Update: My wife is pleased with the election result. She doesn’t know anything about Obama’s policies (why would she? She’s Korean.) but is more confident that one of her mixed-race kids could grow up to be president (debates about what a ‘natural born citizen’ is notwithstanding).
Original Post: This is Andy Jackson, your sexy Republican pinata, reporting from Seoul. Actually, I am back in Ansan, but Seoul makes for a better dateline.
First of all, my personal congratulations to president-elect Obama. I wish you success in implementing your policies… except for the ones I disagree with.
I was one of the guest presenters during a vote-watching program at the US Embassy Annex this morning (This piece from KBS combines that event with a more high-rent event at the ambassador’s residence.).
The Democrats had a party this morning. The Republicans would have had a party this weekend if our guy would have won (not enough of us could get off of work to do something on a weekday morning), but obviously that is not going to happen. We won’t be doing anything until our annual Thanksgiving dinner later this month.
Here are a few notes from the event:
- The US Embassy doesn’t skimp. Yeah, I was at the low rent party with a bunch of college and high school students, but they still kept the place well stocked with Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee. How well stacked that? Even though there were about 100 people at the event, there were plenty of leftovers (of Krispy Kreme!) at the end of it. I saw one lady leaving the place with a whole box. Seriously, they did put on a pretty good event.
- The vote might have been relatively close in the States (52% to 47%) but the mock election among attendees of the embassy annex event was a rout: 135 votes for Obama, 26 for McCain and 1 for Bob Barr.
- That sinking feeling: Ohio was called for CNN right in the middle of my presentation, which pretty much put it out of reach for McCain. My topic was on how divided government, with brief interludes of one-party rule, has been the natural course of American politics for the past 40 years. While it is always difficult to predict such things, I said that I believed the US would probably have a unified government through 2012, when the Republicans would most likely retake the senate. As a rock-ribbed Republican, I would like say we would come back in 2008, but I just don’t see it in the cards.
- My dumbest moment: Doing a toast to a cardboard cutout of president-elect Obama with some embassy staffers using paper cups full of coffee (Hey, it’s the loyal opposition!). I just hope that none of the pictures the cameramen took of that moment see the light of day.
I also have a piece on the election result in The Korea Times. Needless to say, I was not as gracious as Senator McCain was in his concession speech (Hey, it’s the loyal opposition!).
Here is the good:
The first and most obvious importance of Obama’s victory is the final symbolic defeat of the racism that has blemished American society since the founding of the nation. It is an achievement that Americans of every political stripe can and will take pride in.
and,
It is not as if the world is anti-McCain. Constanze Steltzenmuller, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund, referred to the Obama-McCain choice in an interview with PBS as a luxus problem (Americans would say a “good problem to have”) and noted that Europeans would like to have the same problem. Despite that, much of the world sees Obama as the better of two good choices.
the bad:
However and despite the widespread fervor for Obama, if the rest of the world believes that an Obama-led America would be a humbler place, they are mistaken. Having a black president will sit like a crown of moral superiority on the heads of many Americans and will reinforce the perception that leadership is America’s natural place in the world order.
American journalist Keith Richburg, New York bureau chief of the Washington Post, neatly encapsulated that idea with the title of his October 26 essay on the election: “America is showing Europe the way again.”
and the ugly:
Until the inauguration, and perhaps for months after the inauguration, [what kind of president Obama will be] will not really matter. The symbolism of his candidacy has long overshadowed the man and any issues he might have happened to champion.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal in March, Shelby Steele encapsulated the Obama enigma: “He espouses no galvanizing political idea. He is unable to say what he means by ‘change’ or ‘hope’ or ‘the future.’ And he has failed to say how he would actually be a ‘unifier.’ By the evidence of his slight political record (130 ‘present’ votes in the Illinois state legislature, little achievement in the U.S. Senate) Barack Obama stacks up as something of a mediocrity. None of this matters much.”
But what do I know? I’m just one mid-aged curmudgeon an ocean and a continent away from my homeland.
Congratulations again president-elect Obama. Live long and prosper.
{ 107 comments… read them below or add one }
A very good comment in your KT section.
“However and despite the widespread fervor for Obama, if the rest of the world believes that an Obama-led America would be a humbler place, they are mistaken.”
Oh, don’t worry. Humble is rarely a word we’d use to the describe the States.
So, why are we happy about Obama’s election?
8 years of Dubya, for one.
No, having a black president will not “sit like a crown of moral superiority on the heads of many Americans,” it simply represents the diversity of our country, unlike the all-white Republican convention I saw this year.
Here’s the lesson you should take away from this election, Mr. Jackson: the Republican party is utterly out of step with mainstream America. Your own party decried McCain for not being “conservative enough” and failed to support him well, and embraced an inept moron who represents the worst of Christianity in America as VP. And you were roundly defeated for it. Don’t bitch about Obama’s credentials–get your own house in order.
Well, yes, the Republicans DO need to get their house in order. They’ve now been awarded by the American voter an, uhem, “vacation” in which to do this. And they can start by dropping this “invade the world, invite the world, in hoc to the world” bullshit and start acting like actual small-government conservatives. I’m at a loss, though, to name a single big-name figure in the GOP to lead that change.
For years I’ve been reading about how the FTA was bad for Koreans, yet today I read that the FTA is perfect the way it was and the Korean government is urging the new US president not to change it. Is this the change we were looking for?
Congrats to Obama. Cheers to all those Americans who now have something to be proud about. Guess you don’t have to pass yourselves off as Canadian
teachersanymore.What the heck do you read??
52% to 47% is hardly a small margin in a Presidential Election. Bush lost to popular vote both times and only squeaked in by dirty tricks a la Karl Rove.
The GOP got smoked, no doubt about it. They are out of touch with what America (and Canada, too) is. It is a multi-racial country. Go to any city and you’ll see it.
