win the election. But I remember when George Bush looked like he was going to lose and he magically won. Same with John Howard here. We were silent the next day because we couldn’t work out how it had happened. I should like to think America can ride the crest of the wave of change to the finishing line and get the chance to remodel and revamp, because change too often brings anxiety, but overdue change brings such a feeling of liberation.

Hey Big Spenders!

Image via WikipediaAh well, in the midst of financial turmoil in America, news that Americans would be taxed to support any bail out, huge, massively huge spending on overseas military action…it gets announced that the two presidential candidates are the biggest spenders in history when it comes to campaigns. 1.48 billion dollars! That is a lot of money. Do they actually need to spend all that? is that what Americans need to run a campaign? Is that what the voters expect? Can’t they do a no frills campaign? When our politicians start splashing around the cash, we get stuck into them…we even mail them back their flashy brochures and then come up with a list of preferred alternatives for political spending. A lot of political debate can be done on TV, the radio, in the papers, on the Net. Flyers don’t have to be expensive and rallies don’t have to be star studded? Or do they? America must want a lot from their candidates. Why do they have to spend that much? Luckily the fund raising has been made easier with the internet and it has actually drawn a commitment from the young ones. Now, that is a good idea to get young people involved in the political workings of their country. I realise the spending has mostly been done before the blow out occurred…maybe we all need to rethink political campaigns. The money could go towards more important things.

The Home Stretch Election 2008

Image via WikipediaI was hoping that the home run on this American election would be able to be completed without the smearing, jeering and pot shots. I hate it when you get a political campaign which just deteriorates into mud slinging and it is a feature which became prevalent in the Bush/Blair/Howard era and it was not worthy of us. To have our politicians do nothing more that take aim and fire insults and nonsense to each other is just so undignified and immensely irritating when you know that we can all do better. The political discussions which have hitherto occurred have been interesting. They were interesting during the French campaign too and the fact we are interested here tells me how much thought has gone into the campaigns…and how much Australians have woken up. We do take a proper interest in world affairs now and we see that as important if we are to work with people. Please don’t let this deteriorate into mudslinging. It has been so good to watch a tough campaign be fought all along the way. Low level thoughtless nonsense will neither further nor help anyone.You cannot fly like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys.

Is John McCain 72?

Image via WikipediaAccording to Google he is and this article. Well, now I am flummoxed. What is the matter with people? I know all about seniors and their capacity to contribute…but running a country? Even Her Majesty doesn’t run the country. It means if John McCain gets in , America will be yet another place where the elected leader ends up not being the leader. We are getting quite used to it here with our states in Australia. The people are voting for someone and then the someone disappears and another someone takes over and then there’s an election and another someone takes over. You can lose the plot and the personal impact! Leadership just becomes a blur. Is that what America wants? A leadership blur? Even if John McCain is hail and hearty, how old will he be at the next election? Elder statesmen need to play a critical role at this point in time and that is the role of wise counsel. The world is a bit frantic at the moment. You need a lot of energy, enthusiasm, guts, courage and energy to lead a nation at this point in time. So you need someone who can rally people to whatever the cause of the day is, because that seems to be how it is playing out at the moment and then you need someone who can get people on side, negotiate, network, get here there and everywhere in a hurry . Leaders seem to have to meet anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat. The need to be perpetually enthusiastic and positive. They can’t afford to be stuck in their ways or struggling for responses and that is where the elder statesmen come in. Their knowledge and experience is invaluable for reading situations and giving sound advice in terms of protocol and possible approaches. They can be the think tank online and on tap. The job itself needs someone who can get up and just go and go and go…and talk 19 to the dozen and jet hop with the best of them. That’s life in 2008.

So what about McCain?

Image via WikipediaIt would appear with 5 weeks to go that McCain is still being given a chance. People here wonder whether America, in the final analysis, would vote for Barack Obama. We know they can choose to vote or not so for us it would come down to who has the most active and interested voters. I would have given Hilary Clinton a good chance and she was going really well. It would have been so great to see a woman become President of a country which has done a lot for equal opportunity, but , like France, America just couldn’t come at a woman president and then Hilary lost it a bit. It is a long, hard trail for the Americans. I do not normally take much interest, to be honest, but I so want to see Mr. Bush gone. I think he has done a lot of damage to the world and the image of his country. We need leaders who are articulate and who can talk and negotiate. We need people who will collaborate and be a part of of the group which makes up our planet. So we are thinking, if a strong candidate like Hilary can get lost in this long trail to the election, what will happen in this last 5 weeks? There are people who just will not vote for Barack Obama. There will be those who want more of the same. The financial instability is only going to make this more complicated so I hope the Americans can get their heads around all of this and get the picture clear. It is going to be an interesting 5 weeks but I hope it doesn’t deteriorate into pot shots and smearing. So undignified and unnecessary.

Did Obama win?

Image via WikipediaSo did Obama win the debate or not? Our newspaper sites are saying the polls said he won, but on the radio coming home there was an interview with a reporter from CNN and he appeared to be quite clear about the fact McCain won. It’s going to be pretty tough at this stage. Like Howard’s government here, the Republicans have been in power for a very long time and they are not going to want to give up that position any more than Mr. Howard wanted to here. Once people get into power they tend to think they are the only ones who can run a country and then feel jealous about the fact someone else might be able to. I think the Americans are ready for a big change the same as we were. There are things which need to be done and there are different ways of looking at things, so you have to create the change or you stagnate. The financial crisis seems to be the thing. It’s weird how that has come about at election time but I guess that’s co incidence. It has come here right in time for the new government to be confronted with some pretty tough stuff…So I think you need to ask, who started this financial crisis, how has it come about and what was the time frame. Barack Obama is very flexible in his thinking and appears to have a lot of support. John McCain seems to be more of the same. The audience judging the debate would have been tough because they were the people who were not swayed either way and were asking some pretty pertinent questions. In the end, the Americans will put it all together and vote for what they want…it’s a pretty tricky situation with the finances, but I think the Americans don’t need me to tell them that.