Monday Moan 21

Time to choose

In a few days from now the American people will get the chance to vote for their next President.  Barack Obama or Mitt Romney – from here it doesn’t seem like a difficult decision, does it?  But that’s not the way it is over the other side of the Atlantic.

How could it be that this is such a close election?  Well, let’s not forget that Barack Obama only just managed to squeeze past the aged John McCain last time round, despite his opponent’s complete lack of personality or charisma, despite the economic crisis and despite the anger created by years of apparently pointless and unsuccessful war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Getting the American public to vote for its first black president was a big deal and it was achieved only by a relatively narrow margin.

Obama was then hailed as the man to change everything. Of course he promised a lot, but much of the euphoria surrounding his election was generated by unrealistic expectations on the part of others.  I confess to being swept up in this myself, so much so that I sat glued to the television to watch the inauguration ceremony, because I was convinced it was a historic turning point.  That euphoria and those expectations have weighed like an increasingly heavy millstone around Obama’s neck as the realities of government have exerted their force.  Nobody, not even the President of what many consider to be the most powerful nation on Earth, can change things overnight. 

Obama has, of course, faced some pretty tricky obstacles as he has tried to govern. It seems that a significant proportion of Americans believe he is a marxist, socialist, communist, muslim (delete as you wish) intent on destroying the American way of life. He has faced opposition from the Republicans to almost everything he has tried to do, including a campaign against his introduction of what to most of the rest of the developed world seemed to be pretty obvious proposals for healthcare reform, to extend access to healthcare provisions to the poorer members of society – including the almost 17% of Americans who have no health insurance.  Apparently, this was just an example of his communist beliefs.

He now faces a man who , according to many observers, is not just gaffe-prone, but a serial distorter of the truth (or liar, if you prefer).  Of course, there are those on the other side of the debate who claim that Obama is the liar.  And in the country of free-speech, both sides are able to make their vitriolic and partisan allegations almost unchecked.  Romney a liar?  or Obama a communist? 

 

Oh well, the election will be over soon and then, apart from the arguments, name-calling and righteous opposition to whatever is proposed by the new President, we can take a rest from campaigning - for at least a year to eighteen months.  Then it all kicks off again. 

 

A multimedia icon speaks

Dr. Michael Savage is not Tom Jones in a poor disguise, but a multimedia icon in the conservative movement, heard by 10 million listeners a week on “The Michael Savage Show” and syndicated across the U.S. in more than 300 markets.  At least, that is how he bills himself on his own website (obviously, not the Tom Jones denial bit).

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He is also one of only a handful of people banned from entering the UK.  Banned for his extremist views.  But free to peddle them elsewhere, of course.  He is one of President Obama’s fiercest (or at least one of his loudest) critics.  I am not going to put a link to his website in the Moan – you can look him up if you want to do so.  But I will highlight the following comment attached to one of his many video postings:-

 

“Independents and Republicans are shown to have higher IQs then [sic] democrats and liberals. Just science fact now. That’s why none will vote for Obama. We still have to worry about the other 50% of the country though, you know the ones that aren’t that smart.”

 

Heaven help us all.

 

  

Independence Day

Scotland is to get its vote on independence.  That is, the people living in Scotland will get to vote – which includes the almost 370,000 English people resident there, but not the 750,000 Scots resident in England.

 

Where will it all end?  English nationalism?  Independence for the Isle of Wight?  Not much support for the latter at the moment, as the Isle of Wight Party is not after independence but a fixed link (bridge or tunnel) between the island and the English mainland.  There was a Vectis National Party in the 1970s, which campaigned for independence on the basis that it believed the sale of the Isle of Wight to England in 1293 was unconstitutional.

 

That’s the kind of historical grudge that could grow into a major movement one day.

 

 

Pots and kettles

There is something deliciously amusing about the complaints by Chelsea about alleged comments made by referee Mark Clattenburg during their game against Manchester United yesterday.  These comments are said to include some inappropriate racial language.

 

All this from the club that has supported John Terry throughout the Anton Ferdinand affair and all the allegations about racial insults that were involved. 

 

Pots and kettles.