That and the Republicans ran an awful campaign. They didn’t stick on their issues and ran pillar to post. Picking Sarah the Idiot Palin as VP was about the worst thing McCain could have done, the woman was fine: until she opened her mouth. The last thing America needed was another laughing stock in executive power. The crowning moment of failure was when McSame ran off to Washington to solve America’s economic crisis. He looked like an old fool running around in a girl’s dormitory. That after McSame said all was well about as many times as he could. When it was obvious the economy was the issue, he kind of made it up as he went a long. But there is no fool like an old fool I guess.
Obama ran a fantastically good campaign. He had boat loads of money. He stayed on his message of “Do you want four more years of McBush?” He told voters what he was going to do, for example making the ultra wealthy pay taxes (what a concept) and putting more money in the pockets of 95% of taxpayers. Here is my prediction:
1. The Iraq debacle is going to end. It was all based on a lie anyway and America can’t afford it.
2. The pump will be primed by giving working people money to spend.
3. All Americans will get health insurance. It is shameful when you can’t go to a doctor when you are poor.
4. Bushites will wail, scream, say the world is coming to an end, dig dirt and blame everybody buy themselves. Then Obama will get a second term.
5. wkj will come out of hiding by the weekend.
#7
“Bush lost to popular vote both times and only squeaked in by dirty tricks a la Karl Rove”
George Bush beat John Kerry handily in the popular vote in 2004. 62 to 59 million votes or 51% to 48%.
I stand corrected. But then again, Obama did even better at 52-47.
The FTA seems to be a growing concern. I found several new articles today, and I’m concerned about some of the inaccuracies being promulgated:
http://www.shippingdigest.com/news/article.asp?sid=5606<ype=trade
Apologies if I’m overposting here, but here’s another more recent article that’s more severe. I don’t know why these issues didn’t come out more before the election, instead of after.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2897008
Let’s see…who else said he was going to be a “uniter, not a divider”? George W. Go ahead and substitute “change the tone in Washington,” and “compassionate conservatism” for “change, hope, the future,” and you’ve got George W. Slight political record? George W, again. And yet the enthusiastic supporters for W out of the gate (which I’ll assume Jackson was one) also found that his mediocrity “didn’t matter much.”
All the criticisms made of Obama in your article could have just as easily been made of George W Bush in 2000, but I’m sure you won’t be able to show me an article from yourself or Shelby Steele making those same criticisms of him on those same points.
You were more than willing to overlook all the same flaws in a Republican candidate who in addition, also displayed a woefully shallow intellect. Obama’s record may be short and narrow, but he’s proven through 20 months of an election grind to have the intelligence and depth of policy understanding to make up for it.
So you’ll excuse me if I don’t take your criticisms of Obama the enigma seriously, when you and most other conservatives let W skate by unscathed with nary a word. Your sudden concern over apparent “mediocrity” and slight political record after 8 years of unabashed celebration and support of a less than mediocre president just reeks of hypocritical partisan hackery.
I’m registering Republican and voting for Palin in the primary. I’m just sayin’.
And she’s such a good debater, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUN8oldj9o
As long as its not Sarah Palin, the GOP has a chance to recover.
The first order of business this weekend at the post-election meeting of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, will be to strip Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and any other short-sighted fools of their membership badges for not only pushing the Palin Abortion onto the national ticket, but for continuing to suggest that she is the “future of the party.”
She was an absolute embarrassment, and the sooner Republicans learn from that disaster, the better.
1st, told ya so. Nya nya nya nya nya nya…
2nd, we have not seen in our lifetimes more galvanizing political ideas and specificity than those provided by Obama. If you fail to understand the ideas, the times, and the challanges, this speaks poorly of you alone.
Thank God for GW Bush who brought to inevitable completion the Republican disaster that was begun by Reagon and has slowly but steadily resulted in the near bankrupcy – moral and economic – of the nation. It sometimes takes a wake up call to highlight the fraud of Republicanism, but it is refreshing to see that the sleeping giant has again awakened from the complascency of mediocracy and embraced the greatness of its destiny.
kimchipig: “I stand corrected. But then again, Obama did even better at 52-47.”
It was, by any measure of modern natioanl politics, a blowout.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal in March, Shelby Steele encapsulated the Obama enigma: “He espouses no galvanizing political idea. He is unable to say what he means by ‘change’ or ‘hope’ or ‘the future.’ And he has failed to say how he would actually be a ‘unifier.’
Well, I’ll take a shot at this.
I HOPE that the current young generation of minorities, especially in the black communities, who have witnessed this historic election, will take the opportunity and realize through the example of Barack Obama that to be educated, smart, and articulate is not “uncool” or a just “white folks thing”. I hope that they will CHANGE their attitudes and realize that studying hard in school and getting a proper education is the only real way to achieve success in America and that merit is rewarded in this country. America is still an experiment. The Civil Rights Movement is not over simply because a black man became President of the United States. Today, the battleground is in the K-12 public schools and the struggle to close the achievement gap in high-need areas. We ignore the suffering and failure of our fellow brothers and sisters at our own peril and in that sense we are all UNITED as Americans. Education remains the single biggest factor that determines upward mobility. If we do not figure out a way to free our urban ghettos from crime, poverty, and hopelessness by making world-class education a universal reality, the FUTURE of the American experiment is in jeopardy. This can only occur through a transformational healing process that involves not just government reform but the enhanced responsibility of individuals, whether they be officials, teachers, parents, or the students themselves. This is one way that Barack Obama effects CHANGE, HOPE, UNITY, and the FUTURES and he will do so not just through his words or actions as President by also through the mere fact of who he is. Mr Steele ought to grasp the meaning of these words without it being spelled out especially given the context of our troubled times but his career as a professional panderer to the white conservative audience has made him obtuse.
OK let me spell out for the intellectually challanged the specific galvanizing political ideas Obama
1st, NATIONAL HEALING – this was a watershed moment in American history, a NECESSARY healing of the sin of slavery.
2nd, INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP – the public voted to restore the moral standing of the US in the world, and to overturn the failed diplomatic policies of the Republicans.
3rd, ECONOMIC RECOVERY – the American public in overwhelming numbers now realizes that the nation has been heading in the wrong direction for reasons clear to any objective observer, and has finally voted to overturn Voodoo Republican economics, the legacy of Reagonomics -trickle down economics, deregulation and military adventurism that have fed the top 1% – 10% while decimating the middle class and precipitating a global recession.
4th, FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY – Instead of pouring national wealth on military adventurism that benefits the defence industry, the oil industry and a few other elite interests, put the money into the domestic economy where it will earn real economic and social dividends (butter, not guns)
5th, A RETURN TO FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN VALUES – the social backwardness of the religious conservatives suffered a major defeat. Palin’s “real America”, as it turns out, was not the real America at all, but simply a throwback to superstitious religious ignorance amd intolerence.
6th, MODERN PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY – Just take a look at how the new generations were invigorated and brought into the policitcal process.
7th, AN ENERGY POLICY – It is now clear that co-called “clean coal”, and “drill baby drill” are not solutions to the fundamental issue of developing a coherent and comprehensive energy policy. The answer, as explained by T. Boone Pickens, is natural gas and renewables. Obama has been clear about this.
Please feel free to add to this list. The issues are so abundantly clear, that it is astounding that the wag quoted above pretends not to have understood them.
Re: #4
Well said, Robert, well said.
The GOP would do (very) well to return to its (fiscal and economic) conservative roots and focus on stuff that actually affects people rather than the mostly emotional, social conservative stuff like abortion and gay marriage.
The drubbing of Palin is surely yet another indictment of Religious Rightism just for the sake of it (at any cost). I believe America has also spoken out about adventurism and diplomacy by gunpoint (and ultimately checkbook / deficit).
Let’s hope the GOP can get their house in order and put someone a bit more mainstream on the ticket in 2012. Divisive, wedge politics (Karl Rove-style) is bad, but competition is good.
As for me, I’m very glad that Obama is my President Elect and hope he will work hard to deliver on what I think he’s capable of. Hail to the Chief !
He is unable to say what he means by ‘change’ or ‘hope’ or ‘the future.’
How many Religious folk can say what they mean by ‘faith’?
I absentee-voted for Obama.
While I think that John McCain is a good man (and would have arguably likely made a better Republican President than W), I am glad to see a ray of light for the leader of the Free World.
Just fixing some points:
“Obama-led America ”
Obama-led USA
“The last thing America needed…”
The last thing USA needed…
“All Americans will get health insurance”
All US citizens will…
Why you US citizens don’t like the name of your country? Because it’s not a real name, and just says that some states are united, although they have their own rules, so not THAT united?
And the worst thing: most of the rest of the world also calls you “America”, being America a much bigger piece of land…
Not surprising, since you call your own football championship “The World Series” while it’s only in your territory…amazing…
“…the leader of the Free World.”
Haven’t you learned anything in the last 8 years? It’s that sort of arrogance that has put your country’s reputation in the toilet.
If you had asked me five or six years ago to name a Republican I’d like to see in office, McCain would have been my number one pick. But after watching him and the rest of conservative America play yes-men to George W.’s various political (and literal) atrocities, he completely lost my confidence. Seriously, America’s government has checks and balances so that people with some backbone can prevent such atrocities from happening. Unfortunately, conservative America was short on backbone. For the record, liberal America had plenty of outrage, but lacked influence at first, and then organization. They deserve criticism as well.
That said, I think Mr. Jackson’s specific criticisms of Obama are valid. I’ve said the same myself. But aside from having backbone, Obama has something else that ultimately won my vote: the ability to listen to opposition. Our finest presidents, such as Lincoln and Roosevelt, have done this splendidly. Our worst presidents, such as you-know-*W*ho, haven’t done it at all.
Here’s to Obama. And a plea to my brothers and sisters across the aisle: please work with him, not against him. I’m confident that he’ll be receptive if you give him a chance.
#23,
I considered carefully when I used that phrase, and I understand the arrogance that some might attach to that phrase, but isn’t it the plain truth?
If you consider that there are forces for freedom, and other forces lack thereof, which country can you say leads the forces of freedom? Venezuela?
#23
As I said in the KT piece, if you think that an America under Obama would be humbler in its attitude or foreign policy, you are mistaken. I’ll go one step further: America is the greatest nation on earth under Bush (like it or not) and it will still be the greatest nation on earth under Obama (like it our not).
FWIW, the idea of America as leader of the free world is a bit older than the Bush 43 administration. I think it had something to do with that unplesantness in the 1940s and everything since then.
BTW, some of you folks who think that 5.5% is a huge win have been spoiled by the extreme closeness of the previous 2 elections. Here the margins for some other recent elections (rounded to the half-percent).
1996-8.5%
1992-5.5%
1988-7.5%
1984-18.0% (No, that is not a typo; that is a blowout.)
1980-9.5%
So 5.5% is this year rather mundane. Of course, you can believe the hype if you wish.
Reaching a back further, here are some of the greatest blowouts in presiential election history over the past 100 years:
1972-23.0%
1964-22.5%
1936-24.0%
1924-25.0%
1920-26.0% (Can anyone doubt the greatness of Warren Harding?)
source: http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
My elderly Catholic mother has voted Republican since Nixon, and she chose Obama because she was moved by his speeches. She perceived as sincere his concern for the working class and the poor. My mom was also turned off by Palin, who came across as highly underqualified and inexperienced yet too ambitious with a rigid agenda.
Good to see the markets buoyed by an Obama victory. Our school district staff have been getting dire warnings about next year’s budget. If other public and private organizations are cutting spending like ours, the hospitality and retail sectors are going to be laying off a lot of people.
What is the metric for greatness? Military spending? Certainly isn’t national IQ.
Mr Jackson
That the United States is the richest, most powerful nation on Earth is not in dispute. It is a magnet for (and a producer of) some of the brightest, most enterprising people in the world. I’d even agree that calling it the leader of the free world is pretty much a statement of fact. But when you start bandying about terms like “the greatest,” then you invite accusations of arrogance.
Calling the US the “greatest” nation on Earth presupposes that everyone, ultimately, aspires to live like Americans do. While I too believe that democracy, freedom of speech and so on are universal values, I don’t agree that America unquestionably practices them all in the best way. Much as “big government” terrifies (particularly) US conservatives, many, many people around the world do genuinely want to live in countries where the state takes some responsibility for the wellbeing of its citizens. To such people, the model of freewheeling capitalism embraced by the US is far from “the greatest,” I can assure you.
#27
“Good to see the markets buoyed by an Obama victory.”
What markets are you talking about?
“I’ll go one step further: America is the greatest nation on earth under Bush (like it or not) and it will still be the greatest nation on earth under Obama (like it our not).”
You’re entitled to your opinion, but…
http://www.all-rankings.com/rank.php?r=e9827b3619
Reality is a bitch, isn’t it?
I misspoke. The Dow rose on election day but the gain was reversed today.
#31
The UN ranks quality of life in a bunch of social democratic euro-states higher than in the US. How shocking.
Sorry Someguy but those countries are all inconsequential nations (possibly with the exception of Japan and France). Obviously any of those places would be better to live. But the US is a large part of what makes those countries viable. Without the US the Japanese would have to massively tax its population to maintain a huge army to stave of China. Where would that leave its development and healthcare.
What makes the US great is that when it speaks other nations listen, no matter how stupid what it says is.
#33 – “The UN ranks quality of life in a bunch of social democratic euro-states higher than in the US. How shocking.”
Hardly shocked either, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some truth to the rankings. By the way, I’m pretty certain that Australia, Canada, and Japan aren’t “euro-states.”
Congrats to Obama.
“Sorry Someguy but those countries are all inconsequential nations (possibly with the exception of Japan and France).”
Sure, whatever.
“By the way, I’m pretty certain that Australia, Canada, and Japan aren’t “euro-states.””
Just a little literary license
“(why would she? She’s Korean.)”
Questioning your wife’s intelligence in public is not the most gentlemanly thing to do.
“Calling the US the “greatest” nation on Earth presupposes that everyone, ultimately, aspires to live like Americans do.”
Right, because we all want a government that prefers to tell us that our country is great instead of making it so.
Concern over elections in a foreign nation does not correlate with intelligence, at least not strongly.
Re: #26:
“As I said in the KT piece, if you think that an America under Obama would be humbler in its attitude or foreign policy, you are mistaken.”
The views of a small group of extremist supporters does not a leader’s policy make. Obama would have to listen to a (vocal) minority of his supporters and do a complete reversal of his foreign policy so far for what you are predicting to come true.
Nay, it’s far more likely Obama will rely upon one of his main strengths he has demonstrated thus far : the ability to pull different people together under a common cause. He won more of the male white vote than Kerry, trounced McCain/Palin among all women (including whites), and won an overwhelming percentage of the non-black minority vote as well.
I rather predict he will do as good a job or better than any President in recent memory in enlisting the support and aid of not only America’s traditional allies throughout the world, but will bring in new ones in as well. He can’t do that with an arrogant foreign policy and he’s not stupid, so I’m sure he understands this concept better than any of us.
Let me put it this way Someguy, out of those countries could you with a straight face say any of them is the greatest on Earth. I can’t think of any, not England certainly not Australia, definitely not a South American or African probably not Russia.
The only other country that could conceivably make a claim to being the greatest on Earth is China.
I can honestly say I consider Canada the greatest. If my deviant criminal ass could emigrate there I would. They seem to have everything going for them.
http://www.stateofworldliberty.org/report/rankings.html
#41,
Oh, don’t kid yourself…they are the greatest countries on earth. When you peel away all the nationalistic BS, what makes a country great is how it treats its citizens, isn’t it?
Please don’t be sulky, Someguy, it makes Canadians look bad. Of course the US President is the natural person for the title of ‘Leader of the Free World’. He/She can only BE that leader, though, if he chooses to be the free world’s leader. ‘Leading’ means working with others in a leadership role, not giving orders. All those international online polls, such as the Economist’s, showed that the world by and large was quite eager to have Obama as its leader. Even parts of the world that are not free.
It’s also possible for the free world to be leaderless, as it has been under Bush. If the US President abdicates, or chooses unilateralism, then the free world won’t have a leader. It’s also possible to have a group of leaders, if such a group forms and can work together, but no other free world country is large enough for its leader to set the agenda for the free world.
“Greatest country”….blah, blah, blah…..
You do realize that the country at the top of the list you linked to, is Iceland.
As in, the country that just went bankrupt. Apparently national solvency isn’t part of the Human Development Index.
It would behoove you to actually read the link before passing it on as the be all and end all.
Reality’s a bitch indeed!
For the record, I, too, find the “greatest nation” talk grating.
I prefer to take the “I don’t care HOW you do it in (insert name of European welfare state HERE)…” tack.
can we stop with the dick size contest ? it’s not about being the greatest country, it’s about, as linkd puts it, to act as the leader of the free world. I don’t think there’s any ideal country that EVERYBODY dreams about moving to, but america clearly is the brightest example of the ideals shared by the western countries. of course there is dissent, but not much fundamental differences. come on, has any other election in any other country ever been followed that eagerly by the rest of the world ?
good luck to Obama, I’m awaiting his actions with great interest, like I’ve awaited Bush actions with interest, although this time I’m a bit more optimistic it will have an overall good effect on the state of the world (see how I don’t comment about the internal american politics of which I don’t know enough). we’ll judge in 4 years. and americans will vote again.
“You do realize that the country at the top of the list you linked to, is Iceland.”
Yes, I know. Just wait until next year to see how it affects its ranking in comparison to that of your own country before you start feeling so self-assured.
Like my old man used to say: Any country whose citizens continually insist that they’re the greatest country in the world are eliminating themselves from contention just by doing so.
#45,
Sheesh…Although I saw Canada earning the top ranking on that list for 6 consecutive years in the 90′s as proof that social democracy is not the evil that many American Republicans would like us to believe, being Canadian I understood that it was a strong indication that the world had a long way to go.
What grates me is not the expectation that Obama will become a world leader (remember, I’m happy he won), it’s the nationalistic nonsense that some of you keep spewing.
Or, as some of us might prefer, it’s about the US acting like a “normal country” and tending to its own business while the rest of the Free World tends to theirs.
Not that I’ll hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
“Any country whose citizens continually insist that they’re the greatest country in the world are eliminating themselves from contention just by doing so.”
Wise man.
#53,
“it’s about the US acting like a “normal country” and tending to its own business while the rest of the Free World tends to theirs.”
I know…coming up with the ‘war on terrorism’ (an abstract notion at best) to justify invading two oil rich sovereign nations and classifying the resulting political/war prisoners as ‘enemy combatants’ in order to deprive them of their basic human rights wasn’t one of your government’s proudest moments.
I don’t agree with this,
“However and despite the widespread fervor for Obama, if the rest of the world believes that an Obama-led America would be a humbler place, they are mistaken.”
Sure, there will be some who have maybe been a bit sheepish for a while for various reasons and will be back to their crowing ways, but I think we can live with that. Sure, I don’t expect that Obama’s foreign policy will always respect the territorial integrity of other nations and we will have to live with that. But if “humbler place” means “less arrogant place” then I think it would be hard for Obama’s America not to be less arrogant than Bush’s.
The foreign policy alone accounts for a big chunk of the “American arrogance pie”, probably as much as the sum total of the all individuals going on about what a great place it is. If Obama’s approach to foreign policy is a bit more consensus building – and he doesn’t need to do it any more than George Bush Senior did it – then it will make life a lot easier for many of us, especially those who constantly find themselves having to defend democracy and free speech.
On the Republican side, what do we think the chances of getting Arnie to run next time are? He managed to avoid getting too closely involved with Bush or McCain until the very end. Maybe he calculates that his chances are better in 2016? If he puts his name down how does it work? Someone in some electoral office says “sorry dude you can’t run you’re not a natural born Citizen”? Or does it eventually go to the Supreme Court for “interpretation”? Would it need a modification of the Constitution to be completely legit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Opportunity_to_Govern_Amendment
Except weather, at least. 29°C today here in the
City-StateSelf-Administered Region of Hong Kong… In November. Yes!“justify invading two oil rich sovereign nations”
Which two? I must have missed one.
#56> I’m curious too about arnie. anybody knows ?
gives me the opportunity to highly recommend the “pumping iron” DVD. you’ll never look at the man the same way again.
It is time to put the “greatest nation” debate to rest. The One says it is, so it must be: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+speech+text+%22greatest+country%22
I’m sorry, but racism in America absolutely must not be described so euphemistically as a “blemish.”
It is directly responsible for murder, rape and death of blacks from the foundation of the US (slavery) through to modern day poverty, drug use and killings in poor neighbourhoods.
Don’t gloss over this tragic history like you’re trying to gloss over the Republican Party’s idiocies and inadequacies that landed America into such an awful mess these past 8 years.
Would those be the same idiocies and inadequacies the Democrats — i.e., the guys that won yesterday — followed almost lockstep, or different ones?
No. It would never make it to the Supreme Court (unless all the judges on some lower court were huffing model airplane glue that day)… Arnie would almost certainly be turned away at the state elections offices when he applied to be on the primary ballot… Plus, I believe a lot of states have laws making it an offense to attempt to put your name on a ballot for an office for which you are not qualified, seeing as you generally have to submit an affidavit stating that you reasonably believe that you meet the qualifications for the office — something a person who was born an Austrian citizen just could not do in the case of the presidency. It’d never even make it to an actual hearing in an appeals court, much less the Supreme Court.
Good question. Another would be whether we should contemplate racism in America differently than when we contemplate racism in other countries.
““justify invading two oil rich sovereign nations”
Which two? I must have missed one.”
It wasn’t meant to be taken literally. I was obviously referring to the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline.
Yeah.
“gives me the opportunity to highly recommend the “pumping iron” DVD. you’ll never look at the man the same way again.”
Actually, that’s how I’ve always seen him.
It’s the Governor of California thing that puzzles me.
Here’s an election post-mortem that expands on what I said above:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15357.html
What we really need are more political parties, so people like myself who find major flaws in both existing ones have the possibility of finding someone closer to our principles. I’d like to see this party/parties take offices at all levels too, so we don’t have only a joke third party candidate every four years.
Huh. So it turns out Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent rather than a country.
She did not know AFRICA is a CONTINENT and not a COUN-TR-Y.
I’m sorry, but Republican or Democrat, if you discover a little ‘tidbit’ like that and don’t heave a sigh of relief that she is no longer anywhere close to the White House, then there is no hope for you. You can still like McCain while realizing that he made arguably the single worst Vice Presidential selection in American history.
The single biggest mistake of the Bush presidency was the invasion of Iraq. In the House, 215 Republicans voted for the 2003 resolution while 6 sided with 126 Democrats in voting against, versus 82 Dems who joined the Republican war party.
Likewise, the law that former US Comptroller David Walker called “probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s,” misnamed Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, which prohibited the federal government from negotiating drug prices like private insurers do and is expected to cost $1.2 trillion, was supported by nearly all Republican members of Congress and opposed by a majority of Democrats.
An expensive, unnecessary war and an expensive, unnecessary expansion of an entitlement program. So much for Republican fiscal restraint.
SomeGuyInKorea,
Don’t get your knickers in a knot. I didn’t say ‘greatest nation’, I said leader of the free world. You may call it arrogance, but it’s a fact that, while all of those countries you cited are probably nice (and perhaps better than the U.S.) places to live, none of them lead the free world. Some of them join that leader.
While I agree with some of your sentiments, especially about national arrogance, don’t think your being Canadian leads to a portal of better understanding than the rest of us have.
“While I agree with some of your sentiments, especially about national arrogance, don’t think your being Canadian leads to a portal of better understanding than the rest of us have.”
The strangest part of this to me is that, to the extent there is a discernible animating philosophy behind all the sloppy thinking offered up by this particular guy, it is CANADIAN CHAUVINISM. Yet here he is lecturing people about “nationalistic bullshit.”
And one more thing – I hope the Republicans are dumb enough to have Palin run for anything in 2012 – it gives that Party another reason to lose an election.
newspaperman:”I’m sorry, but racism in America absolutely must not be described so euphemistically as a “blemish.”…Don’t gloss over this tragic history like you’re trying to gloss over the Republican Party’s idiocies and inadequacies that landed America into such an awful mess these past 8 years.”
A few clarifications:
As for racism, rather than gloss over this history, Americans have taken actual steps to heal it. This is one reason why the US is in fact the greatest nation on earth, which the arbitrary index provided above does not begin to capture.
And, by the way this is not “arrogance”, just the acknowledged reality of things. Reality can be a bitch, I suppose, if you have some axe to grind.
About the Republican mess, let’s be clear that it didn’t start with GW Bush but with Reagon and is a direct consequence of his sad legacy – the cynical and hypocritical trickle-down economics that was used as a justification for rampant deregulation, suppression of labor and the middle class, outsourcing of American industries, redistribution of wealth to the top 10%, out-of-control spending on military boondoggles while cutting taxes for the priviledged. This disease infected the Democrats as well. Clinton can take his share of the blame for NAFTA and deregulation in the financial sector. However, he can rightly be credited for fiscal responsibility that shames Republicans. In just 8 short years, his record surplus – after years of Republican deficits – was squandered by GWB’s military industrial welfare state.
The Republicans in recent years are, quite precisely, a force that has exacted a great toll on America economically, socially and diplomatically. It is a plague from which the nation now has a great chance to recover. The pendulum effect in historical trends bodes well for the US. Obama represents the new politics, and both Democrats and Republicans will have to get with the new paradigm because the old paradigm is over.
While dinosaur Republicans dust off hopelessly outmoded epithet like “socialist” and point to outdated stereotypes like “Joe the Plumber”, the fall of Reagonomics is around the corner. Discard old garbage. If you question my forsight, reread my predictions about how Palin would boomerang on the Republican party. She was, in retrospect, an appropriate historical choice and has no doubt become a nice footnote.
One more thing, re #27, Andy appears to want to cast doubts on the mandate of Obama’s election, and the fact that he has to go back decades to find a greater electoral margin in Presidential politics proves the point that it was a blowout by modern standards, and an impressive victory,which no amount of perverse spin can undo.
The bottom line? Republicans and Democrats alike take note that a new post racial, post partisan movement is in the air, and Obama is its messenger. And if you fail to understand this now, you yourself are living in the past.
#69
“Huh. So it turns out Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent rather than a country.
She did not know AFRICA is a CONTINENT and not a COUN-TR-Y.”
Don’t know why you’re surprised. Tons of US Citizens call their country “America”. They also seem to not know that AMERICA is a continent rather than a COUN-TR-Y.
Just stumbled on this wise tidbit today:
“For America not to be hated around the world, she would have to cease being America.”
So, anyone want to join a pool predicting when the Euros go back to hating and envying America? My guess is June 6, 2009, the 45th anniversary of D-Day.
Oops. “…65th anniversary of D-Day.”
Would someone please shoot that meme and put it out of its misery? America is a country. In the English language, there is no continent named America. There are two continents named North and South America. Saying America is not a country is like saying New York or Los Angeles are not cities simply because they share a name with a larger geographic entity. Spanish speakers are also ambiguous, calling us Americans “Norteamericanos,” a term that includes Canadians and Mexicans themselves, too.
Canadians refer to those from the U.S. as “Americans”. So there you have it.
..It’s not absurd and certainly not at the level of brainless as referring to Africa as a country.
#75: If you don’t like Americans calling their country America, then I’d suggest leaving, since that isn’t going to change any time soon (assuming the flag next to your name shows where you actually are).
In Palin’s defense, I’ll just say — as an African Studies guy — that when it comes to African issues, our politicians generally come in two flavors: clueless and absolutely clueless. I didn’t hear what she said, but as the latter, she’s probably far less harmful than the former, as the former often base policy on what they think they know. I wonder how many members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have more than a superficial knowledge of African issues.
While we’re on the subject of infamous Africa-related lines, how about this one, courtesy LBJ:
And so started US humanitarian assistance to Biafra…
Actually, it turns out that a reporter says that somebody else anonymously said Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent rather than a country, among a bunch of other nasty, anonymous slanders.
You still don’t get it….
#83: I get it: When it comes to Republican actions, if something seems truthy to the moonbats, then it’s worthy of scorn and ridicule. Actual truthfulness is secondary. Witness Bush’s “plastic” turkey incident, which I can guarantee some willfully ignorant lefty will bring up again before too long.
I do sincerely wish Mr. Obama the best as he begins his term in office. Hopefully his lauded pragmatism and common sense (and the desire for a second term
) will always guide his decisions as he takes on the immense responsibilities of the presidency.
Just one comment in the interest of balance… Ms Palin has been **accused** of ignorance on geography and a number of other things by so-called anonymous sources within the campaign in the wake of election day. Mr. Obama has publicly exhibited some even more shocking ignorance about his own country like this comment… http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws
Heh. I guess Fox News and McCain campaign advisors have a Liberal bias.
Or maybe it’s just the scheduled implosion of Republicans as the genuine Conservatives who were appalled at the Palin selection battle it out with the Neocon and Theocon psychotics for the future of the party. Here’s to praying the former drive the latter into the wilderness, never to return.
Anyway, let’s put it this way: if she said it, it simply confirms what grown-up non-wingnuts took away from the Couric interview: she is utterly, utterly unqualified and out of her depth. If she did not say it, and the McCain campaign is full of big lying meanies trying to make her look like she has the IQ of a fencepost, then it still says a whole lot about how badly she came off during the campaign season that someone could put out a story like this and expect it to be believed.
Either way, the country has dodged a bullet. Even Palin’s nomination is a sign of just how terribly wrong things have gotten in American politics.
If he had said 42 states or 37 states or something completely crazed, I’d give that a bit more credence. As it stood, according to what he said, he had one state left to go, and he wasn’t going to Alaska and Hawaii. Do a little math and see if you can’t figure out whether this was Obama showing utter ignorances about the number of states or whether it was a simply slip-up in saying ’57′ rather than ’47.’
plastic turkey? wtf are you talking about?
Anyway, since you’re not getting it either: Guys, it’s open season on Palin, and will be perhaps for years, depending how much spotlight she chooses to grab. Dan Quayle proved himself a moron, so then all manner of Letterman/Leno jokes about him being a moron moved him to icon status. Same for Clinton being a hound dog. It doesn’t matter what particular incident you can PROVE to be true about Palin’s colossal retardation anymore. All the matters now is whether the reported incident is believable, based on her proven stupidity. Personally, having seen the bimbo in action, I have no problem believing the tale. And it’s far, far better that we can laugh at a now harmless idiot, rather than fear for the fate of the world if she were an old man’s heartbeat from the Presidency. The woman is a caricature. Now that you’re clued in, let’s just enjoy it.
1) “Leader of the free world” is a term few but Americans will use in reference to Obama. The term itself is a product of Americanism.
2) “The strangest part of this to me is that, to the extent there is a discernible animating philosophy behind all the sloppy thinking offered up by this particular guy, it is CANADIAN CHAUVINISM. Yet here he is lecturing people about “nationalistic bullshit.”
I never claimed Canada was better because we have universal health care… I was actually suggesting that Americans were worse off because you don’t have it. Besides, it seems clear enough that I have no illusion about Canada having been ranked at one time the best country to live in. Canada is supposedly a great place to live in and yet I’m in South Korea. What does that tell you?
It’s not the term but the function that’s important. Just as it’s pointless for the Andy Jacksons of the world to bop around spouting that their president is leader of the free world as if it’s a title automatically conferred on every president, regardless of competence or current reality – so it is pointless for anyone else to deny that the US president functionally is the LOTFW, if s/he chooses to be.
…and can handle the job.
It’s obvious that Palin earned whatever level of anonymous slander she absorbs in the next few weeks and months. The fact that McCain campaign officials were leaking damaging information about her (“whack job”) while the campaign was still going on is a pretty solid indication that she was truly horrendous and out of her league. They were so desperate to rein her in that they were willing to risk damaging the campaign to do so.
And now that they no longer have to worry about self-inflicted wounds, we can all look forward to a trickle (or possibly a flood) of further embarrassing anectdotes about Palin in the next few weeks and months.
Motivation for it is clear. First, to get back at Palin for her apparently ridiculous behavior on the campaign trail and to put the information out there as a warning to the idiots looking to her as the future of the party. And second, to poke a finger in the eye of the people who championed her in the first place and convinced McCain to put her on the ticket. Speaking of which, Bill Kristol can now claim that in the last 5 years he’s spent considerable time and effort pushing and promoting two things: The Iraq war and Sarah Palin. How anyone can listen to a single word that guy says and not bust out laughing based on that record is beyond me.
Of course McCain ultimately made the decision completely blind, and for that alone he disqualified himself from being a serious candidate. He deserves the blame for making a decision so rashly and without a serious vetting effort. The fact that so little thought was put into the most important decision of his campaign is appalling at best.
But the current position McCain and his close advisors are in is unwinnable. They can spend the next few weeks leaking embarrassing stories about Sarah Palin, because surely there are many. But the worse they make Sarah Palin look, the worse it makes them look. They leak that she didn’t know Africa the continent from Africa the 80’s pop song, and it advances the story further about just how dense Palin actually is. But what it also does is make you take a second look at McCain, because he was obviously dense enough to not only choose someone that ignorant, but he continually defended her as ready to be President. And that basically destroys the image of John McCain as someone who put “country first.”
If he truly gave a shit about his country, he would’ve taken his VP pick seriously rather than relying on the advice of discredited party hacks.
“It’s not the term but the function that’s important. Just as it’s pointless for the Andy Jacksons of the world to bop around spouting that their president is leader of the free world as if it’s a title automatically conferred on every president, regardless of competence or current reality – so it is pointless for anyone else to deny that the US president functionally is the LOTFW, if s/he chooses to be.”
Since you are supposedly in France, you should know that “Leader of the free world” is product of the Cold War and American exceptionalism that is only used outside of the US to satirize the American President’s foreign policy.
Correction: …a product…
…and that it is only…
Sorry, Blueballs, I don’t buy what you’re selling. Just because it’s in Newsweek now doesn’t mean it’s worth jack shit, because we still have the fresh memories of all the other horrible lies about Sarah Palin advanced by the scurrilous Left and its allies in the media:
- That’s not her retarded baby, it’s her daughter’s
- The baby’s retarded because Todd Palin fucked his daughter (of course he did — we know it’s true because he works with his hands)
- She burns books (proved untrue)
- She illegally abuses her Gubernatorial powers (proved untrue)
- She doesn’t know the Constitutional role of the Vice President (when in fact she seems to be the only one who does)
- She stole a bunch of money from the Alaska taxpayers
- She encouraged racists to shout Kill Him! about Obama (proved untrue)
- Blah blah blah… blabbity blah
After this campaign’s sordid track record of politically-motivated lies about Sarah Palin, she’d better be photographed with a corpse in the trunk of her car before I’d be ready to believe it. And even then, I’d want to check the photo closely.
Here’s another lie I heard about her…
She went behind McCain’s back and took a phone call with someone she thought was the French President when it was in fact a DJ from Montreal.
I mean, come on. Everybody knows she was committed to the campaign 100% and that Quebecers can’t speak English.
See, this is what I mean. Them DJs had been calling and calling for weeks trying to get through the ring fence of Sarah Palin’s handlers. Finally, they conned someone on the staff into telling Gov. Palin it’s the French President on the line. What’s she to do? Tell Sarkozy to fuck off, she won’t take the call? “Behind McCain’s back”? Please.
Then she’s on the phone with this funny-accented foreigner who says increasingly outrageous things to her, plus drops unintelligible French-sounding names on her. And she’s being polite and tries to play along with the conversation that gets harder and harder to follow, until finally they say they pranked her.
I listened to the call, and it’s been mischaracterized as proof of dumbness, and now lack of commitment to the campaign. Give us a break — she took a call that she thought was important, and treated it as such until it became obvious the campaign staff had let her down.
So let me see if I’m reading you right: the Democrats, the media (apparently now including the Leftists’ ‘scurrilous ally’ Fox News), and now the McCain campaign itself are united in a grand crusade to make Palin look like she was dropped on the head as a child?
I believe it’s pretty evident there is a class of people, to which Sarah Palin does not belong, that is invested in the idea of rule by our betters. Now that the campaign is over, the rule-by-our-betters crowd in the Republican establishment finds common cause with the Democrats to quash the threat posed by Sarah Palin.
“After this campaign’s sordid track record of politically-motivated lies about Sarah Palin”
Now there’s a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black (Can I say that?)
Seriously, blaming the campaign for spurious internet comments like yours is sort of a self-proof, is it not?
“I believe it’s pretty evident there is a class of people, to which Sarah Palin does not belong, that is invested in the idea of rule by our betters.”
I believe in rule by people who read newspapers.
Some comments on #89
1) “Leader of the free world” is a term few but Americans will use in reference to Obama. The term itself is a product of Americanism.
Corrections: There is no such thing as “Americanism” and no one will use this term because, properly speaking, it was a product of the cold war. However, the fact is the world will still look to the US for international leadership in a great many areas, and with renewed vigor, and now that Bush has been dispensed with and Obama is commander-in-chief, its moral authority will be restored.
2) “I never claimed Canada was better because we have universal health care… I was actually suggesting that Americans were worse off because you don’t have it.”
Correction: Oops, actually I agree…
“Canada is supposedly a great place to live in and yet I’m in South Korea. What does that tell you?”
It tells you nothing, as you can’t generalize about someone just because they happen to live abroad for a certain period of time. However, I might venture that it bespeaks a sense of independence of mind, flexibility of thought, and openmindedness, some quintessential North American qualities.
Whereas I believe that the people who rely on the newspapers for current events are suckers. A number of people seem to agree with me. Newspapers are essentially dead: US News and World Report and the Christian Science Monitor closed the presses this week to go web-only (in other words, they’re blogs now), local newspapers — and the conglomerates that own them, like Gannett and Scripps — are enjoying waves of mass layoffs, and the venerable New York Times is now worth less than the building it occupies.
I think the systemic bias displayed by the papers and wire services might have something to do with the rapidity of their current decline, since trust is what they have to sell, but technological change is also at play.
Enjoy your newspaper while you still can. In five years, the only newspapers left in the US will be the free rags you can pick up in the subway, like the local sex paper and the Penny Saver.
As for Palin, there are many, many good reasons to be against her having any political office aside from her mediocre intellect: her documented lies on the “bridge to nowhere” and hypocrisy on earmarks; her anti-environmental record; her unethical abuse of power, and her bogus self-vindication of said abuse through Alaska’s state board of personnel, and on and on.
She has made no positive accomplishments as governor and if the Repubs elevate her to the national level in future contests it will only damage the party.
#104,
So we can hope that that’s done, eh?
Cactus, you betcha! ::wink::
“I know that I know that I know that there was nothing done wrong in the campaign….”
“Looking at the price of oil today being so low it’s a good time for our fiscal conservativism to be kicked in full-fledged…”
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/582167.html
Right, Brendon. Palin was sitting around trying on new clothes when a campaign aide shoves a phone at her and says “It’s Sarkozy! You can’t refuse this surprise call!” She had no idea the call was coming and was stuck with answering it whether she wanted to or not. That’s your version of events?
Unforunately, your fantasy isn’t true. McCain advisors were pissed at Palin because she scheduled, and then took the call without telling them about it. Palin’s own aides defended her by saying that the call was on her schedule for 3 days prior to it.
So she and her staff could have easily informed the McCain camp of the call and had them check it out to see if it was legitimate, but instead they said nothing and slipped it into her schedule but made no attempt to inform the McCain camp. She wasn’t let down by campaign staff. She fucked herself by letting her own ambition blind her to the fact that she’s a political novice and an easy mark when she pretends she knows what the fuck she’s doing.
So McCain aides/advisors are now the scurrilous Left and Fox News are the allies in the media. Got it.
- That’s not her retarded baby, it’s her daughter’s
The strange circumstances surrounding the baby’s birth were reported, and Palin’s refusal to release medical records – which would have squashed the issue immediately – only served to prolong the questions.
- The baby’s retarded because Todd Palin fucked his daughter
Never reported by a major news organization.
- She burns books (proved untrue)
The FACT that she inquired with the Wasilla librarian about the procedure for banning books was reported.
- She illegally abuses her Gubernatorial powers (proved untrue)
The reports were about ethics violations, which were found to be true.
- She doesn’t know the Constitutional role of the Vice President (when in fact she seems to be the only one who does)
She stated multiple times that the VP “runs” or is “in charge” of the Senate. She obviously doesn’t comprehend what “preside over” means.
- She stole a bunch of money from the Alaska taxpayers
The reports were regarding her using state taxpayer money to pay for travel expenses for her family, when they were not acting as representatives of the state and were not invited to the events they attended.
- She encouraged racists to shout Kill Him! about Obama (proved untrue)
Reports compared her refusal to call out supporters screaming threatening or racist taunts to McCain, who in fact did, much to his credit.
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